Towards a generic framework for model-driven engineering of software process lines

Situational Method Engineering (SME) approaches help construct bespoke software development processes according to the specifications of the project at hand, but they are time-consuming and costly. A Software Process Line (SPrL) tackles this problem by allowing software processes to be constructed for specific project situations through reusing core process assets. Model-Driven Development (MDD) has been used for automating SPrL Engineering (SPrLE); however, existing model-driven SPrLE methods are deficient as to their coverage of key MDD features. We propose a novel model-driven SPrLE approach that aims to address these shortcomings; it can be regarded as a framework that specifies the model chain and the core model-driven SPrLE activities that should be applied. The approach is yet to be refined and evolved through application to a real-world project; however, a preliminary criteria-based evaluation has shown that the shortcomings of existing SPrLE methods have indeed been addressed by the proposed approach.