DOMAIN SPECIFIC SOFTWARE PROCESS AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGY

THIS PROPOSAL OUTLINES A FIRST-PHASE PLAN FOR CONSTRUCTING AN ENVIRONMENT TO DESCRIBE, PROTOTYPE, AND MANAGE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES. KEY TOOLS OF THIS ENVIRONMENT INCLUDE SEMANTICALLY RICH GRAPHICAL EDITORS TO DESCRIBE PROCESSES AND AN INTERPRETER FOR PROCESS SIMULATION AND INTERACTIVE EVALUATION OF SCHEDULING AND RESOURCE ALLOCATION AGAINST THE MODEL. THE ENVIRONMENT WILL BE BUILT ON PROTO+, A PROGRAMMING ENVIRONMENT BEING DEVELOPED AT ISSI WHICH IS BASED ON A HIERARCHICAL DATAFLOW LANGUAGE FOR PROTOTYPING DESIGNS. THE GOAL IS TO ENABLE A PROCESS ENGINEER OR PROGRAM MANAGER TO CONDUCT FEASIBILITY STUDIES IN SPECIFICATION, ADAPTATION, AND TAILORING OF PROCESSES TO SPECIFIC SOFTWARE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES. THEREFORE, WE BUILD THE ENVIRONMENT ON A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF THREE INTERDEPENDENT VIEWS OF A PROCESS - ACTIVITY, COMMUNICATION, AND INFRASTRUCTURE (YEH ET AL., 1991). IN HARNESSING THESE PERSPECTIVES, WE ARE ABLE TO PROVIDE MANAGERS WITH ADDITIONAL HANDLES TO TACKLE THE COMPLEXITY OF SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS. A UNIQUE FEATURE OF THE PROPOSED PROGRAM THAT WILL ENABLE REACHING THIS GOAL IS THAT, IN ADDITION TO PROVIDING TOOLS FOR PROCESS DESCRIPTION, THE ENVIRONMENT WILL EMBODY FACILITIES FOR PROCESS SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS. USING PROCESSES SIMULATION, MANAGERS ARE ABLE TO ANSWER MANY "WHAT-IF" QUESTIONS BEFORE ENACTING THE PROCESS OR CHANGES TO THE PROCESS. THE R & D DESCRIBED HEREIN WILL SEEK TO DEFINE A VISUAL LANGUAGE FOR DESCRIBING AND SIMULATING THE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS. THE ANTICIPATED RESULTS WILL PROVIDE DEVELOPERS WITH THE TOOLS FOR IMPROVING THEIR PROCESS. POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS INCLUDE INTERACTIVE PROCESS EDITORS AND PROCESS SIMULATORS.