Systematic Development of ERP Modules using a Model-Driven

Strategy Focusing on the Users

M. A. Olivero

1,2 a

, L. Morales-Trujillo

, F. J. Domínguez-Mayo

and M. Mejías

Research Group IWT2, University of Seville, Spain

Istituto di Scienza e Tecnologie dellInformazione, Consiglio Nazionale della Ricerche, Italy

Department Languages and Computer Systems, University of Seville, Spain

Keywords: Design Sprint, ERP, NDT, Odoo.

Abstract: ERP systems are composed of different functional modules on which each one addresses a different business

area. Developments on these modules are managed independently on each one, which allow to handle and

address the management of many related information requirements. In this context the startup G7Innovation

works for its product iMEDEA. In this study we have combined two methodologies, Design Sprint and NDT

4.0; and systematized the development of ERP system modules. This combination allows you to use Design

Sprint to generate and validate prototyping, and NDT 4.0 to do the study, analysis, and design of the software

to be developed. In addition, according to the specifications defined in NDT, the code generation of the ERP

module can be automated. This proposal has been validated in a case study in collaboration with the startup

G7Innovation, where we have applied both methodologies on Odoo, an open source ERP system based in

Python language. Thanks to the use of these two methodologies we have produced a module related to the

needs of the clinic by reducing costs, times and human failures.

INTRODUCTION

The iMEDEA project is a solution developed by

G7Innovation (G7Innovation, 2019). This project is

based on the Odoo ERP (Odoo, 2019) and its goal is

to facilitate the management of human reproduction

units. It is composed of different modules that can be

used independently, which offer a better support to

business customers, giving fast response times to their

problems and with efficient information management

(Delgado and Marín, 2000). All these features allow

timely decision making and lower operating costs.

Without a clear guidance, modules are not pro-

duced according to client expectation, and delays are

introduced when modifications are needed after re-

quirements has been defined.

With the aim of reducing changes in later stages

of the project and to produce modules according to

client expectation, this work presents a methodolog-

ical proposal that encompasses two methodologies,

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6627-3699

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https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0353-6391

Design Sprint (Banfield et al., 2015), (Knapp, 2018)

and NDT (Escalona et al., 2004), (Navigational Devel-

opment Techniques). These already existing method-

ologies focus on the early validation through proto-

typing and the code generation respectively. This re-

duce the learning curve needed for simple develop-

ments, increase productivity, and reduce the need of

changes in the requirements.

In this work we focus on the Odoo modules, being

the main product developed by the startup

G7Innovation. We have validated this proposal by

generating a new module with this company in a joint

work.

The rest of the article is organized as follows: The

R&D project is defined in section 2, the used tools in

section 3 and the research ends with the conclusions

in section 4.

Olivero, M., Morales-Trujillo, L., Domínguez-Mayo, F. and Mejías, M.

Systematic Development of ERP Modules using a Model-Driven Strategy Focusing on the Users.

DOI: 10.5220/0008516204890492

In Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Web Information Systems and Technologies (WEBIST 2019), pages 489-492

ISBN: 978-989-758-386-5

489

R&D PROJECT

This guide is differentiated in three stages: (1) Soft-

ware Product Discovery, where we apply Design

Sprint to directly know the real needs of users; (2)

Development, where the project is technically spec-

ified, we build and test the system in an unattended

way by using NDT and model transformations; and

(3) Operation, for the deployment and maintenance

Figure.1 summarizes this process.

The software product discovery stage aims to

know what are the needs and motivations that need a

solution. To this end, Design Sprint methodology is

applied. This methodology is structured in a set of

milestones that are scheduled to be completed in five

days. As a summary of this methodology, different

solution proposals are put forward with the aim of

obtaining different approaches that help in decision-

making. Final decision of how the solution shall be

rely on the information that has been obtained from

each alternative. Once the client agrees on the solu-

tion to be achieved, the prototype is sketched. The

prototype must be realistic enough to finally be able

to validate the solution proposal with the user. The use

of prototypes to validate the project allows to dis- card

the alternatives at low cost.

Development of the product based on the proto-

type is divided into three milestones: technical speci-

fication, construction and verification and validation.

The technical specification defines the structure and

behavior of our system using UML (OMG, 2015)

models and IFML (Brambilla et al., 2014) models.

Knowing the result that we want to obtain, thanks to

the prototypes, and once defined the technical archi-

tecture, the construction stage begins.

During construction, we make use of model to text

(M2T) operations, which allow us to obtain code from

design models. These transformations generate code

from the data model of our system, taking the diagram

of classes of the system from NDT as the source

model. Similarly, function codes can be obtained

through the functional requirements and use cases

model offered by NDT. The generation of automated

code increases productivity and reduces the

possibility of human failure.

