Towards a model-driven engineering approach for the assessment of non-functional properties using multi-formalism

Model-driven techniques can be used to automatically produce formal models from different views of a system realised by using several modelling languages and notations. Specifications are transformed into formal models so facilitating the analysis of complex system for design, validation or verification purposes. However, no single formalism suits for representing all system’s views. In particular, the assessment of non-functional properties often requires integrated modelling approaches. The ultimate goal of the research work described in this paper is to develop a comprehensive, theoretical and practical framework able to support the development and the integration of new or existing model-driven approaches for the automatic generation of multi-formalism models. This paper defines the core theoretical ideas on which the framework is based and demonstrates their concrete applicability to the development of a multi-formalism approach for performability assessment.