A functional framework for evaluating method engineering environments: the case of Maestro II/ Decamerone and MetaEdit+

CASE environments with method customisation capabilities and Computer Aided Method Engineering (CAME) environments have emerged during the last few years. While many research papers discuss the principles of method engineering and suggest requirements for new environments, we do not have critical evaluations of CAME environments using a wider method engineering framework. The aims of this study are twofold: 1) to build a preliminary framework for comparative studies of CAME environments, and 2) to increase the knowledge of the ‘state of the art’ in CAME by evaluating two CAME environments. We adapt a functional framework — originally built for CASE technology — to examine the following two research questions: How well can a method be defined in a CAME environment?, and How well is the defined method supported in a customisable CASE environment? The environments chosen for evaluation are Maestro II /Decamerone, and MetaEdit+. As an outcome, we will describe what framework aspects these environments support, and discuss the aspects not supported.