NEXT: Generating tailored ERP applications from ontological enterprise models

Henk Van Der Schuur*, Erik Van De Ven, Rolf De Jong, Dennis Schunselaar, Hajo A. Reijers, Michiel Overeem, Machiel De Graaf, Slinger Jansen, Sjaak Brinkkemper

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionAcademicpeer-review

    Abstract

    Tailoring Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software to the needs of the enterprise still is a technical endeavor, often requiring the (de)activation of modules, modification of configuration files or even execution of database queries. Considering the large body of work on Enterprise Modeling and Model-Driven Software Engineering, this is remarkable: Ideally, one models one’s own enterprise and, at the press of a button, ERP software tailored to the needs of the modeled enterprise is generated. In this paper, we introduce NEXT, a novel model-driven software generation approach being developed with precisely this goal in mind. It uses the expressive power of ontological enterprise models (OEMs) to generate ERP cloud applications. An OEM only describes the real-world phenomena essential to the enterprise, using terms and customizations specific to the enterprise. We present our considerations during development of the OEM modeling language, which is designed to capture the specifics of enterprise phenomena in a way that technical details can be derived from it. We expect NEXT to drastically shorten the time-to-market of ERP software, from months–years to hours–days.

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationThe Practice of Enterprise Modeling
    Subtitle of host publication10th IFIP WG 8.1. Working Conference, PoEM 2017, Proceedings
    EditorsEstefania Serral Asensio, Monique Snoeck, Geert Poels, Frederik Gailly
    PublisherSpringer
    Pages283-298
    Number of pages16
    ISBN (Print)9783319702407
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2017
    Event10th IFIP WG 8.1 Working Conference on the Practice of Enterprise Modelling, PoEM 2017 - Leuven, Belgium
    Duration: 22 Nov 201724 Nov 2017

    Publication series

    NameLecture Notes in Business Information Processing
    Volume305
    ISSN (Print)1865-1348

    Conference

    Conference10th IFIP WG 8.1 Working Conference on the Practice of Enterprise Modelling, PoEM 2017
    Country/TerritoryBelgium
    CityLeuven
    Period22/11/1724/11/17

    Keywords

    • Enterprise resource planning
    • Model-driven software development
    • Ontological enterprise modeling
    • Software generation

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