A Framework for Model Version Management in a Design Process

SILVIO GONNET; HORACIO LEONE

Buenos Aires

Congreso; SEKE´2001 - 13th International Conference on Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering; 2001

Knowledge Systems Institute, USA. Co-Sponsored by Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica, Argentina; Universidad Nacional de Santiago del Estero, Argentina; Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, España

In general, the design process involves many creative and some times unstructured activities, with an opportunistic control flow. During this process, several different models are generated (transformed and refined), which have different levels of abstraction of the object being designed. This object may be an information system, an industrial piece of equipment, or a chemical process plant. Consequently, there is a need for tools able to capture and manage this process. Such tools must allow tracing the design process and analyzing of the process rationale. An object-oriented framework to support the model version management during the design process is introduced. The framework is defined using the object-oriented paradigm; and the situational calculus syntax is used to formally express the existence of an object and its structure in a given model version. One of the main goals is to maintain consistency and navigability among the various models and their versions, which are generated during the design process. The specialization of the framework, according to a particular domain, allows the use of a given development methodology with the desired level of detail.