A metaprocesses-oriented methodology for software assets reuse in the e-health domain

Abstract

Software reuse in the early stages is a key issue in rapid development of applications. Recently, several methodologies have been proposed for the reuse of components and software assets, but mainly in code generation as artifacts. However, these methodologies partially consider the domain analysis, business process modeling, and reuse software in the software development environment in order to promote productivity and quality in application development. This paper introduces a metaprocess-oriented methodology for the reuse of metaprocesses as software assets starting from specifications and analysis of the domain. The proposed methodology includes the definition of a conceptual level to adequately represent the domain, a structural level to specify the metaprocess as software assets, and an implementation level which defines the rules for instantiation and reuse of metaprocess as software assets. The methodology has been applied successfully to the first phase, i.e. at the specification of the conceptual level and design of applications in the field of e-health, in particular in monitoring systems of patients with cardiovascular risk. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.