Model Synchronization with the Role-oriented Single Underlying Model

Models@runtime (M@RT) suffer from information fragmentation across heterogeneous runtime models conforming to several metamodels that are filled with information from a source model. This creates an amount of related models with replicated information. In contrast, a recent approach to software engineering utilizes Single Underlying Model (SUM) to generate views of a software system on demand. The views represent fragments specifying required information for model instances. This results in an increasingly complex source model which is consistent from scratch and views with relations between each other that require complex processes to maintain consistency. Thus, to hold the views and models consistent at runtime, an intuitive approach for the creation of an adaptable SUM should be introduced that permits runtime synchronization and adaptation of views. We propose utilizing the concept of roles in the domain of SUM-based software engineering and M@RT. Based on existing work in the area of role modeling, we present a Role-oriented Single Underlying Model approach that provides a natural way to create views from a running model. We show how the role concept simplifies the creation of runtime models as views from a SUM, provide an incremental view update approach, and introduce a flexible adaptation mechanism. Finally, we illustrate our approach with two example views to explain the benefits of a role-oriented SUM.