Product Line Development Research Articles

An approach based on feature models and quality criteria for adapting component-based systems

Feature modeling has been widely used in domain engineering for the development and configuration of software product lines. A feature model represents the set of possible products or configurations to apply in a given context. Recently, this formalism has been applied to the runtime (re-)configuration of systems with high variability and running in changing contexts. These systems must adapt by updating their component assembly configuration at runtime, while minimizing the impact of such changes on the quality of service. For this reason the selection of a good system configuration is seen as an optimization problem based on quality attribute criteria. We propose an approach for system adaptation based on the specification, measurement and optimization of quality attribute properties on feature models. Furthermore, we describe its integration into a platform for supporting the self-adaptation of component-based systems. Feature models are annotated with quality attribute properties and metrics, and then an efficient algorithm is used to deal with the optimization problem. Two performance properties –frame processing time and reconfiguration time– are estimated with our model against measurements obtained from the running system to show the accuracy of metrics on feature models for estimating quality attribute properties. The results show evidence that these metrics are reasonably accurate for measuring performance properties on a realistic component-based computer vision system.

Empirical assessment of two approaches for specifying software product line use case scenarios

Modularity benefits, including the independent maintenance and comprehension of individual modules, have been widely advocated. However, empirical assessments to investigate those benefits have mostly focused on source code, and thus, the relevance of modularity to earlier artifacts is still not so clear (such as requirements and design models). In this paper, we use a multimethod technique, including designed experiments, to empirically evaluate the benefits of modularity in the context of two approaches for specifying product line use case scenarios: PLUSS and MSVCM. The first uses an annotative approach for specifying variability, whereas the second relies on aspect-oriented constructs for separating common and variant scenario specifications. After evaluating these approaches through the specifications of several systems, we find out that MSVCM reduces feature scattering and improves scenario cohesion. These results suggest that evolving a product line specification using MSVCM requires only localized changes. On the other hand, the results of six experiments reveal that MSVCM requires more time to derive the product line specifications and, contrasting with the modularity results, reduces the time to evolve a product line specification only when the subjects have been well trained and are used to the task of evolving product line specifications.

Comparing development approaches and reuse strategies: An empirical evaluation of developer views from the aerospace industry

ContextThere is a debate in the aerospace industry whether lessons from reuse successes and failures in nonembedded software can be applied to embedded software. Reuse supposedly reduces development time and errors. The aerospace industry was an early advocate of reuse, but in Aerospace, not all reuse experiences have been as successful as expected. Some major projects experienced large overruns in time, budget, as well as inferior performance, at least in part, due to the gap between reuse expectations and reuse outcomes. This seemed to be especially the case for embedded systems. ObjectiveOur goal is to discover software reuse practices in the aerospace industry. In particular, we wish to learn whether practitioners who develop embedded systems use the same development approaches and artifacts as software practitioners who develop nonembedded systems. We wish to learn whether reuse influences selection of development approaches and artifacts and whether outcomes are impacted. MethodWe developed a survey given to software practitioners in a major Aerospace Corporation developing either embedded or nonembedded systems. The survey probed to identify development methods used, artifacts reused and outcomes resulting from the reuse. We used qualitative and quantitative methods such as descriptive statistics, MANOVA, Principle Component Analysis and an analysis of freeform comments to compare reuse practices between embedded systems and nonembedded systems development. ResultsWe found that embedded systems were more likely to include component based development, product line development and model based development in their development approach, whereas nonembedded systems were more likely to include Ad Hoc and COTS/GOTS in their development approach. Embedded systems developers tended to reuse more and different reuse artifacts. ConclusionWe found that, while outcomes were nearly identical, the development approaches and artifacts used did, in fact, differ. In particular, the tight coupling between code and the platform in embedded systems often dictated the development approach and reuse artifacts and identified some of the reasons.

