Empirically Based Evolution of a Variability Management Approach at UML Class Level

Smarty is a variability management approach for UML-based software product lines. It allows the identification, representation and tracing of variabilities in several UML models by means of an UML profile, the Smarty Profile, and a systematic process, the Smarty Process, with guidelines to provide user directions for applying such a profile. The existing UML-based variability management approaches in the literature, including Smarty, do not provide empirical evidence of their effectiveness, which is an essential requirement for technology transfer to industry. Therefore, this paper presents empirical evidence of the Smarty approach at class level. In addition, this paper demonstrates how Smarty has evolved, by means of its profile and guidelines, based on the obtained results of an experiment and the subjects feedback analysis.