Only recently has the research community started to consider how to make software process models interoperable and reusable. The task is difficult Software processes are inherently creative and dynamic difficult to define and repeat at an enactable level of detail. Additionally, interoperability and reusability have not been considered important issues. Recent interoperability and reusability solutions advocate the development of standard process model representations based on common concepts or generic schemas, which are used as a basis for translating between heterogeneous process representations. The authors propose an alternative approach through the development of process-based components. They present the Open Process Components Framework, a component based framework for software process modeling. In this approach, process models are constructed as sets of components which interact in meaningful ways. Interoperability and reuse are obtained through encapsulation of process representations, an explicit representation of process state, and an extendable set of class relationships.

Previous studies have led to a better understanding of the nature, the characteristics, and the implications of software process modeling and enacting. The authors attempt to reap the benefits of this better understanding, through an analysis of what should be a complete assisted development, in order to deduce a rich set of requirements and facilities for software process modeling and enacting, and to highlight and discuss some essential issues for the improvement of present proposals in the field of model driven IPSEs (integrated project support environments). Three well-known prototypes of assisted environments are examined: TRIAD/CML for the imperative approach, Marvel for the rule-based approach, and IPSE 2.5 for the object-oriented approach. Finally, the authors emphasize essential issues for future third-generation IPSEs: these new IPSEs must be real IPSEs, they must provide multiform assistance and cope with different kinds of processes including complex ones, and they must take into account dynamic evolution of software process models.>

An approach is presented to internal structure design of distributed systems in the field of process control. Starting from an IPN (interpreted Petri net) specifying the external behavior of a system, the approach (based on a set of decomposition rules) allows a systematic construction of structure specification, thus making unnecessary the consistency verification usually employed in top-down design methods. It is shown that the decomposition rules presented allow systematic construction of the internal structure of distributed systems. These rules free the designer from specifying intermodule cooperation and from verifying consistency between the external behavior and the internal structure specification.>