CVL 기반의 소프트웨어 프로덕트라인 개발 및 테스트 프로세스

Software Product Line Engineering is a collection of techniques that analyze the commonalities and variabilities of the products within a product family and produce products using such information. In Software Product Line Engineering, construction of the correct core assets is very important. To accomplish this, the commonalities and variabilities must first be definitively identified, both to provide traceability between the core assets, and to guarantee the reliability of the products. This paper suggests software product line development and test processes based on CVL for the differentiation of commonalities and variabilities. The proposed approach enables correct building of the core assets through procedures to keep traceability and guarantee the reliability of the products.

An Effective Methodology with Automated Product Configuration for Software Product Line Development

The wide adaptation of product line engineering in software industry has enabled cost effective development of high quality software for diverse market segments. In software product line (SPL), a family of software is specified with a set of core assets representing reusable features with their variability, dependencies, and constraints. From such core assets, valid software products are configured after thoroughly analysing the represented features and their properties. However, current implementations of SPL lack effective means to configure a valid product as core assets specified in SPL, being high-dimensional data, are often too complex to analyse. This paper presents a time and cost effective methodology with associated tool supports to design a SPL model, analyse features, and configure a valid product. The proposed approach uses eXtensible Markup Language (XML) to model SPL, where an adequate schema is defined to precisely specify core assets. Furthermore, it enables automated product configuration by (i) extracting all the properties of required features from a given SPL model and calculating them with Alloy Analyzer; (ii) generating a decision model with appropriate eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation (XSLT) instructions embedded in each resolution effect; and (iii) processing XSLT instructions of all the selected resolution effects.

Marine ecology service reuse through taxonomy-oriented SPL development

Nowadays, reusing software applications encourages researchers and industrials to collaborate in order to increase software quality and to reduce software development costs. However, effective reuse is not easy and only a limited portion of reusable models actually offers effective evidence regarding their appropriateness, usability and/or effectiveness. Focusing reuse on a particular domain, such as marine ecology, allows us to narrow the scope; and along with a systematic approach such as software product line development, helps us to potentially improving reuse. From our experiences developing a subdomain-oriented software product line (SPL for the marine ecology subdomain), in this paper we describe semantic resources created for assisting this development and thus promoting systematic software reuse. The main contributions of our work are focused on the definition of a standard conceptual model for marine ecology applications together with a set of services and guides which assist the process of product derivation. The services are structured in a service taxonomy (as a specialization of the ISO 19119 std) in which we create a new set of categories and services built over a conceptual model for marine ecology applications. We also define and exemplify a set of guides for composing the services of the taxonomy in order to fulfill different functionalities of particular systems in the subdomain.

PROW: A Pairwise algorithm with constRaints, Order and Weight

Testing systems with many variables and/or values is often quite expensive due to the huge number of possible combinations to be tested. There are several criteria available to combine test data and produce scalable test suites. One of them is pairwise. With the pairwise criterion, each pair of values of any two parameters is included in at least one test case. Although this is a widely-used coverage criterion, two main characteristics improve considerably pairwise: constraints handling and prioritisation.This paper presents an algorithm and a tool. The algorithm (called PROW: Pairwise with constRaints, Order and Weight) handles constraints and prioritisation for pairwise coverage. The tool called CTWeb adds functionalities to execute PROW in different contexts, one of them is product sampling in Software Product Lines via importing feature models. Software Product Line (SPL) development is a recent paradigm, where a family of software systems is constructed by means of the reuse of a set of common functionalities and some variable functionalities. An essential artefact of a SPL is the feature model, which shows the features offered by the product line, jointly with the relationships (includes and excludes) among them. Pairwise testing could be used to obtain the product sampling to test in a SPL, using features as pairwise parameters. In this context, the constraint handling becomes essential. As a difference with respect to other tools, CTWeb does not require SAT solvers.This paper describes the PROW algorithm, also analysing its complexity and efficiency. The CTWeb tool is presented, including two examples of the PROW application to two real environments: the first corresponds to the migration of the subsystem of transactions processing of a credit card management system from AS400 to Oracle with.NET; the second applies both the algorithm and the tool to a SPL that monitors and controls some parameters of the load in trucks.

