Bridging models across the software lifecycle

Abstract

Numerous notations, methodologies, and tools exist to support software system modeling. While individual models help to clarify certain system aspects, the large number and heterogeneity of models may ultimately hamper the ability of stakeholders to communicate about a system. A major reason for this is the discontinuity of information across different models. In this paper, we present an approach for dealing with that discontinuity. We introduce a set of “connectors” to bridge models, both within and across the “upstream” activities in the software development lifecycle (specifically, requirements, architecture, and design). While the details of these connectors are dependent upon the source and destination models, they share a number of underlying characteristics. These characteristics can be used as a starting point in providing a general understanding of software model connectors. We illustrate our approach by applying it to a system we have designed and implemented in collaboration with a third-party organization.