Product portfolio scope optimization based on features and goals

Abstract

In this paper we propose a mathematical program able to optimize the product portfolio scope of a software product line and sketch both a development and a release planning. Our model is based on the description of customer needs in terms of goals. We show that this model can be instantiated in several contexts such as a market customization strategy or a mass-customization strategy. It can deal with Software Product Line development from scratch as well as starting from a legacy software base. We demonstrate its applicability with an example based on a case study.

Software product line engineering and variability management: achievements and challenges

“…One facet of product line scoping is the definition of the product portfolio, i.e., the set of applications offered for a certain market segment by a particular business unit or company. Further facets commonly include the definition of which set of features, as well as which set of domain artifacts can be economi-cally reused [28], [29]. If the scope of a software product line is defined too broadly, domain artifacts may become too generic and the effort of realizing them may become too high.…”

“… Scope optimization: How to optimize the scope of a product line with regard to features and domain artifacts [29]? Besides considering economic and market aspects, scoping has to consider technical aspects like the life-cycle management of features and their realization in domain artifacts (including architectural complexity) and has to take the economic viability of the whole product line and its artifacts into account.…”

“…Or, as a result of requirements validation, scoping decisions could be questioned. More generally, how is scoping and requirements engineering aligned to support a smooth definition of an optimal set of common and variable requirements [1], [29]?…”

A Literature Review on Feature Diagram Product Counting and Its Usage in Software Product Line Economic Models

“…Economic models SIMPLE [4,31,33], COPLIMO [20,39,51,55,56] and others [52,57] estimate with Equation 10 7 the cost savings (CSAV) for building a family of products as a PL (CPL) versus building them as standalone products (CNPL).…”

Evaluating Modeling Languages: An Example from the Requirements Domain

“…In contrast, goal-oriented languages such as i* [23] have benefited from a body of evaluation work using a variety of evaluation strategies (e.g., [9,12,[20][21][22]). Example Techne or Techne-style models have been provided as part of successive work on Techne [7,11]; however, these examples were created to illustrate particular uses of or extensions to the language, rather than for evaluation purposes.…”