DSL-Based Configuration of Solid Referential Management System: A Case Study

Abstract

For the last decade, uebe.Q is being adopted by companies in different business areas and countries for managing compliance with solid referential information systems, such as ISO 9000 (for quality) and ISO 1400 (for environment). This is a long-term developed software, encompassing extensive, solid and valuable business logic. When it is deployed for/on a company, it usually demands an extensive and specific adaptation (i.e. software refinement) and configuration process involving DigitalWind's ISO 9000 and ISO 1400 experts as well as software development and operation teams. However, a recent business model change imposed that the evolution and configuration of the software, shifts from DigitalWind (and especially from the development team) to external consultants and to other business partners, along with the fact that different third-party's systems and respective data/information need to be integrated with minimal intervention of the development team. This paper presents and overview of the re-engineering process taken to handle this business model change by adopting (i) ontologies for the specification of business concepts, (ii) closed-world assumption (CWA) rules for the specification of the dynamics of the system and (iii) Domain Specific Language (DSL) for the configuration of the system by domain/business experts. The DSL approach is further described in detail.