Study of Using the Meta-model Based Meta-design Paradigm for Developing and Maintaining Web Applications

When an information system is introduced to an organisation it changes the original business environment thus changes the original requirements. This can lead to the changes to the business processes that information system supports. Also user requests for more functionality as they get used to the system. This gives rise to a cycle of changes known as co-evolution. One way to facilitate co-evolution is to empower end-users to make changes to the web application to accommodate the required changes while using that Web application. This can be achieved through meta-design paradigm. A fundamental objective of a meta-design paradigm is to create socio-technical environment that empowers users to engage actively in the continuous development of systems rather than be restricted to the use of existing systems. Meta-design paradigm can be realised: 1) by providing a technical infrastructure to develop open ended systems that allow end-user developers to evolve the systems; 2) by creating a learning environment which supports end-users to learn and involve in activities required to create / maintain Web applications; and 3) by building a socio-technical environment that allows end-users and professional developers to collaborate in development and maintenance of the system. We developed the necessary technical infrastructure to support meta-design paradigm based on a meta-model of Web applications. This Meta-model based meta-design paradigm supports the development of different types of Web applications required by business organisations and was implemented using Components based eApplication development and deployment System (CBEADS). Using this system we studied how meta-model based meta-design paradigm can be used to develop web applications for three Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs). This study shows that the meta-model based infrastructure can help to establish the infrastructure, learning environment and socio-economic environment to empower end-users to develop Web applications without restricting them to be passive users of the systems.