Merging Project Management with System Modeling

In software development projects, two different types of models are used for abstraction: system models and project management models. System models describe the system under construction in terms of requirements, the system design or the object design. Project management models describe the software development project itself in terms of project participants, work items or the project plan. System models and project management models are usually isolated from each other. Although there are some hybrid approaches merging parts of both models, few applications have considered traceability between both models.

In this thesis we define a unified model integrating both models and offering explicit traceability. We propose a number of capabilities supported by the unified model and evaluate them in case studies: Traceability links between both models offers comprehension support for developers and project managers by providing context information. Furthermore, the unified model supports the change propagation between system models and project management models. To notify project participants about relevant changes the unified model also supports traceability-based change awareness. Finally, it supports decision support for project managers, based on relations between system model elements and the associated project management models.