A multi-layer multi-view architecture for software engineering environments

This paper presents our experience with constructing a multi-view environment for software process modeling. The environment (SPEARMINT) is designed to support the capture, analysis and maintenance of large, complex software process models. The environment uses multiple views to handle the inherent complexity of real software processes and to model the fact that different people within organizations have different, sometimes conflicting, views of the same process. SPEARMINT also supports multiple display representations for process information and addresses requirements for good maintainability, extensibility and performance. Our experience has been that a layered architecture that makes a clear separation of concerns in the application is invaluable for implementing such a multi-view tool. In this paper, we describe some of the experiences we have had with designing and implementing such an architecture. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.