Reducing the Level of Complexity of Working with Model Transformations

Valuable information can be obtained from the relationships that hold between the elements involved in any Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) process. This information can be then used to support impact change analysis, validation of requirements, etc. However, dealing with traceability is a complex and error-prone task if no tool support is provided to that end. The adoption of MDE can definitely alleviate such complexity. For instance, MDE techniques such as models transformations, matching or weaving, can be used to automate the production and management of traceability, without requiring an extra effort from any of the stakeholders involved in the project. In this line, this work presents the different visualization mechanisms for traceability information supported by iTrace, a framework for the management of traceability in the context of MDE. They provide insights into how the elements of a given project relate to each other, offering simple and intuitive representations of such relationships with different granularity levels. These visualizations help to reduce the inherent complexity of dealing working with model transformations, making it possible for instance to understand the typology of the elements processed by a particular mapping rule without mastering the entire transformation language or even the transformation under study.