EAOM: Extended agent‐oriented modeling as an alternative methodology for blockchain enabling application development

Abstract

AbstractBlockchain applications are gradually receiving wide acceptance as a transformative technology that could potentially bring a reformation in the industry. Blockchain handles sensitive data through cryptography, consensus mechanism, transaction immutability, and peer‐to‐peer network to manage decentralized data features. In addition to ensuring operational efficiency, blockchain development is a complex and challenging process, which warrants further exploration. In an attempt to reduce the complexity of the development, various software methodologies have been introduced to support the development of blockchain applications systematically. It has been found that those methodologies introduced structured processes that are not suitable for software models. Moreover, all models are generic and do not take into blockchain concept as first‐class entities. Hence, there is a gap in extending and transforming the current blockchain modeling and practices when developing a blockchain application. This paper introduces a new insight and innovative methodology for blockchain‐based application development through extended agent‐oriented modeling (eAOM) to discover blockchain opportunities and contribute to the growth of the technology. With eAOM, the blockchain modeling processes start with requirement elicitation, computation independent modeling, early identification of blockchain use case, platform independent modeling, and platform specific model. A walkthrough example of a blockchain application, “win a fortune games” has showcased the feasibility of eAOM in modeling blockchain enabling application development in a systematic manner. A usability analysis is conducted among novice students to test the usability of eAOM versus original AOM in modeling blockchain application development. From the findings, 44% of the students managed to capture more than 80% of blockchain requirements through eAOM. On the other hand, 51% of the students scored between 20% and 60% of the blockchain requirement, and only 5% of the students failed to model blockchain requirements through eAOM. The results reveal the usage of the eAOM to model blockchain‐enabled application comprehensively.