The overall objective of the proposed integration approach is to
add more “engineering” to model-driven software engineering by
supporting the seamless integration of the analysis of multiple
NFPs into the MDE process. Different NFP analysis models based
on appropriate existing formalisms can be automatically derived
by model transformations from the software models built for
development, as explored in previous research. The software
models built for development and the NFP analysis models must
co-evolve together. An important research effort will go into
investigating how multiple NFP analysis models can be used to
find a good (preferably optimal) design solution, in which all nonfunctional
requirements are met. Another important aspect of the
proposed research is concerned with automating the software
process tasks/activities related to NFP analysis as much as
possible, asking for human intervention only when the developers
need to provide new information and/or their judgement or
decisions are required. The intended purpose of such automation
is two pronged: a) to raise the efficiency and usability of the NFP
analysis during MDE by eliminating error-prone manual model
manipulations, and b) to enhance the quality of the software
products by verifying the NFPs throughout the development
process, from its early phases.