Managing Collections of Models in Software Development

The proposal research concerns the creation of innovative tools to improve the quality and effectiveness of modeling in software development. Specifically, the research will focus on three areas: how to express the relationships between models to make sure that models are properly synchronized with each other; how to express different variations within the model so that the same model can be used to produce software for different situations and how to express the intent (purpose) of a model so that it can be more easily understood and checked to make sure that it correctly satisfies its purpose. Although the techniques and tools that will be developed are applicable to any software development environment, special emphasis will be placed on the modeling issues that arise in the automotive industry and specifically, General Motors Canada Ltd. These include: the complexities of collaborative modeling with large and distributed development teams, the use of specialized model types and relationships within automobile design and the reuse of models for multiple vehicle product lines.

Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Marsha Chechik

Student:

Rick Salay

Partner:

General Motors Canada Ltd.

Discipline:

Computer science

Sector:

Automotive and transportation

University:

University of Toronto