Portability Metrics for Executable Service-Oriented Processes
A key promise of process languages based on open standards, such as the Business Process Model and Notation 2.0 or the Web Services Business Process Execution Language 2.0 is the avoidance of vendor lock-in through the portability of process definitions among runtime environments. Despite the fact that today various runtimes claim to support these languages, every runtime implements a different subset of the respective language, thereby hampering portability and locking in their users.
The goal of this project is to enable the measurement of the degree of portability of executable service-oriented processes. The approach is aligned to the systems and software quality requirements and evaluation method of the ISO/IEC. The following characteristics of portability are in focus:
- direct portability
- installability
- replaceability
- adaptability
For each characteristic, a measurement framework is to be constructed and evaluated theoretically and practically. Metrics computation and construction is underpinned by software tools that demonstrate the feasability of the approach.
Feedback, suggestions, or considerations are welcome! Just send an email. If you have a bug report, please open an issue at the respective project page.
Tools and Deliverables
- Portability Metrics Suite: The prope tool forms the metrics suite combines the computation of all metrics for the different characteristics of portability and the respective languages. So far, prope computes direct portability, installability, and adaptability metrics for BPEL and BPMN processes. To view the code and contribute, please visit the project page.
- Conformance Benchmarking: The betsy tool is a benchmarking tool for evaluating BPEL engines. The tool focuses on the standard conformance of the engines. Standard conformance is an enabling factor for the portability of processes. To view the code and contribute, please visit the project page.
- Portability Issue Detection: The BPEL portability profile (bpp) describes a WS-I style profile of test assertions that specify the elements a portable BPEL process should include. Bpp allows to classify processes in a portability category and computes direct portability metrics. Bpp is also integrated in prope. To view the code and contribute, please visit the project page.
Publications