Low-Code as Enabler of Digital Transformation in Manufacturing Industry

[EN] Currently, enterprises have to make quick and resilient responses to changing market requirements. In light of this, low-code development platforms provide the technology mechanisms to facilitate and automate the development of software applications to support current enterprise needs and promote digital transformation. Based on a theory-building research methodology through the literature and other information sources review, the main contribution of this paper is the current characterisation of the emerging low-code domain following the foundations of the computer-aided software engineering field. A context analysis, focused on the current status of research related to the low-code development platforms, is performed. Moreover, benchmarking among the existing low-code development platforms addressed to manufacturing industry is analysed to identify the current lacking features. As an illustrative example of the emerging low-code paradigm and respond to the identified uncovered features, the virtual factory open operating system (vf-OS) platform is described as an open multi-sided low-code framework able to manage the overall network of a collaborative manufacturing and logistics environment that enables humans, applications, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices to seamlessly communicate and interoperate in the interconnected environment, promoting resilient digital transformation.This work was supported in part by the European Commission under the Grant Agreements No. 723710 and 825631.Sanchis, R.; Garcia-Perales, O.; Fraile Gil, F.; Poler, R. (2020). Low-Code as Enabler of Digital Transformation in Manufacturing Industry. Applied Sciences. 10(1):1-17. https://doi.org/10.3390/app10010012S117101Sanchis, R., & Poler, R. (2019). Enterprise Resilience Assessment—A Quantitative Approach. Sustainability, 11(16), 4327. doi:10.3390/su11164327Lowcomote: Training the Next Generation of Experts in Scalable Low-Code Engineering Platformshttps://www.se.jku.at/lowcomote-training-the-next-generation-of-experts-in-scalable-low-code-engineering-platforms/Waszkowski, R. (2019). Low-code platform for automating business processes in manufacturing. IFAC-PapersOnLine, 52(10), 376-381. doi:10.1016/j.ifacol.2019.10.060Lundell, B., & Lings, B. (2004). Changing perceptions of CASE technology. Journal of Systems and Software, 72(2), 271-280. doi:10.1016/s0164-1212(03)00087-6Fuggetta, A. (1993). A classification of CASE technology. Computer, 26(12), 25-38. doi:10.1109/2.247645Troy, D., & McQueen, R. (1997). An approach for developing domain specific CASE tools and its application to manufacturing process control. Journal of Systems and Software, 38(2), 165-192. doi:10.1016/s0164-1212(96)00120-3Huff, C. C. (1992). Elements of a realistic CASE tool adoption budget. Communications of the ACM, 35(4), 45-54. doi:10.1145/129852.129856Orlikowski, W. J. (1993). CASE Tools as Organizational Change: Investigating Incremental and Radical Changes in Systems Development. MIS Quarterly, 17(3), 309. doi:10.2307/249774Iivari, J. (1996). Why are CASE tools not used? Communications of the ACM, 39(10), 94-103. doi:10.1145/236156.236183Zolotas, C., Chatzidimitriou, K. C., & Symeonidis, A. L. (2018). RESTsec: a low-code platform for generating secure by design enterprise services. Enterprise Information Systems, 12(8-9), 1007-1033. doi:10.1080/17517575.2018.1462403GAVRILĂ, V., BĂJENARU, L., & DOBRE, C. (2019). Modern Single Page Application Architecture: A Case Study. Studies in Informatics and Control, 28(2). doi:10.24846/v28i2y201911Wu, Y., Wang, S., Bezemer, C.-P., & Inoue, K. (2018). How do developers utilize source code from stack overflow? Empirical Software Engineering, 24(2), 637-673. doi:10.1007/s10664-018-9634-5Hamming, R. W. (1950). Error Detecting and Error Correcting Codes. Bell System Technical Journal, 29(2), 147-160. doi:10.1002/j.1538-7305.1950.tb00463.xForresterhttps://go.forrester.com/The Maturity of Visual Programming. Режим дoступуhttp://www. craft. ai/blog/the-maturity-of-visualprogrammingVirtual Factory Operating Systemwww.vf-OS.euvf-OS D1.1: Vision Consensushttps://www.vf-os.eu/resultsvf-OS Wikihttps://cigipsrv1.cigip.upv.es:4430/mediawiki/index.php/Wiki_Homevf-OS D2.1: Global Architecture Definitionhttps://www.vf-os.eu/resultsSiemens MindSpherehttps://new.siemens.com/vn/en/products/software/mindsphere.htmlPTC ThingWorx Platformhttps://www.ptc.com/en/resources/iiot/product-brief/thingworx-platformGE Predixhttps://www.ge.com/digital/iiot-platformIBM Cloudhttps://www.ibm.com/cloudMicrosoft Azure IOT Suitehttps://azure.microsoft.com/es-es/blog/microsoft-azure-iot-suite-connecting-your-things-to-the-cloud/Software AG ADAMOShttps://www.softwareag.com/corporate/company/adamos/default.htm

