Core assets development approach using service oriented product line for health care information system

Abstract

Service Oriented Product Line (SOPL) has emerged as a synergy that is able to assist systematic reuse by reusing an existing asset resulting to shorter product’s time to market. Since huge effort is required to adjust the demand for specific requirements and fulfil the need for production of multiple systems, a systematic approach is very much needed particularly in identifying only possible core assets to be reused and managing variability between different applications. Current development of core assets in SOPL did not adequately resolve systematic reuse in identification of services to design a Reference Architecture (RA). Variations and common assets need to be addressed in order to ensure systematic reuse of core assets. Therefore, this study proposes an enhancement of the systematic reuse approach in determining reusable core assets by concentrating on the Domain Engineering Activity. This leads to the use of Trade-off Analysis between structural stability and priority of added services depending on the probability of occurrence for multiple user preferences. The approach involves specific processes which core asset identification and architectural modelling representation. The set of identified reusable core assets is represented into RA model with conceptual and physical levels representation. Proposed approach is validated through quantitative and qualitative evaluations to measure the applicability of core assets and ensure the artifacts built are according to comparative criteria. The proposed identification technique proved that it can improve reusability of identified core assets, recording 92% Functional Commonality and 80% of Modularity, hence resulting in a more refined RA. However, the result of core assets applicability appears to be lower by 9% compared to existing approach due to the multiple user requirements. This indicates that core assets are applicable to be reused by only one application instead of various applications. Regardless, reuse of core assets need to consider preferences and requirements from multiple users who want a customized system domain suitable for their organization.