Bridging the requirements–implementation modeling gap with object–process methodology

A model-based system development cycle involves two semantically distinct aspects: the requirements specification and the implementation model. Due to the conceptual and semantic differences between these two major system lifecycle stages, the transition from requirements to implementation is inherently a noncoherent process. Consequently, the system requirements are not faithfully transformed into the working system. This paper introduces an effective solution via an Integrated Modeling Paradigm (IMP) that combines the requirements and implementation domain models into a unified system model that continuously represents the system as it evolves. The IMP was implemented in an Object–Process Methodology (OPM) development environment. This implementation reinforces OPM with the capability to bridge the significant conceptual gap that lies right at the heart of the development process. A user survey has shown that this OPM-based solution is easy to use and can indeed help bridge the information gap, yielding a better match between the required and implemented systems than the currently accepted practice.