access_time 19 de novembro de 2019 às 14:30 até 19 de novembro de 2019 às 16:30
place Anfiteatro PA-3 (Piso -1, Pavilhão de Matemática), IST, Alameda
Enterprise Architecture (EA) models are tools that capture the concepts and relationships that together describe the different enterprise domains. An EA meta-model defines a set of constructs and rules that explicitly describe how to build an EA model. Over time, to keep up with the need to capture a more complex reality in their EA model, enterprises need to evolve their EA meta-model and, consequently, update the existing EA model. However, the task of maintaining the EA model conformance, when the EA meta-model changes, is time-consuming and error-prone due to the complexity of the EA model and the temporal dependencies amongst the model entities. Furthermore, despite the existing EA research efforts on EA model maintenance automation and in the model-driven engineering field regarding metamodel and model co-evolution, there is still a gap in the state-of-the-art towards uniting both lines of research, thus addressing the research problem. In this thesis, we present the Life-Cycle Model Maintenance Framework (LM2F) for co-evolving EA models driven by a set of changes to the EA meta-model. LM2F was developed, applied, and validated using the Design-Science Research method. The framework is composed of two building blocks. The first building block specifies a life-cycle temporal pattern based on the principles of life-cycle modelling. The second building block presents a catalogue of operators that the modeller can use to update the EA model automatically. LM2F has the goal of reducing the modelling time required to update the EA model when changes to the EA meta-model occur and the error-proneness associated to manual modelling while enabling temporal model analysis by providing past, current, and future snapshots of the enterprise’s EA due to its life-cycle property. We developed an implementation of LM2F as a combination of two prototypes: a standalone user interface and a library integrated within a proprietary EA management tool. We applied LM2F to two use cases: a co-evolution scenario using the EA of a fictitious ArchiSurance enterprise and a co-evolution scenario using the EA of a real Portuguese organisation in the energy industry. The framework was validated using an approach for qualitative evaluation in information systems.
local_offer Prova de Doutoramento
person Candidato: Nuno Miguel Carvalho da Silva
supervisor_account Orientador: Prof. Miguel Mira da Silva / Prof. Pedro Manuel Moreira Vaz Antunes de Sousa