Lessons Learned on the Development of an Enterprise Service Management System Using Model-Driven Engineering

MDE (Model-Driven Engineering) techniques and tools promise to reduce the complexity and effort of software development. However, although this approach is widely known, there are few reports on its application to real enterprise developments. In this article we present our experience in the creation of an enterprise service management system using MDE. This is a complex system, as it must cope with the heterogeneity and distribution of both software services and their runtime infrastructure. Also, enterprise systems must support multiple non-functional requirements. These requirements are usually fulfilled by enterprise framework solutions, which require a steep learning curve. To overcome these problems we have applied the aforementioned MDE methodologies, starting from a generic information model and partially generating the system from it. We detail the pitfalls found and discuss the strong and weak points of the followed process.