A method to optimize the scope of a software product platform based on end-user features

ContextDue to increased competition and the advent of mass customization, many software firms are utilizing product families – groups of related products derived from a product platform – to provide product variety in a cost-effective manner. The key to designing a successful software product family is the product platform, so it is important to determine the most appropriate product platform scope related to business objectives, for product line development. AimThis paper proposes a novel method to find the optimized scope of a software product platform based on end-user features. MethodThe proposed method, PPSMS (Product Platform Scoping Method for Software Product Lines), mathematically formulates the product platform scope selection as an optimization problem. The problem formulation targets identification of an optimized product platform scope that will maximize life cycle cost savings and the amount of commonality, while meeting the goals and needs of the envisioned customers’ segments. A simulated annealing based algorithm that can solve problems heuristically is then used to help the decision maker in selecting a scope for the product platform, by performing tradeoff analysis of the commonality and cost savings objectives. ResultsIn a case study, PPSMS helped in identifying 5 non-dominated solutions considered to be of highest preference for decision making, taking into account both cost savings and commonality objectives. A quantitative and qualitative analysis indicated that human experts perceived value in adopting the method in practice, and that it was effective in identifying appropriate product platform scope.

Implementing an integrated ABC and TOC approach to enhance decision making in a Lean context

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to implement an integrated activity-based costing (ABC) and theory of constraints (TOC) approach to enhance decision making in a Lean company. Design/methodology/approach – Based on the literature, this paper proposes an integrated ABC and TOC approach and applies it to a Lean plastic manufacturing company to improve its product-mix decision. Findings – The results of the case study show that the current conventional product-mix decision used by the company and the proposed integrated approach can give significantly different results concerning the optimal product-mix and the associated bottlenecks. Moreover, the paper suggests that managers who implement Lean production without utilising a supportive management accounting system may experience disappointing financial results. Research limitations/implications – The validation of the suggested method is based on a single case study with an action research approach. For future research, the authors suggest the implementation of the approach in different industries. Practical implications – Overall, the integration of ABC and TOC provides managers with an accurate, timely and reliable tool that can help in making decisions about pricing, production line development, process improvements and product-mix. Originality/value – This paper contributes to Lean and management accounting literature by demonstrating the value of a method of integrating ABC and TOC. Also a case study is chosen for the empirical aspect of the study as there are no case studies available in the literature that illustrate a real life case of integrating ABC and TOC within Lean companies as an alternative to the current used cost accounting systems.

The Implications of Human Resources Management and Organizational Culture Adoption on Knowledge Management Practices in Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry

INTRODUCTION Knowledge management to facilitate the creation, storage, transfer and application of knowledge in organizations have perceived wide attention in practice and research in the past several years. It has been argued that the success of today's business increasingly depends on their intellectual assets as opposed to their tangible resources. Among other things, these assets include attitude, knowledge and skills of the workforce, according to American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), these assets are known as competencies. They are areas of personal capability that enable people to perform successfully to their jobs by achieving outcomes or completing tasks effectively. Drucker (2001) emphasizes that every organization needs one core competence, innovation further stresses that every organization needs a way to record and appraise its innovative performance. Mohanty (2006) outlined that for an economy, or a nation to achieve preeminent position and superior status, it has to pioneer the culture of innovation. In a rapidly changing market, the only way to do either is to innovate effectively. The knowledge based view of the firm suggests that intellectual resources are key organizational assets that enable sustainable competitive advantage (Teece, 2003). Teece noted that any organization(s) that are able to effectively manage these knowledge resources are expected to reap benefits such as improved customer service, reduced costs in people and infrastructure, better decision-making, innovation, improved corporate agility, rapid development of new product lines and efficient transfer of best practices. Contemporary literature provides numerous examples of knowledge management success stories, organizations seeking to engage in such efforts also face a variety of challenges among the most difficult of these challenges is organizational culture. Janz and Prasarnphanich (2003) noted that organizational culture is believed to be the most significant input to effective knowledge management and organizational learning. Increased realization of knowledge as the core competence coupled with recent advances in information technology has increased organizational interest in the topics of knowledge management, human resources management and organizational culture. Following Churchman (1971), such topics are best suited for: Well-structured problem situations for which there exists strong consensual position on the nature of the problem situation. * Facilitating and managing organizational innovation and learning. * Leveraging the expertise of people across the organization * Increasing network connectivity between employees and external groups with the objective of improving information flow. Many large organizations have resources dedicated to knowledge management, of ten as a part of information technology, human resource management or business strategy. Knowledge management is linked and related to what has become known as the learning organization, lifelong learning and continuous improvement. Hence, the emergence of knowledge management has generated new roles and responsibilities in organizations. The emergence has created an increasing presence of academic debates within epistemology emerging in both the theory and practice of knowledge management. Studies have shown that organizations that foster strong cultures have clear values that give employees a reason to embrace the culture. A strong culture may be especially beneficial to firms operating in the service sector since members of these organizations are responsible for delivering the services and for promoting consistency and encouraging co-ordination and control within the organization. Where culture is strong, people do things because they believe it is the right thing to do. In this study, we propose a construct for measuring the influence of organizational culture for fostering the adoption of knowledge management as a competence of an individual, ability to generate ideas, ownership to the organization and decision making competencies. …

