Process-centered model engineering

Abstract

A new information system landscape is emerging that will be more model-centered than object-oriented, characterized by many models of low granularity and high abstraction. These models may describe various aspects of a system such as products, structural organization and processes. This latter category may be refined into manufacturing, software and business processes for example. Each of these sub-domains share common concerns such as the definition of work items, performers, inputs and outputs, etc. However, as they may be represented using separate meta-models, there is therefore a risk of facing an uncontrollable number of meta-models that all redefine similar modeling constructs. It would be a wise initiative to put all these contributions together and to study what may be common and what should stay specific. We underline some similarities between process meta-models and we sketch out how they could be organized.