Process Standardization to Support Service Process Assessment and Re-engineering

AbstractService Engineering (SE) discipline is currently supporting companies during the engineering and re-engineering phases of their service offering. With the support of SE methods, companies can undertake their servitization journey with the best premise to gain as well as deliver value to their customers. For this purpose, the Service Engineering Methodology (SEEM) has been proposed. The SEEM entails methods to design service concepts and processes capable of balancing value between customers and the company. Some industrial cases, carried out in collaboration with ABB, a leading provider in power and automation technology, demonstrate the effectiveness of such methodology in the re-engineering of existing services in B2B context. Despite that, the cases show that the SEEM application is time consuming, especially in the validation of the service provision process. Thus, in order to facilitate and speed up the implementation of the methodology, a standard process for service provision becomes relevant. Then, starting from the re-engineering of the existing product-oriented services offered by ABB, this paper aims at laying the foundation for the definition of a reference model and a standard process model for product-oriented service delivery. The results will support the SEEM adoption and the definition of service processes avoiding the design of customized models, that cannot be compared and adapted to different realities. In line with what has been found in literature, the definition of a possible reference model and a preliminary standard process model are presented

Towards Erlang-based ABS Microservices Framework for Software Product Line Development

The current widely used software system can be categorised as a large or very large decentralised control system with various requirements and continuous interchangeable elements. This characteristic leads to a need to control the variability to manage such systems. Software Product Line Engineering (SPLE) is one of the approaches that can manage the variability by developing sets of products. However, there is a need for support tools for development with software product line engineering. One language that supports the SPLE process is Abstract Behavioral Specification (ABS). Some SPLE research has used ABS to create frameworks that support the SPLE process. ABS Microservices is one research that utilises ABS to create a web framework that supports the SPLE process. This framework uses ABS to generate Java-based applications. The research interest in the web application is driven by the fact that it is one of the software types widely used by organisations and serves as the primary support of their business. Microservices are highly interoperable, thus enabling researchers to integrate different technology from other research. However, there is a need for renewal to the ABS Microservices framework. There is a need for more variants of SPLE-enabled frameworks that use more programming language as a specific programming language has its strength and weakness. Deprecation of the Java backend of the ABS opens a new exploration of another web framework that uses other ABS backend languages. We present the ABS microservices web framework based on Erlang OTP. We choose Erlang because it promises more efficient resource usage and the Erlang backend is one of the ABS backends with the most available features. This research aims to create an entry point for ABS Microservices to support more language. This research shows that the Erlang variant of ABS Microservices has less resource usage than the Java variant. Hence, this promises more options to develop product lines using ABS Microservices

Multi attribute architecture design decision for core asset derivation

Software Product Line (SPL) is an effective approach in software reuse in which core assets can be shared among the members of the product line with an explicit treatment of variability. Core assets, which are developed for reuse in domain engineering, are selected for product specific derivation in application engineering. Decision making support during product derivation is crucial to assist in making multiple decisions during product specific derivation. Multiple decisions are to be resolved at the architectural level as well as the detailed design level, address the need for assisting the decision making process during core asset derivation. Architectural level decision making is based on imprecise, uncertain and subjective nature of stakeholder for making architectural selection based on non- functional requirements (NFR). Furthermore, detail design level involves the selection of suitable features which have the rationale behind each decision. The rationale for the selection, if not documented properly, will also result in loss of tacit knowledge. Therefore, a multi-attribute architecture design decision technique is proposed to overcome the above mentioned problem. The technique combines Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP) with lightweight architecture design decision documentation to support the decision making during core asset derivation. We demonstrate our approach using the case study of Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR). The case study implementation shows showed that the proposed technique supports software engineer in the process of decision making at the architecture and detail design levels

Incorporating modern development and evaluation techniques into the creation of large-scale, spacecraft control software