Formulating problems for commercializing new technologies: The case of environmental innovation

Prior research on environmental innovation has highlighted the importance for the firm of a shared environmental vision but has not empirically explored why or what are its effects. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of an environmental sustainability vision for the development and commercialization of environmental innovations. We conduct an in-depth, multilevel investigation of the development of green product lines in a multinational manufacturing firm, based primarily on interview data collected over five years. By analyzing the interaction between environmental vision and the product development process as an interaction between problem formulation and the search for problem solutions, we explain how and why a shared environmental vision can accelerate environmental innovation. Specifically, we show that a shared environmental vision can lead to an increase in the number of application areas, and increased sales of previously customized solutions but that the efficacy of the shared vision is dependent on a good match between the environmental problems being focused on, and the core competencies of the firm.

Validating a model-driven software architecture evaluation and improvement method: A family of experiments

ContextSoftware architectures should be evaluated during the early stages of software development in order to verify whether the non-functional requirements (NFRs) of the product can be fulfilled. This activity is even more crucial in software product line (SPL) development, since it is also necessary to identify whether the NFRs of a particular product can be achieved by exercising the variation mechanisms provided by the product line architecture or whether additional transformations are required. These issues have motivated us to propose QuaDAI, a method for the derivation, evaluation and improvement of software architectures in model-driven SPL development. ObjectiveWe present in this paper the results of a family of four experiments carried out to empirically validate the evaluation and improvement strategy of QuaDAI. MethodThe family of experiments was carried out by 92 participants: Computer Science Master’s and undergraduate students from Spain and Italy. The goal was to compare the effectiveness, efficiency, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and intention to use with regard to participants using the evaluation and improvement strategy of QuaDAI as opposed to the Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method (ATAM). ResultsThe main result was that the participants produced their best results when applying QuaDAI, signifying that the participants obtained architectures with better values for the NFRs faster, and that they found the method easier to use, more useful and more likely to be used. The results of the meta-analysis carried out to aggregate the results obtained in the individual experiments also confirmed these results. ConclusionsThe results support the hypothesis that QuaDAI would achieve better results than ATAM in the experiments and that QuaDAI can be considered as a promising approach with which to perform architectural evaluations that occur after the product architecture derivation in model-driven SPL development processes when carried out by novice software evaluators.

A Comparison of Software Product Line Traceability Approaches from End-to-End Traceability Perspectives

Software traceability is the ability to provide trace information on requirements, design, and implementation of a system. It helps stakeholders understand the many associations of software artifacts created during a software development project. End-to-end traceability refers to linkage of all artifacts in the entire lifecycle of a software development project. Its goal is to provide stakeholders of the software development with trace information in order to analyze impacts due to changes in a software system. Compared to that of a single product, the end-to-end traceability of software product line is more complicated because Software Product Line Development (SPLD) requires two separate but intimately related phases of domain engineering and application engineering. Various SPLD traceability approaches have been proposed in the past. However, thus far no research work on SPLD traceability has focused on SPLD end-to-end traceability. This paper defines SPLD end-to-end traceability and evaluates the existing SPLD traceability approaches from SPLD end-to-end traceability perspectives. We surveyed studies on SPLD traceability methods, traceability mechanisms used in major SPLD approaches, and software traceability survey papers. We compared the existing SPLD traceability approaches based on Systematic Literature Review (SLR). Through the survey, we found that none of the SPLD traceability studies fully supports SPLD end-to-end traceability, and there are unexplored research areas of SPLD end-to-end traceability in the existing SPLD traceability studies. The contribution of this paper is that it presents future research directions that give research guidelines for each unexplored research area in SPLD end-to-end traceability. Finally, based on the research directions, this paper suggests future research opportunities for SPLD end-to-end traceability.

