Decision-making coordination in collaborative product configuration

ABSTRACT

In Software Product Lines (SPLs), product configuration is a decision-making process in which a group of stakeholders choose features for a product. Unfortunately, current configuration technology is essentially single-user-based in which user requirements are interpreted and translated into configuration decisions by a single role commonly referred to as the product manager. This process can be error-prone and time-consuming as it commonly requires back-and-forth interactions between the product manager and the stakeholders to cope with decision conflicts. In this paper, we propose an approach to Collaborative Product Configuration (CPC) that aims at providing effective support for coordinating teamwork decision-making in the context of product configuration. The approach builds on well-known concepts in the SPL arena such as feature models. The contributions of the paper include the CPC approach and the illustration of its application in a real-world product line.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.4 INFORMATION SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS
      H.4.1 Office Automation
          Subjects: Workflow management

General Terms:
Experimentation, Human Factors, Languages, Verification

Keywords:
collaborative product configuration, feature models, software product lines, work coordination, workflows