Breaking It Up: An Industrial Case Study of Component-Based Tailorable Software Design

Abstract

Tailorability should enable users to fit computer systems to the application context. So tailoring options should be meaningful for end-users in their respective domains. This paper discusses how these design criteria can be realized within the technical framework of component-based tailorability. Component-based tailorability assumes that technical flexibility can be realized by allowing end-users to recompose components at runtime. To enable end-users to recompose components at runtime, the system has already appropriately broken down into modules at design time. Such a modularization of the software needs to meet two requirements: on the one hand it must provide sufficient flexibility with respect to the application context and on the other hand it must be understandable by the end-users. In an industrial case study we demonstrate how such a modularization can be established by applying ethnographic methods and choosing an appropriate design metaphor. The ethnographic study helps to capture tailoring needs of the application context. The design metaphor helps to break down software into components which are understandable by end-users. Subsequently, systematic interventions following an action research approach help to validate the design decisions.