Plop

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Towards Method Engineering ofModel-Driven User
Interface Development
Kênia Sousa, Hildeberto Mendonça, Jean
Vanderdonckt Université catholique de Louvain
(UCL) Louvain School of Management
(LSM) Information Systems Unit (ISYS) Belgian
Laboratory of Computer-Human Interaction
(BCHI) TAMODIA 2007
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Motivation

• Professionals working in systems development
  usually follow a defined software development
  process.
• When it comes to User Interface Development
  (UID), many professionals do their activities
  more empirically.
• Model-driven UID comes as a solution to improve
  efficiency of UID methods by reusing models,
  reducing development efforts, etc.
• To make model-driven UID methods applicable in
  the competitive reality of software development
  organizations, they need to be easily adaptable
  to the constraints of specific projects.

(Rosenbaum et al., 2000)
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Flexible UID method

• To help method engineers define a model-driven
  UID method appropriate for the reality of the
  software organization and its projects.
• To make model-driven UID methods efficiently
  applicable in the competitive reality of software
  development organizations.
• There is a need for flexibility
• There are different ways to apply model-based UID
  methods.
• Even following a methodology, UI designers need
  freedom to be creative.
• Software development projects are very specific.

(Saeki, 2003)
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Investigation

• We studied some Model-driven User Interface
  Development Environments and their built-in
  methodologies.
• Not completely flexible, we need one not
  restrictive to the sequence of manipulation of
  models, but concerning the entire set of
  activities, roles, tools, and artifacts.
• Method engineering engineering discipline to
  design, construct and adapt methods, techniques
  and tools for the development of information
  systems.
• proposals to automate method engineering focus on
  system development, letting aside the concerns of
  usability.
• We clearly see a need of interaction between
  MD-UIDEs and method engineering methodologies and
  environments.

(Brinkkemper, 1996)
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UID Activities

• Method Engineering of Model-Driven User Interface
  Development
• The Cameleon Reference Framework supports the
  realization of multiples types of development
  paths within a single framework.
• The language UsiXML was created to describe UIs
  for multiple contexts of use.

(Limbourg Vanderdonckt, 2004)
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Cameleon Reference Framework
TTarget context of use
SSource context of use
User S
User T
Task and Domain T
Task and Domain S
UsiXML supported model
Abstract user Interface T
Abstract user Interface S
UsiXML unsupported model
Concrete user Interface T
Concrete user Interface S
Final user Interface T
Final user Interface S
(Calvary et al.,2003)
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How to Define the Method?

• Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) was
  proposed by OMG to be applied in the
  representation of organizational processes.
• Using BPMN in the method definition is important
  because
• it has become a pattern for process modeling
• there are many tools available in the market
  implementing it
• it is intended as a human-readable layer that
  hides the complexity of transactional business
  processes
• there is a strong integration with the SOA.

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What about SE standards?

• Software Process Engineering Metamodel (SPEM) is
  a meta-model for defining software development
  processes.
• We associated SPEM and BPMN components to
  confirm that it is possible to represent the
  concepts defined in SPEM using BPMN.
• This means that a method defined according to the
  SPEM specification can be graphically presented
  using the BPMN formalism.

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Comparing SPEM and BPMN
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Defining Method with BPMN
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Helping Method Engineers

• Aiming at systematizing how a method can be
  defined and evolved, an evolution driven method
  engineering approach was defined.
• The activity-based strategy aids method engineers
  in identifying activities to construct a method.
• Adapting this strategy to the HCI domain, method
  engineers identify usability goals and associate
  them to activities that can be included in the
  method to achieve the desired goals.

(Ayed et al., 2004)
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Main Concepts

• A method is defined by describing Activities,
  which are selected for a project based on
  Usability Goals. Activities are performed by
  Roles, and act upon Work Products using Tools to
  manage the work products, which can be UI Models.

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Usability Goals and Activities
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Usability Goals and Activities
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Defining the Method

• The method can be designed using a common process
  modeling tool that provides a way to select
  previously defined activities.
• The method engineer can drag and drop any
  activity, into method flow in the desired or
  recommended order.
• The activities, as well as their relationships
  with other activities and conditions for their
  performance, are organized by roles.

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Tool Support
Association of BPMN and SPEM elements to use
business process elements in the method
engineering domain.
Drag and drop activities from the pre-defined
list and reuse them when defining the method for
a specific project.
Definition of activities for a model-based UID
method based on the Cameleon Framework
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A Better Look of the Method
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Integrated Method

• We aim to define methods that are applicable in
  software development projects and also provide
  support for UID.
• The technique to define project-specific methods
  from parts of existing methods is called method
  assembly, which can produce a powerful new
  method.
• Using this technique, we integrate the best from
  both domains activities from a world-wide
  accepted commercial software development process,
  the Rational Unified Process (RUP) and
  activities for creating UI models.

(Brinkkemper et al., 1999) (Kruchten, 2000)
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Defining Integrated Method
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Intended Results

• Increase the efficiency when tailoring the method
  
• Make model-driven UID methods applicable in the
  competitive reality of software development
  companies
• Method engineers rely on usability goals to
  define a method, they also profit from clearly
  specifying goals that must be accomplished after
  each activity is concluded
• Bring Human-Computer Interaction and Software
  Engineering closer together in practice

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Next Steps

• Address the organization and sequence of UID
  activities in a process lifecycle, such as the
  organization of activities in phases and
  disciplines
• Provide guidance for the integration of UID and
  software engineering activities
• Propose a UID method that aligns business
  processes and user-centered design from a
  practical perspective

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Thank you for your attention
http//www.isys.ucl.ac.be/bchi BCHI Lab
http//www.usixml.org UI extensible Markup
Language
http//www.programalban.org Program Alban
http//www.similar.cc European network on
Multimodal UIs
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References

• Ayed, M.B., Ralyte, J., Rolland C. Constructing
  the Lyee method with a method engineering
  approach. Knowledge-Based Systems, 17 (7-8),
  (2004) 239-248
• Brinkkemper, S. Method engineering engineering
  of information systems development methods and
  tools. Information Software Technology 38, 4
  (1996) 275280
• Brinkkemper, S., Saeki, M., Harmsen, F.
  Meta-Modelling Based Assembly Techniques for
  Situational Method Engineering. Information
  Systems. Vol. 24(3) (1999) 209-228
• Calvary, G., Coutaz, J., Thevenin, D., Limbourg,
  Q., Bouillon, L. and Vanderdonckt, J. A Unifying
  Reference Framework for Multi-Target User
  Interfaces. Interacting with Computers (2003)
  289308
• Kruchten, Ph. The Rational Unified Process - An
  Introduction. Addison-Wesley, New Jersey (2000)

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References

• Limbourg, Q., Vanderdonckt, J. UsiXML A User
  Interface Description Language Sup-Porting
  Multiple Levels of Independence. In Matera, M.,
  Comai, S. (eds.) Engineering Advanced Web
  Applications. Rinton Press, Paramus (2004)
  325338
• OMG, Business Process Modeling Notation
  Specification, 1.0, February, 2006
• OMG, Software Process Engineering Metamodel
  Specification, V2.0, February 2007
• Rosenbaum, S., Rohn, J.A., Humburg, J. A toolkit
  for strategic usability results from Workshops,
  Panels and Surveys. In Proc. of ACM Conf. on
  Human Factors in Computing Systems Proceedings
  CHI2000 (The Hague, April 2000). ACM Press, NY
  (2000) 337344
• Saeki, M. Came the first step to automated
  software engineering. In Proc. of the OOPSLA03
  Workshop on Process Engineering for
  Object-Oriented and Component-Based Development
  (2003) 718