The appropriation of a software ecosystem : a practice take on the usage, maintenance and modification of the eclipse IDE

This thesis was written in order to gain a deeper understanding of the appropriation of software in groups and organizations. In doing so, it focuses on software created under the modern software engineering trend software ecosystems. Software ecosystems have a major influence on software development, as they rely on massive usage of distributed software development, open source models and modularization. It is unclear if existing models to explain appropriation still hold good. Furthermore, it has to be explored whether current appropriation support is still appropriate and beneficial or if we need new ideas to help users cope with these developments. In order to achieve these objectives, this work is mainly based on an empirical field study, which investigates workgroups at seven German organizations that use the Eclipse IDE, an extremely modularized and adaptable software system, developed by a globally active ecosystem of large corporations, small businesses and even hobbyists. Using the qualitative analysis approach of the grounded theory method and appropriation as a lens for this research endeavor, observations and interviews as well as artifacts were analyzed, uncovering practices that are part of Eclipse usage and appropriation. They are identified and discussed from the backdrop of software ecosystems – viewed from a users perspective. Examples are the sheer amount of appropriation activities at the shop floor, the dilemma of software maintenance, that comes with continuously developed but sometimes unstable technology, practices as learning or tailoring, influences on practices stemming from the software ecosystem, the organization and the group. Grounded in these results, suggestions for the design of appropriation support are given and prototypically implemented, which reflect the embeddedness of individuals and groups in the software ecosystem. They provide a fresh perspective, based on peer-to-peer technology and awareness mechanisms.Diese Arbeit wurde erstellt, um ein tieferes Verständnis über die Aneignung von Software in Gruppen und Organisationen zu erlangen. Dabei fokussiert sie auf eine Software die unter den Bedingungen eines modernen Trends im Software Engineering entstanden ist: Der Software Ökosystem Bewegung. Software Ökosysteme beeinflussen die Entwicklung von moderner Software maßgeblich, da sie verstärkt auf örtlich verteilte Entwicklung, Open Source Modelle und Modularisierung setzen. Bisher ist ungeklärt, ob existierende Ansätze zum Verständnis von Aneignung unter diesen Gegebenheiten ihre Gültigkeit behalten. Weitergehend ist zu untersuchen ob existierende Maßnahmen der Aneignungsunterstützung auch in diesem Kontext angemessen und vorteilhaft wirken, oder ob neue Ansätze entwickelt werden müssen um Nutzer heute sinnvoll zu unterstützen. Um diese Ziele zu erreichen, basiert diese Arbeit hauptsächlich auf einer qualitativ-empirischen Feldstudie in Arbeitsgruppen sieben Deutscher Organisationen, die alle die Eclipse IDE einsetzen – ein extrem modularisiertes und anpassbares Software System das durch ein global agierendes Software Ökosystem aus großen Konzernen, KMU und sogar Hobbyisten hergestellt wird. Mit Hilfe des qualitativen Analyseansatzes in Form der Grounded Theory Method und Aneignung als Linse für dieses Forschungsvorhaben wurden die Daten aus Beobachtungen, Interviews und bei Arbeitsplatzbesuchen gesammelter Artefakte analysiert. Dabei wurden Praktiken die Teil der Eclipse Nutzung und Aneignung sind, erfasst näher definiert und vor dem Hintergrund von Software Ökosystemen und aus Perspektive der Nutzer diskutiert. Die Ergebnisse umfassen unter anderem eine Reihe verschiedener Aneignungsaktivitäten, das Dilemma der Wartung komplexer Software Systeme welche durch die kontinuierliche Entwicklung und teilweise instabile Komponenten entsteht, Praktiken wie Lernen oder Anpassen, sowie Einflüsse auf die Arbeitspraktiken die aus dem Software Ökosystem, der Gruppe oder der Organisation stammen. Begründet auf den Ergebnissen dieser Forschung, werden Vorschläge für das Design von Aneignungsunterstützung gegeben und prototypisch realisiert. Diese spiegeln wider wie Individuen und Gruppen in das Software Ökosystem eingebettet sind und präsentieren durch den Einsatz von Peer-to-Peer Technik und Awareness Mechanismen eine neue Perspektive auf Aneignungsunterstützung