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (p. 165-172).One of the major challenges facing the development of today's safety- and mission-critical space systems involves the construction of software to support the goals and objectives of these missions, especially those associated with NASA's Space Exploration Initiative, which has now become the focus of the US Space Program and its contractors. Consequently, the software used to implement much of the functionality in the various flight vehicles and ground facilities must be given special consideration. This dissertation outlines a new approach to spacecraft software development that focuses on incorporating modem software engineering techniques into the spacecraft domain including (1) a product-line approach to the software development enterprise and (2) a software architecture-centric design process to support that approach. The new product-line approach is demonstrated through its application to the Exploration Initiative. The technical and managerial aspects of the product line, which are required to successfully field the line, are described in detail. Among the technical artifacts developed to support the line, the software architecture is the most important.(cont.) Consequently, it was necessary to create a systems engineering-based development, evaluation, and selection process for the construction of the software product-line architecture. This development approach is known as Multi-Attribute Software Architecture Trade Analysis (MASATA) and is demonstrated on the vehicles and facilities of the Exploration Initiative, the Crew Exploration Vehicle in particular. Based on the functional requirements of the Exploration Initiative and the quality attributes desired by the stakeholders, a software product line architecture is presented. The desired quality attributes include analyzability with respect to safety, ease of verification and validation, sustainability, affordability, buildability, ability to meet real-time requirements and constraints, and "monitor"-ability. Several architectural style options were selected for evaluation with respect to the requirements and attributes through MASATA including traditional subsystem-based decomposition, state analysis, functional decomposition and implicit invocation. The conceptual software product-line architecture selected to support the Exploration Initiative is based upon these results.by Kathryn Anne Weiss.Ph.D

Production batch sizing and inventory level control using simulation software

Computer simulation has great application potential in the area of Production Engineering as a tool to support decision making as it allows to simulate the functioning of a real system through logical relationships, in order to observe its behavior under different scenarios. Which could not be practiced in the real system. In line with this aspect, the present work aims to present a report on the application of simulation for the design of production batches and inventory control, highlighting the process necessary for the construction of the generated simulation model, as well as the challenges and opportunities observed. In order to achieve the proposed objective, a literature review was carried out on the topics of interest; the choice and understanding of simulation software and; the survey of data from a large auto parts manufacturer located in the interior of the state of São Paulo. The main results were an increase in production volume from the inclusion and dimensioning of a buffer after the assembly process and a balance between the number of items of each component of the product structure in the supply with the real capacity of manufacturing cell processing. Cabe ressaltar que o modelo de simulação produto da pesquisa deste artigo pode ser aplicado como um sistema de apoio à decisão do gestor para a elaboração do planejamento estratégico e do planejamento operacional com o propósito de melhorar a capacidade de análise e decisão. It is important mentioning that the simulation model in this article can be applied as a support system decision for the preparation of strategic planning and operational planning, with the purpose of improving the analysis capacity for decision-making

Analyzing impact of experience curve on ROI in the software product line adoption process

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Context: Experience curve is a well-known concept in management and education science, which explains the phenomenon of increased worker efficiency with repetitive production of a good or service. Objective: We aim to analyze the impact of the experience curve effect on the Return on Investment (ROI) in the software product line engineering (SPLE) process. Method: We first present the results of a systematic literature review (SLR) to explicitly depict the studies that have considered the impact of experience curve effect on software development in general. Subsequently, based on the results of the SLR, the experience curve effect models in the literature, and the SPLE cost models, we define an approach for extending the cost models with the experience curve effect. Finally, we discuss the application of the refined cost models in a real industrial context. Results: The SLR resulted in 15 primary studies which confirm the impact of experience curve effect on software development in general but the experience curve effect in the adoption of SPLE got less attention. The analytical discussion of the cost models and the application of the refined SPLE cost models in the industrial context showed a clear impact of the experience curve effect on the time-to-market, cost of development and ROI in the SPLE adoption process. Conclusions: The proposed analysis with the newly defined cost models for SPLE adoption provides a more precise analysis tool for the management, and as such helps to support a better decision making. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

PuLSE-I: Deriving instances from a product line infrastructure

Reusing assets during application engineering promises to improve the efficiency of systems development. However, in order to benefit from reusable assets, application engineering processes must incorporate when and how to use the reusable assets during single system development. However, when and how to use a reusable asset depends on what types of reusable assets have been created.Product line engineering approaches produce a reusable infrastructure for a set of products. In this paper, we present the application engineering process associated with the PuLSE product line software engineering method - PuLSE-I. PuLSE-I details how single systems can be built efficiently from the reusable product line infrastructure built during the other PuLSE activities