System and a method for generating a domain-specific software solution

• US 8,752,004 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2011
• Issued: 06/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Lian, Li, Ceugniet, Xavier
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Don
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rivera, Anibal
• Application Number:
  US13/248,534
• Publication Number:
  US 20120084748A1
• Time in Patent Office: 985 Days
• US Class Current: 717/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/35 model driven
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/36 Software reuse

Abstract

A method for generating a domain-specific software solution may include receiving a request for a solution model to accomplish one or more tasks. A domain model may be selected in response to the request for the solution model. The solution model may be configured based on the selected domain model. The solution model may be configured by selecting a set of candidate technical assets for each task of the solution model. The solution model may also be configured by determining for each candidate technical asset if the one or more requirements of the task of the solution model are satisfiable by the candidate technical asset. The solution model may be further configured by selecting a technical asset for each task to be included in a solution implementation.

Claims

1. A method for generating a domain-specific software solution comprising:

providing a plurality of domain models stored in an asset repository, each domain model comprising a set of task classes each associated with one or more respective tasks and a set of requirement classes each defining one or more requirements associated with said respective tasks;

providing a plurality of technical assets associated with each domain model, each technical asset being associated with an asset descriptor identifying at least one task class and at least one requirement class associated with the at least one task class of said associated domain model;

providing a solution model for a given domain model, the given domain model being selected from the plurality of said domain models stored in the asset repository, said solution model comprising the set of task classes of said given domain model and the set of requirement classes associated with said set of task classes in said given domain model;

for each task class in the solution model, preselecting candidate technical assets associated with said given domain model if said task class or a parent class of said task class is identified in a respective asset descriptor associated with each technical asset;

for each candidate technical asset preselected for a task class, determining at least one requirements set identifying one or more requirements based on conditions related to the one or more requirements associated with said task class in the asset descriptor and the one or more requirements associated with said task in the solution model; and

selecting one of the candidate technical assets among said candidate technical assets preselected for a task of said solution model to implement said task based on the at least one requirements set determined for each of the candidate technical assets.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said preselecting step further comprises determining a score for each requirements set, and wherein said selecting step comprises selecting the candidate technical asset to implement the task of said solution model from the scores determined for the requirements sets of each candidate technical asset.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the score of each requirements set is determined from the number of requirements belonging to the requirements set.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the score of each requirements set is determined from an individual score associated with each requirement belonging to the requirements set.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein said preselecting step further comprises for each candidate technical asset preselected for a given task of the solution model, calculating a task score for the task from the scores calculated for each requirements set associated with said technical asset.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said task score is calculated by summing the scores of each requirements set.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein each domain model further comprises at least one concept class, each concept class designating one or more concept entities required to perform one of the tasks among the tasks associated with said task classes.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein each asset descriptor associated with each technical asset comprises a task property associated with a list of task individuals identifying the tasks implemented by said technical asset and for each task individual identifying a requirement property identifying the requirements covered by the task.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the solution model further comprises one or more concept classes and properties, said properties including:

a solution concepts property related to one or more concept individuals of said concept classes or to said concept classes; and

a solution task property related to one or more task individuals in said solution model, each task individual being associated with a requirement property designating a set of values for requirement individuals instantiated from the requirement class which the task satisfies and each task individual being associated with an implementation information property designating an technical asset identifier selected to implement the task.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein each task individual instantiates an input/output property identifying one or more concept classes related to one or more concept entities required as input/output of the implemented task.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of determining said at least one requirements set comprises comparing a list of requirements assigned to said task in the solution model and a list of requirements defined for said task class in said asset descriptor.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of determining said at least one requirements set comprises:

adding a requirement assigned to said task in a set of covered requirements if said requirement is included in the requirements defined for said task class in said asset descriptor;

adding a requirement assigned to said task in a set of uncovered requirements if said requirement is not included in the requirements defined for said task class in said asset descriptor; and

adding a requirement that is not assigned to said task in a set of auxiliary covered requirements if said requirement is included in the requirements defined for said task class in said asset descriptor.

13. A method for generating a domain-specific software solution, comprising:

receiving, by a processor, a request for a solution model to accomplish one or more tasks;

selecting, by the processor, a domain model in response to the request for the solution model, the domain model being selected from a plurality of domain models stored in a repository;

configuring, by the processor, the solution model based on the selected domain model, wherein configuring the solution model comprises;

selecting a set of candidate technical assets for each task of the solution model, wherein each task has one or more requirements;

determining for each candidate technical asset of the set of candidate technical assets for each task if the one or more requirements of the task of the solution model are satisfiable by the candidate technical asset;

selecting a technical asset from the set of candidate technical assets for each task to be included in a solution implementation in response to the candidate technical asset satisfying the one or more requirements of the task of the solution model; and

implementing, by the processor, the solution in response to selecting the technical assets for each task of the solution model.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising determining a score for each requirement satisfied by the selected technical asset.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising determining a task score associated with each selected technical asset by summing the score for each requirement, wherein each requirement is one of a covered requirement, an uncovered requirement and an auxiliary covered requirement.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising selecting the technical asset having a highest task score to implement a corresponding task of the solution model.

17. A system for generating a domain-specific software solution, comprising:

a processor;

a repository for storing a plurality of domain models associated with the processor;

a solution model configurator operable on the processor, wherein the solution model configurator configures a solution model based on a selected domain model;

a plurality of reusable technical assets stored on the repository, wherein each reusable technical asset is adapted to satisfy one or more requirements of an associated task of the domain model; and

a solution generation unit to select reusable technical assets from the plurality of reusable technical assets to implement tasks configured in the solution model, wherein a set candidate technical assets for each task of the solution model are preselected from the plurality of reusable technical assets in response to the associated task of the domain model being identified in a respective asset descriptor for each candidate technical asset.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

a module to select the set of candidate technical assets for each task of the solution model from the plurality of reusable technical assets, wherein each task of the solution model has one or more requirements;

a module to determine for each candidate technical asset of the set of candidate technical assets for each task if the one or more requirements of the task of the solution model are satisfiable by the candidate technical asset;

a module to select a technical asset from the set of candidate technical assets for each task to be included in a solution implementation in response to the candidate technical asset satisfying the one or more requirements of the task of the solution model; and

a module to implement the solution in response to selecting the technical assets for each task of the solution model.

19. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

a technical asset selection unit to select a set of candidate technical assets for each task of the solution model based on information maintained in an asset descriptor; and

a solution integration unit to generate a solution and integrate the selected technical assets in association with corresponding tasks.

20. A computer program product for generating a domain-specific software solution, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to receive a request for a solution model to accomplish one or more tasks;

computer readable program code configured to select a domain model in response to the request for the solution model, the domain model being selected from a plurality of domain models stored in a repository;

computer readable program code configured to configure the solution model based on the selected domain model;

computer readable program code configured to select a set of candidate technical assets for each task of the solution model, wherein each task has one or more requirements;

computer readable program code configured to determine for each candidate technical asset of the set of candidate technical assets for each task if the one or more requirements of the task of the solution model are satisfiable by the candidate technical asset;

computer readable program code configured to select a technical asset from the set of candidate technical assets for each task to be included in a solution implementation in response to the candidate technical asset satisfying the one or more requirements of the task of the solution model; and

computer readable program code configured to implement the solution in response to selecting the technical assets for each task of the solution model.