Linking Goal-Oriented Requirements and Model-Driven Development - Intentional Perspectives on Information Systems Engineering - page 252

very often too vague. An important issue that is still pending is how to properly link
the GORE models with the models of specific MDD approaches.
In general terms, for the application of GORE models to software production
processes, the specified models must be manually analyzed to obtain the correspond-
ing software representations. As it is reported in [ 37] , the impossibility of applying
requirement models directly into a MDD software production process is due to their
nature since these models are centered on problem analysis and not on software
representation. Unlike requirement models, the models involved in MDD processes
are formulated to provide a precise and complete conceptual representation of the
intended software systems in order to achieve automatic software generation by
means of model compilations.
Thus, we can conclude that for the appropriate application of GORE modeling to
MDD processes, an appropriate input for the model compilation processes must be
obtained from the defined requirement models (i.e. to generate an MDD conceptual
model from a GORE model).
This chapter presents an approach for automatic linking of GORE modeling
and MDD processes. It has been elaborated by taking as reference the experience
obtained from the integration of the i ∗ framework and an MDD approach called
OO-Method, which has been successfully applied to the industrial software develop-
ment [34] . From this scenario, we show how the GORE models can be transformed
into the corresponding MDD-oriented conceptual models by detailing the following:
the customization mechanisms for GORE modeling languages (that are defined to
automate the model transformations); the specification of validation mechanisms to
assure the appropriate model transformations; and the generation of required trans-
formation rules. All of this is done by a generic process that is based on current
modeling standards and technologies to facilitate its application in different MDD
and requirement approaches. Finally, we advocate the use of existent open-source
tools to support the proposed approach.
The rest of this chapter is organized as follows: Section 2 presents the back-
ground related to the i ∗ framework and the OO-Method MDD approach. Section 3
introduces the process proposed to link GORE modeling and MDD processes.
Section 4 presents the related work and a discussion about the proposal. Finally,
Sect. 5 presents our conclusions and further work.
2 Background
This section presents an overview of Goal-Oriented Requirement Engineering
(GORE) modeling, in particular, the i ∗ framework, which is used as reference for
the presented proposal. The OO-Method approach is also briefly presented, since
the experience obtained from the industrial application of this MDD approach
has provided the basis for obtaining our linking approach. The OO-Method
approach is also used for explanation and exemplification purposes throughout this
chapter.