About the project
QiM started in Januray 2007 and is an internal project run by SINTEF ICT.
Background
A model is a representation of a system that hides some details to assist focusing on a special viewpoint; for example structure of a system or its processes. The usage of models in software development is the de facto standard but mainly for communication with stakeholders and for analyzing the problem, while detailed design has been code-centric. Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) is the term used for software development processes that are model-centric as opposed to code-centric. The motivation is to develop complex and large software systems that are easier to maintain and extend. This relies on the fact that visual models are easier to understand for humans than code, and several tasks during development can be done semi-automatically on the models by tools; thus reducing manual work which is fault-prone. Systems will also be more dependable and secure since modeling makes them more “transparent”.
Motivation
In MDE, developing high quality systems depends on developing high quality models and performing transformations that preserve model quality or even improve it. Without quality assurance, models can become complex, incomplete and inconsistent with each other. Quality assurance techniques such as testing, inspections or software measurement are well researched for programming languages, while research on quality in modeling is still in the infancy stage.
Goals
This project will develop a framework including quality goals, metrics and methods to evaluate quality in the context of MDE. Metrics should allow measuring quality of models or methods in a systematic, easy and repeatable way and add value to the engineering process. Related to measurement is identifying tools or developing one that can perform the measurement. The project is planned for two years to allow iteration over needs and goals, development and empirical studies for reflection and evaluation. The project is hosted in the MDE group of the CTS department, but since its focus spans over other departments, we will take advantage of other groups’ competence by arranging internal workshops to discuss the results and get feedback.