Verification and validation of UML conceptual schemas with OCL constraints

Abstract

To ensure the quality of an information system, it is essential that the conceptual schema that represents the knowledge about its domain is semantically correct. The semantic correctness of a conceptual schema can be seen from two different perspectives. On the one hand, from the point of view of its definition, a conceptual schema must be right. This is ensured by means of verification techniques that check whether the schema satisfies several correctness properties. On the other hand, from the point of view of the requirements that the information system should satisfy, a schema must also be the right one. This is ensured by means of validation techniques, which help the designer understand the exact meaning of a schema and to see whether it corresponds to the requirements. In this article we propose an approach to verify and validate UML conceptual schemas, with arbitrary constraints formalized in OCL. We have also implemented our approach to show its feasibility. © 2012 ACM.