Systematic Reuse of Processes with Feature Models

Stages comes with the concept of process tailoring to deal with variability in processes. Each process step can be defined as variable and rules can be added to describe that certain decisions in tailoring depend on each other.
In case of large processes with many variation points and cross-process interdependencies tailoring can become a challenge. In 2021-22 Method Park by UL Solutions and pure-systems ran a proof of concept with an automotive customer in which we applied feature-based Product Line Engineering according to the ISO 26580 to the tailoring process in Stages. This introduces a layer of abstraction above the processes on which tailoring decisions can be made and automatically applied. As part of that, we created a technical prototype to identify potential API gaps and uncover additional requirements for a connector between Stages and the Product Line Engineering tool pure::variants. In this presentation we will share the results of the proof of concept and discuss possible next steps towards a Product Line Engineering solution for Stages that supports Stages users on the tailoring of large processes with many dependencies.