Towards a Framework for the Application of Model-Driven Development in Situational Method Engineering

Model-Driven Development (MDD) is a promising approach to software development, mainly due to the pivotal role of models in its process, and the high potential it provides for automated model/software generation. Since software processes can themselves be considered as software, any technique or approach applied in the context of software development is also of potential use in the development of software development processes. Accordingly, the MDD approach can potentially be applied in the context of Situational Method Engineering (SME) - a branch devoted to the study of developing bespoke software development processes and methods based on the specific characteristics of the development project at hand. The authors propose a Model-Driven Situational Method Engineering (MDSME) framework by defining different levels of abstraction for process models, in compliance to the multi-level model abstraction and transformation approach prescribed by the Model-Driven Architecture (MDA). The framework can be used by method engineers to construct custom software development methodologies through an MDD approach that facilitates automation, enhances the accuracy of the development process produced, and improves the portability of process models.