A dynamic model for hardware/software obsolescence

Purpose – Since technological lifecycles do not always match hardware/software (HW/SW) lifecycles, obsolescence becomes a major issue in system lifecycle management as it can cause premature and unscheduled replacement of HW/SW subsystems. The purpose of this paper is to report a dynamic model to predict the obsolescence dates for HW/SW subsystems. Design/methodology/approach – The dynamic model estimates obsolescence dates for HW/SW subsystems based on graph theory concept. The model depicts the stages of subsystem obsolescence through transmittances composed of probability and time-distribution elements. The model predicts probability and mean time to obsolescence for line replaceable units (LRUs) over the lifetime of the system. An illustrative example in signaling systems used in a train control system was used to demonstrate the application of this model. Findings – Generally, the short timespan for HW/SW subsystems, which are periodically replaced with newer technologies, results in the development of new product lines by suppliers while they try to support legacy systems for a reasonable period of time. Obsolescence of HW/SW subsystems increases operation and maintenance costs as legacy systems are typically more expensive to maintain. The costs can be reduced by an optimum time to obsolescence derived from the model. Practical implications – This research adds to the body of knowledge on asset management and maintenance strategy. This paper may be of particular interest to reliability, maintainability and availability practitioners and project managers. Originality/value – The originality of this paper lies in developing a graph-based model that predicts probability and mean time to obsolescence for LRUs over the lifetime of the system.

Generation Review on the Production Line Development of Foam Glass at Home and Abroad

According to domestic and international history of foam glass, the foam glass development situation of the United States, France, Japan, the former Soviet Union and China was specifically introduced. Moreover ,the foam-glass-production-lines history was divided by generations and the production-lines characteristics each generation was presented in detail. Compared with the production scale ,investments and unit production cost of foam glass production line on different generations ,we could find that building high-generation production lines, increasing productivity, improving quality, reducing costs and enhancing competitiveness will be the development trend of foam glass industry in the future.

Metric suite to Evaluate Reusability of Software Product Line

Metrics have long been used to measure and evaluate software products and processes. Software product line architecture is a field in which few metrics have been applied, a surprising fact given the important role of software product line architecture in software product line development. Recently, Some metrics have been developed to assess software product line architecture. These metrics are useful but have not been widely used in industry. In this paper, some new metrics are provided to assess reusability of Software product line architecture. Our metrics are evaluated in action. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijece.v4i2.5137

Agile product-line architecting in practice: A case study in smart grids

ContextSoftware Product Line Engineering implies the upfront design of a Product-Line Architecture (PLA) from which individual product applications can be engineered. The big upfront design associated with PLAs is in conflict with the current need of “being open to change”. To make the development of product-lines more flexible and adaptable to changes, several companies are adopting Agile Product Line Engineering. However, to put Agile Product Line Engineering into practice it is still necessary to make mechanisms available to assist and guide the agile construction and evolution of PLAs. ObjectiveThis paper presents the validation of a process for “the agile construction and evolution of product-line architectures”, called Agile Product-Line Architecting (APLA). The contribution of the APLA process is the integration of a set of models for describing, documenting, and tracing PLAs, as well as an algorithm for guiding the change decision-making process of PLAs. The APLA process is assessed to prove that assists Agile Product Line Engineering practitioners in the construction and evolution of PLAs. MethodValidation is performed through a case study by using both quantitative and qualitative analysis. Quantitative analysis was performed using statistics, whereas qualitative analysis was performed through interviews using constant comparison, triangulation, and supporting tools. This case study was conducted according to the guidelines of Runeson and Höst in a software factory where three projects in the domain of Smart Grids were involved. ResultsAPLA is deployed through the Flexible-PLA modeling framework. This framework supported the successful development and evolution of the PLA of a family of power metering management applications for Smart Grids. ConclusionsAPLA is a well-supported solution for the agile construction and evolution of PLAs. This case study illustrates that the proposed solution for the agile construction of PLAs is viable in an industry project on Smart Grids.

