From code centric to model centric software engineering: practical case study of MDD infusion in a systems integration company

Integration projects are typically faced with a proliferation of standards, technologies, platforms and tools. Bespoke solutions are frequently used for what are often generic problems generating work with no discernable business value. Business requirements naturally evolve during the development process. Because of the complexity of code centric be-spoke solutions, the reactivity to these changes is costly in terms of effort and time. Though model driven development (MDD) promises to have a positive response to these problems, there is little practical evidence of the impact of its infusion. This paper presents a case study conducted in a systems integration company investigating the impact of MDD infusion. We take a practical approach focused on better and more productively meeting customers' requirements. Besides this commercial perspective, our approach takes into account the practical aspects of project activities. One of these aspects is the influence of the motivation and beliefs of actors in the success of a technological change, which we analyse using ActorO Network technological change, which we analyse using actor network theory (ANT). For systems integration companies, the ability to learn is a critical asset and differentiation factor. Knowledge management (KM), as a process through which organizations generate value from their intellectual assets, is another practical aspect we look at. We present preliminary findings of the work completed so far. We look for industrial representativeness of the results, defined here as being "close to real life" experience that industrial actors (project managers, developers, etc.) can relate to, draw conclusions from and translate into action.