Workflow-based Software Process Modeling

The software process management is vital to the success of software development. Software management includes analysis, design, implement, technology, and tools. The widly used method of software process management recently is artificial, which has lots of shotages, such as low efficiency, delayed feedback, progress untraceable. These problems can lead terrible consequence to the software development, or even fail the total project.The essay discussed the current research of software process and workflow technology, analized the necessity and feasibility of the combination of workflow technology and software process modeling, and how to apply it the software process management. While the rapid development of computer technology, the automation is widely spraad in many field. In order to reduce or avoid the existing problems in software process management, the workflow technology was used to serve the software management, and to achieve the management automation or semiautomation. This means the management of software development will became a auto-run process. The managers will just need to establish the development process model, assign tasks, set milestones and artifacts, then the model will transform to the Software Process Definition Language (SPDL), which can be resolved by a given workflow engine. It can be automatically carry out by a workflow system. The automatic management will increase the develop efficiency, reduce the risks, make the project more controllable and ensure the success of software development.The essay compared the similarities and differences between the XML based workflow definition language defined by the Workflow Management Coalition and the Software Process Engineering Metamodel introduce by the Object Management Group. Baced on this the Software Process Definition Language (SPDL) is proposed. SPDL kept the basic package structure of XPDL meta-model, and extended the element of XPDL, so that it could meet the needs of software modeling. More over, the Software Process Modeling Notation is defined in this essay. This definition included the A rule of correspondence between SPMN and SPDL and the transformation algorithm.At the basis of the theoretical research, the essay fully designed a workflow based software process modeling tool, and made the implement as well. It carried out the transformation from the graphical model to SPDL, and layed the substantial foundation for the software process manament automation.