| 1. |
- Barthe, Gilles, et al.
(author)
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SEFM: software engineering and formal methods
- 2015
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In: Journal of Software and Systems Modeling. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1619-1366 .- 1619-1374. ; 14:1, s. 3-4
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)
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| 2. |
- Bider, Ilia, et al.
(author)
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A fractal enterprise model and its application for business development
- 2017
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In: Software and Systems Modeling. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1619-1366 .- 1619-1374. ; 16:3, s. 663-689
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper suggests a new type of enterprise models called fractal enterprise models (FEM), with accompanying methodological support for their design. FEM shows interconnections between the business processes in an enterprise by connecting them to the assets they use and manage. Assets considered in the model could be tangible (buildings, heavy machinery, etc.) and intangible (employees, business process definitions, etc.). A FEM model is built by using two types of patterns called archetypes: a process-assets archetype that connects a process with assets used in it, and an asset-processes archetype that connects an asset with processes aimed to manage this asset (e.g., hiring people, or servicing machinery). Alternating these patterns creates a fractal structure that makes relationships between various parts of the enterprise explicit. FEM can be used for different purposes, including finding a majority of the processes in an enterprise and planning business change or radical transformation. Besides discussing FEM and areas of its usage, the paper presents results from a completed project in order to test the practical usefulness of FEM and its related methodological support.
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| 3. |
- Bider, Ilia, et al.
(author)
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Design science in action : developing a modeling technique for eliciting requirements on business process management (BPM) tools
- 2015
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In: Software and Systems Modeling. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1619-1366 .- 1619-1374. ; 14:3, s. 1159-1188
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Selecting a suitable business process management (BPM) tool to build a business process support system for a particular business process is difficult. There are a number of BPM tools on the market that are available as systems to install locally and as services in the cloud. These tools are based on different BPM paradigms (e.g., workflow or case management) and provide different capabilities (e.g., enforcement of the control flow, shared spaces, or a collaborative environment). This makes it difficult for an organization to select a tool that would fit the business processes at hand. The paper suggests a solution for this problem. The core of the solution is a modeling technique for business processes for eliciting their requirements for a suitable BPM tool. It produces a high-level, business process model, called a “step-relationship” model that depicts the essential characteristics of a process in a paradigm-independent way. The solution presented in this paper has been developed based on the paradigm of design science research, and the paper discusses the research project from the design science perspective. The solution has been applied in two case studies in order to demonstrate its feasibility.
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| 4. |
- Borgström, Johannes, et al.
(author)
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Broadcast psi-calculi with an application to wireless protocols
- 2015
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In: Software and Systems Modeling. - : Springer. - 1619-1366 .- 1619-1374. ; 14:1, s. 201-216
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Psi-calculi is a parametric framework for extensions of the pi-calculus, with arbitrary data structures and logical assertions for facts about data. In this paper we add primitives for broadcast communication in order to model wireless protocols. The additions preserve the purity of the psi-calculi semantics, and we formally prove the standard congruence and structural properties of bisimilarity. We demonstrate the expressive power of broadcast psi-calculi by modelling the wireless ad-hoc routing protocol LUNAR and verifying a basic reachability property.
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| 5. |
- Burgueño, Loli, et al.
(author)
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Contents for a Model-Based Software Engineering Body of Knowledge
- 2019
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In: Software and Systems Modeling. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1619-1366 .- 1619-1374. ; 18:6, s. 3193-3205
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Although Model-Based Software Engineering (MBE) is a widely accepted Software Engineering (SE) discipline, no agreed upon core set of concepts and practices (i.e., a Body of Knowledge) has been defined for it yet. With the goals of characterizing the contents of the MBE discipline, promoting a global consistent view of it, clarifying its scope with regard to other SE disciplines, and defining a foundation for the development of educational curricula on MBE, this paper proposes the contents for a Body of Knowledge for MBE. We also describe the methodology that we have used to come up with the proposed list of contents, as well as the results of a survey study that we conducted to sound out the opinion of the community on the importance of the proposed topics and their level of coverage in existing SE curricula.
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| 6. |
- Cicchetti, Antonio, et al.
(author)
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Multi-view approaches for software and system modelling : a systematic literature review
- 2019
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In: Software and Systems Modeling. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1619-1366 .- 1619-1374. ; 18:6, s. 3207-3233
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Over the years, a number of approaches have been proposed on the description of systems and software in terms of multiple views represented by models. This modelling branch, so-called multi-view software and system modelling, praises a differentiated and complex scientific body of knowledge. With this study, we aimed at identifying, classifying, and evaluating existing solutions for multi-view modelling of software and systems. To this end, we conducted a systematic literature review of the existing state of the art related to the topic. More specifically, we selected and analysed 40 research studies among over 8600 entries. We defined a taxonomy for characterising solutions for multi-view modelling and applied it to the selected studies. Lastly, we analysed and discussed the data extracted from the studies. From the analysed data, we made several observations, among which: (i) there is no uniformity nor agreement in the terminology when it comes to multi-view artefact types, (ii) multi-view approaches have not been evaluated in industrial settings and (iii) there is a lack of support for semantic consistency management and the community does not appear to consider this as a priority. The study results provide an exhaustive overview of the state of the art for multi-view software and systems modelling useful for both researchers and practitioners.
