Version Management for Reference Models: Design and Implementation

The central idea in reference modeling is the reutilization of the business knowledge contained in a reference model for the construction of specific information models. The user’s task in reference model-based construction is the adaptation of the reference model. The derivation of specific models from reference models characterized as such corresponds with the creation of reference model variants. Research on the design of such variant constructions generally assumes an unchangeable stock of reference models. The potentials available in the management of these variant constructions, which reflect the changes in reference models through time and, in doing so, their evolutionary development, has not yet been tapped into. The article at hand analyzes this problem and presents a concept for the version management of reference models as a solution. The task to be mastered using the proposed approach will be concretized using data structures and a system architecture, as well as prototypically implemented in the form of an application system.