Toward a Metamodel Quality Evaluation Framework: Requirements, Model, Measures, and Process

The quality of metamodel considerably affects the models and transformations that conform to it. Despite that, there is still little discussion about a comprehensive form to evaluate the quality of metamodels and its consequences in model-driven development processes. This paper proposes a metamodel quality evaluation framework called MQuaRE (Metamodel Quality Requirements and Evaluation). MQuaRE comprises metamodel quality requirements and measures, a quality model, and an evaluation process, with the evident influence of international standards for software product quality, such as ISO/IEC 25000 series. We present a simple use case of MQuaRE describing how requirements, measures, and the quality model should be used during the evaluation process of a metamodel for software patterns. Among other benefits, MQuaRE can help determine final metamodel quality, decide on the acceptance of a metamodel, and also assess the positive and negative aspects of a metamodel, contributing to its quality evolution.