Improving product derivation in software product line engineering

The derivation of individual products from a software product line is still seen as a time-consuming and expensive activity in many organisations. Despite recognition that an effective derivation process could alleviate many of the difficulties associated with product development, little work has been dedicated to this area. Existing approaches have very different scope and emphasize various aspects of the derivation process. Furthermore, they are frequently too specialised to a particular development technique to serve as a general solution. This leaves organisations with no centralized starting point for defining an approach to product derivation. Accordingly there is a strong need for a structured approach to product derivation which defines activities, tasks, roles, inputs and outputs of each step in a systematic way. Through a series of research phases using sources in industry and academia, this research has developed a process reference model for product derivation (Pro-PD) which is briefly sketched in this paper. Pro-PD focuses on the essential tasks, roles and work artefacts used to derive products from a software product line. The model is also adaptable and can be tailored to suit different requirements.