Reusable Model Structures and Behaviors for Software Processes

Abstract

An organization of increasingly complex system dynamics model structures and behaviors has been developed to promote modeling reuse for software processes. It uses an object-oriented framework for describing structures in a class hierarchy with inheritance relationships. This original approach provides a set of common assets that can be referenced for a “product line” of software process models. The structures and their behaviors are process patterns that frequently occur, and the recurring structures are model building blocks that can be reused. They provide a framework for understanding, modifying and creating system dynamics models regardless of experience. Previous work can be understood easier and the structures incorporated into new models with minimal modification. A goal of this work is to help accelerate software process modeling and simulation activities. Experience indicates that the model assets scale from small to large, complex models. Examples of the constructs and executable versions of associated models are also available.