Flexibility and End-User Support in Model-Based Product Line Tools

Software product lines aim at reducing time-to-market and increasing quality through extensive reuse. Effective tool support is essential in product line engineering. Tools need to be flexible and adaptable to support specific needs of engineers in different domains and development contexts. As product lines cover both business and technical aspects, tools need to meet the needs of both business-oriented and technical users. We discuss these challenges using four practical examples, present the DOPLER product line tool suite, and report results of using it in the four examples.