A model for tracing variability from features to product-line architectures: a case study in smart grids

In current software systems with highly volatile requirements, traceability plays a key role to maintain the consistency between requirements and code. Traceability between artifacts involved in the development of software product line (SPL) is still more critical because it is necessary to guarantee that the selection of variants that realize the different SPL products meet the requirements. Current SPL traceability mechanisms trace from variability in features to variations in the configuration of product-line architecture (PLA) in terms of adding and removing components. However, it is not always possible to materialize the variable features of a SPL through adding or removing components, since sometimes they are materialized inside components, i.e., in part of their functionality: a class, a service, and/or an interface. Additionally, variations that happen inside components may crosscut several components of architecture. These kinds of variations are still challenging and their traceability is not currently well supported. Therefore, it is not possible to guarantee that those SPL products with these kinds of variations meet the requirements. This paper presents a solution for tracing variability from features to PLA by taking these kinds of variations into account. This solution is based on models and traceability between models in order to automate SPL configuration by selecting the variants and realizing the product application. The FPLA modeling framework supports this solution which has been deployed in a software factory. Validation has consisted in putting the solution into practice to develop a product line of power metering management applications for smart grids.

Integrated product line design and supplier selection: A multi-objective optimization paradigm

Product line design is commonly used to provide higher product variety for satisfying diversified customer needs. To reduce the cost and development time and improve quality of products, companies quite often consider sourcing. Conventionally, product line design and supplier selection are dealt with separately. Some previous studies have been attempted to consider product line design and supplier selection simultaneously but two shortcomings were noted. First, the previous studies considered several objectives as a single objective function in the formulation of optimization models for the integrated problem. Second, positions of product variants to be offered in a product line in competitive markets are not clearly defined that would affect the formulation of marketing strategies for the product line. In this paper, a methodology for integrated product line design and supplier selection is proposed to address the shortcomings in which a multi-objective optimization model is formulated to determine their specifications and select suppliers for maximizing the profit, quality and performance as well as minimizing the cost of the product line. In addition, joint-spacing mapping is introduced to help estimate market share of products and indicate positions of product variants. The proposed methodology can provide decision makers with a better tradeoff among various objectives of product line design, and define market positions of product variants explicitly. The results generated based on the methodology could help companies develop product lines with higher profits, better product quality and larger market share to be obtained. A case study of a product line design of notebook computers was performed to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology. The results have shown that Pareto optimal product line designs and the specifications of product variants can be determined. Suppliers of components and modules can be selected with considerations of minimum sourcing cost, and maximum performance and quality of product variants. Prices and positions of the product variants can also be determined.

A Toolset for Checking SPL Refinements

Developers evolve software product lines (SPLs) manually or using typical program refactoring tools. However, when evolving an SPL to introduce new features or to improve its design, it is important to make sure that the behavior of existing prod- ucts is not affected. Typical program refactorings cannot guarantee that because the SPL context goes beyond code and other kinds of core assets, and involves additional artifacts such as feature models and configuration knowledge. Besides that, we typi- cally have to deal with a set of alternative assets that do not constitute a well-formed program in an SPL. As a result, manual changes and existing program refactoring tools may introduce behavioral changes or invalidate existing product configurations. To re- duce such risks, we propose approaches and implement four tools for making product line evolution safer. These tools check if SPL transformations preserve the behavior of the original SPL products. They implement different and practical approximations of refinement notions from a theory for safely evolving SPLs. Besides specifying the algorithms of each approach, we compare them with respect to soundness, performance and code coverage in 35 evolution scenarios of an SPL with 32 KLOC.