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| 7. |
- Ciccozzi, Federico, 1983-, et al.
(author)
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Editorial to theme issue on model-driven engineering of component-based software systems
- 2019
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In: Software and Systems Modeling. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1619-1374 .- 1619-1366. ; 18:1, s. 7-10
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Journal article (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This theme issue aims at providing a forum for disseminating latest trends in the use and combination of model-driven engineering (MDE) and component-based software engineering (CBSE). One of the main aims of MDE is to increase productivity in the development of complex systems, while reducing the time to market. Regarding CBSE, one of the main goals is to deliver and then support the exploitation of reusable “off-the-shelf” software components to be incorporated into larger applications. An effective interplay of MDE and CBSE can bring benefits to both communities: on the one hand, the CBSE community would benefit from implementation and automation capabilities of MDE, and on the other hand, MDE would benefit from the foundational nature of CBSE. In total, we received 23 submissions to this theme issue, and each submission was reviewed by at least three reviewers. Thanks to the high quality of the submissions that we received, we could eventually accept six papers for publication.
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| 8. |
- Ciccozzi, Federico, 1983-, et al.
(author)
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Execution of UML models : a systematic review of research and practice
- 2019
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In: Software and Systems Modeling. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1619-1366 .- 1619-1374. ; -3:-, s. 2313-2360
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Several research efforts from different areas have focused on the execution of UML models, resulting in a diverse and complex scientific body of knowledge. With this work, we aim at identifying, classifying, and evaluating existing solutions for the execution of UML models. We conducted a systematic review in which we selected 63 research studies and 19 tools among over 5400 entries by applying a systematic search and selection process. We defined a classification framework for characterizing solutions for UML model execution, and we applied it to the 82 selected entries. Finally, we analyzed and discussed the obtained data. From the analyzed data, we drew the following conclusions: (i) There is a growing scientific interest on UML model execution; (ii) solutions providing translational execution clearly outnumber interpretive solutions; (iii) model-level debugging is supported in very few cases; (iv) only a few research studies provide evidence of industrial use, with very limited empirical evaluations; (v) the most common limitation deals with coverage of the UML language. Based on these observations, we discuss potential research challenges and implications for the future of UML model execution. Our results provide a concise overview of states of the art and practice for UML model execution intended for use by both researchers and practitioners.
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| 9. |
- Ciccozzi, Federico, 1983-
(author)
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On the Automated Translational Execution of the Action Language for Foundational UML
- 2018
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In: Software and Systems Modeling. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1619-1366 .- 1619-1374. ; 17:4, s. 1311-1337
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- To manage the rapidly growing complexity of software development, abstraction and automation have been recognised as powerful means. Among the techniques pushing for them, Model-Driven Engineering has gained increasing attention from industry for, amongst others, the possibility to automatically generate code from models. To generate fully executable code, models should describe complex behaviours. While pragmatically this is achieved by employing programming languages for defining actions within models, the abstraction gap between modelling and programming languages can undermine consistency between models and code as well as analysability and reusability of models. In light of this, model-aware action languages should be preferred. This is the case of the Action Language for Foundational UML (ALF). In this paper we provide a solution for the fully automated translational execution of ALF towards C++. Additionally, we give an insight on how to simplify the transition from the use of programming languages for modelling fine-grained behaviours to model-aware action languages in industrial MDE. The solution presented in this paper has been assessed on industrial applications to verify its applicability to complex systems as well as its scalability.
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| 10. |
- Cremona, Fabio, et al.
(author)
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Hybrid co-simulation : it's about time
- 2019
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In: Software and Systems Modeling. - : Springer Nature. - 1619-1366 .- 1619-1374. ; 18:3, s. 1655-1679
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Model-based design methodologies are commonly used in industry for the development of complex cyber-physical systems (CPSs). There are many different languages, tools, and formalisms for model-based design, each with its strengths and weaknesses. Instead of accepting some weaknesses of a particular tool, an alternative is to embrace heterogeneity, and to develop tool integration platforms and protocols to leverage the strengths from different environments. A fairly recent attempt in this direction is the functional mock-up interface (FMI) standard that includes support for co-simulation. Although this standard has reached acceptance in industry, it provides only limited support for simulating systems that mix continuous and discrete behavior, which are typical of CPS. This paper identifies the representation of time as a key problem, because the FMI representation does not support well the discrete events that typically occur at the cyber-physical boundary. We analyze alternatives for representing time in hybrid co-simulation and conclude that a superdense model of time using integers only solves many of these problems. We show how an execution engine can pick an adequate time resolution, and how disparities between time representations internal to co-simulated components and the resulting effects of time quantization can be managed. We propose a concrete extension to the FMI standard for supporting hybrid co-simulation that includes integer time, automatic choice of time resolution, and the use of absent signals. We explain how these extensions can be implemented modularly within the frameworks of existing simulation environments.
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