Increasing Quality in Scenario Modelling with Model-Driven Development

Models, with different levels of detail, share similar abstractions that can be reused by means of model-driven techniques such as transformations. For example, scenarios are a well-known technique in requirements engineering to represent behavioral flows in a software system. When using UML, scenarios are typically represented with activity models in the early stages of software development, while sequence models are used to describe more detailed object interactions as modeling progresses. This paper defines transformation rules to automate the migration from activity to sequence models. We present a case study illustrating the application of our transformation rules. Our preliminary assessment of the impact of the benefits of using these transformations points to: (i) a reduction of around 50% in the effort building sequence models, (ii) increased trace ability among models, and (iii) error prevention when migrating from different scenario notations.