A method to generate a feature model from a business process model for business applications

Abstract

The growing competitive market requires high-quality, flexible, and adaptable software to support business activities. Understanding business activities in an organization is the first step in developing business administrative software. Most development methodologies model business processes so as to capture or improve the overall functionality of many organizations (e.g., banks, government and, generally, service organizations). Currently, there are many development methodologies that guide model business activity (e.g., Rational Unified Process, PPC). These methodologies only focus on single system development. Some others focus on how to bridge between business activity and a system model, such as BPM (Business Process Model). On the other hand, SPL (Soft-ware Product Line) practice focus on software reuse by developing a family of systems. Many researchers say software reuse is the answer to improve software quality and productivity. Some of SPL methods try to model business activities such as PLUS, but do not provide business process variability and properly bridge between business activities and software products in the view of end-user or customer. Some researchers attempt to present business process variability by extending existing notation, but do not show how to use this model in do-main analysis. There is no unique or uniform business process for various organizations, but common business processes in same business domain exist. Therefore, it is possible to reuse those common business processes. The primary goal of this thesis is to establish Domain Analysis activities in product line engineering for business applications named FMBP (A Method to Generate a Feature Model from a Business Process Model for Business Applications). It adds domain process analysis to existing domain analysis methods by analyzing common and variable business processes. It shows how to transform BPM (business process model) into DPM (Domain Process Model) and how to org...