T □: A domain specific language for rapid workflow development

Abstract

In MDE, software systems are always synchronized with their models since changes are made first to the model whenever there are changes in the requirement specifications. While MDE has a lot of potential, it requires maturity and tool support. In this research we present a framework for a workflow management system based on the MDE approach. We propose a domain specific language, T □ (T-Square) for rapidly specifying details of (workflow) tasks and their associated user interfaces which may be used with the NOVA Workflow, an executable workflow management system. T □ includes syntax for writing procedural statements, for querying an ontology, for declaring user interfaces, for applying access control policy, and for scheduling tasks, using Xtext to write the grammar. We apply transformation methods, based on Xtend, to generate executable software from the abstract task specifications. A running example from health services delivery illustrates the usefulness of this approach. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.