Flexible Specification of Operation Behavior Using Multiple Projections

Journal article, 2014

The execution behavior of a system or a product can often be specified by a set of operations (sometimes called tasks, actions or activities). The process to specify these operations seems to be a real challenge in various situations, for example when designing automation systems or keeping track of the work at an emergency department. To be flexible during design and development, is about coping with uncertainty. However, in practice, specifying operation behavior is often quite inflexible because every possible execution route is explicitly defined. This approach is sometimes refereed to as point-based engineering, which is characterized by the early selection and approval of a single "best" specific solution. This approach can result in neither a robust nor a flexible design process with many rework iterations.