Enabling Widespread Configuration of Conceptual Models - An XML Approach

Herwig, Sebastian; Stein, Armin

Abstract

The manual adaptation of conceptual models in general and reference models in particular is a time consuming and error prone task, which has to be carefully conducted. The configurative reference modeling approach promises support for the model developer as well as for the model user, as certain parts of a model can be automatically removed with respect to the requirements of a certain perspective. By this automation, the risk of creating faulty models during adaptation can be highly reduced. However, up to now this approach exists in terms of its conceptual specification, leaving software support to a proprietary prototype, not providing support for widespread modeling tools, which is necessary for acceptance and applicability of the approach. To face this gap, our approach proposes an XML schema, enabling the configuration of serialized conceptual model data of virtually any modeling language and any modeling tool capable of XML export.