Meta-Modeling Concepts and Tools for Model Management: A Systems Approach

Waleed A. Muhanna and Roger Alan Pick
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Waleed A. Muhanna: Department of Accounting and Management Information Systems, College of Business, The Ohio State University, 1775 College Road, Columbus, Ohio 43210-1399
Roger Alan Pick: Henry W. Bloch School of Business and Public Administration, University of Missouri---Kansas City, Kansas City, Missouri 64110-2499

Management Science, 1994, vol. 40, issue 9, 1093-1123

Abstract: We present a new framework for model management based on system concepts and theory. Underlying the framework is a set of meta-modeling concepts that are useful in capturing the semantics of the modeling process in a modeling environment. These concepts include the notions of a general-model type, type specialization, atomic and composite model versions, model instances, and parameterized versions. We describe these concepts both conceptually and formally and then briefly present a Model Description Language (MDL) that embodies them. While other researchers have suggested some of these concepts primarily in different contexts, this paper makes at least four valuable contributions: (1) the identification of fundamental issues and principles related to model management; (2) the development and enhanced treatment of meta-modeling concepts specifically for model management; (3) the synthesis of those concepts into a coherent, unifying framework for model management; and (4) a demonstration of the practicality of those concepts through a prototype system implementation. Our framework proposes a graph-oriented, nonprocedural, and hierarchical approach for model composition. The framework also supports both model-solver independence and model-data independence. Moreover, it offers general solutions to two critical issues in model management: model-model linkage and model-data linkage. We argue that the system framework can serve as a guide for an effective design of a flexible and extensible model management system. An architecture of such a system and its prototype implementation---called SYMMS---are briefly described. Examples are presented to illustrate the features and advantages of our approach.

Keywords: model management systems; decision support systems; modeling environments; hierarchical model design; systems concepts (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1994
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