Conceptual Modeling for Mobile Maintenance: The ComVantage Case

Abstract

The paper presents a fragment of a hybrid modeling method designed for the maintenance subdomain of the ComVantage EU research project. The method as a whole addresses modeling needs for business stakeholders trying to achieve business-IT alignment with the technological specificity of the runtime prototypes of the ComVantage research projectmore specifically, a front-end based on mobile apps with a back-end of Linked Data, in order to support collaborative business processes. Mobile maintenance is one of the project application areas and it has its own domain specificity, captured in the modeling method fragment described by the paper. Concepts from several layers of abstraction have been integrated in a metamodel, partially implemented in a modeling tool. Additionally, an RDF export mechanism has been designed to expose the visual models as RDF data structures, thus bridging the design-time and run-time facets of the project.

Agile Modelling Method Engineering: Lessons Learned in the ComVantage Research Project

“…The modelling method had to be developed iteratively, as requirements evolved and the development of run-time systems also imposed an incremental iterative approach. Details on different snapshots of the evolving modelling method are available in deliverables [3] (de-liverables D311, D312) and previous publications [6][7]. In this paper we will only provide insight for a few modelling elements in order to derive key characteristics for AMME.…”

Implementation and Operation of Collaborative Manufacturing Networks

“…For the hereby presented approach it is essential that role assignments use machine-readable representations so that the semantic relation between a process task and its performing role is preserved beyond the modelling phase, for example through a model serialization. To achieve this, the ComVantage approach relies on a metamodelling platform [7] and an RDF serialization vocabulary discussed in more detail in [8], with a proof-of-concept collaborative modelling tool hosted by the Open Model Initiative [9]. The modelling tool implements the iteratively evolving ComVantage modelling method, whose meta-model specifies the semantic links that can be created by modelers (usually as inter-model hyperlinks) and can be externalized for RDF queries in order to enable the later phases of the ComVantage implementation process (e.g.…”

“…First, App Orchestration deployments can read the Diagrammatic Orchestration Model -a usage precedence graph describing which apps are required for a selected role, and in which order. This model is derived automatically from the business process model by graph transformation means (details in [8]). Second, the Access Control phase can collect the queries assigned to process tasks -they are queries that should be enabled by the policies of endpoint owners, for the specific roles linked to the same tasks.…”