Verifying and validating the quality of the project

is the last step before launching the product into pro-

duction. During this stage, functional and acceptance

tests must be carried out, among others. To reach a

stable testing environment, another type of trans-

formation is used, the Model to model (M2M) trans-

formations offered by NDT. Using the CASE tool of

NDT, allow you to generate the documentation of the

test plan.

Figure 1: R&D Project sequence.

The proposal concludes with the operations phase.

This phase is responsible for ensuring the proper

APMDWE 2019 - 4th International Special Session on Advanced practices in Model-Driven Web Engineering

490

working of the system and its technological in-

frastructure in production environments when the ap-

plication is deployed (Hertvik, 2014).

USED TECHNOLOGIES

In the discovery phase of the product, the “Power-

Point” tool has been used to develop and validate pro-

totypes. Although there are numerous alternatives, to

quickly prototype, we have chosen this tool for its

great flexibility. Using the pattern mode of this tool it

is possible to create templates of the interface of the

software to be developed, which can be later com-

pleted by adding the content that we want to validate

with clients or customers. In addition, this tool allows

you to add links between objects so that you can sim-

ulate navigation among the slides by using items that

simulates the buttons of the proposed final system.

This tool produced very precise results that allowed us

to make the designed prototypes quite realistic, that

were used to validate the solution proposal with the

users in some interviews. Given the fact that we know

about the Odoo interface, and the technological limi-

tations of the features that Odoo offers, we have gen-

erated realistic prototypes at low cost. This allowed us

to easily discard some alternatives that did not meet

user or customer expectations. This process could be

also be done with the Odoo Studio tool, a tool that

facilitates the generation of modules with a graphical

interface like Drag Drop. Despite it is fully integrated

with Odoo and allow autogenerating the module, we

did not contemplate this option because of the diffi-

culties it could introduce when reusing the generated

code. For G7Innovation it is not enough having a sin-

gle module, but also be able integrate it with third par-

ties APIs which to the best of our knowledge it is not

feasible with generated module with Odoo Studio.

Once the product is defined, the phase of a formal

definition of the requirements. The technical speci-

fication, within the development phase has been car-

ried out using NDT-Suite (García-García et al., 2014).

NDT-Suite is a set of tools that facilitates the use of

the NDT methodology, which is integrated on top of

the Enterprise Architect tool (Architect, 2019). With

this tool, and starting from the agreed prototype, we

have been able to define the system class diagrams,

actors, use cases with their interaction requirements

and some non-functional requirements.

Thanks to the ability to perform M2M (OMG,

2008a) and M2T (OMG, 2008b) transformations of-

fered by NDT-Suite we automatically obtained some

of these requirements, Python code that was used as

the basis for the construction phase and the documen-

tation of the test plan for verification and validation.

The code self-generated by the M2T transforma-

tions has been used as the basis for the construction.

However, it is still necessary to adapt some code con-

figuration parameters in Odoo to reach an integration

with the system. Nevertheless, given the fact that a

great proportion of the code has been generated auto-

matically the productivity is increased and the possi-

bility of human failures has been reduced.

The verification and validation of the system that

is generated is carried out using the Katalon tool, by

executing the system test plan that generates NDT

from the defined ones. It is important to note that the

integration tests of the autogenerated modules with

the existing ones have not been possible to be self-

generated with the use of these methodologies so far,

despite the importance these kinds of modular devel-

opments.

Once G7Innovation delivered the validated and

verified system to the responsible of the iMEDEA

project, the informatics team of the clinic was the re-

sponsible for carrying out the phase of operations.

Each one of the described phases is highly inde-

pendent from the others. This allow having work

teams that can be working in parallel.

CONCLUSIONS

The proposal of this methodology arises as a need to

facilitate communication with customers, and to al-

low a development that is user-friendly without im-

plying an increase in the costs.

After applying these methodologies, we have been

able to generate a product closer to the user and client

expectations, automating its construction which re-

duce human failures and increases productivity. The

prototypes defined using the Design Sprint methodol-

ogy were very realistic as we knew about the technol-

ogy features on which we wanted to develop the final

product and its technological limitations.

The use of these methodologies reduced the need

of code modifications in advanced project stages be-

cause of the validation with the customer’s needs dur-

ing the interviews on which they could test the proto-

type. Also, human errors are reduced since most of the

code was automatically generated. However, the

automated generation requires adapting the code and

execute more intensive integration tests to verify the

compatibility of the generated code with the already

deployed modules.

As result, using this combination of methodolo-

gies we produced a module in collaboration with the

startup G7Innovation.

Systematic Development of ERP Modules using a Model-Driven Strategy Focusing on the Users

491

Finally, we plan to apply our proposal in other

case studies of different business areas and scientific

areas in collaboration with the research team of this

startup. In particular, our proposal can be enriched

from a joint work in areas on which the researchers of

G7Innovation RD team has been working previously

as: (i) the design and development of technological

solutions in the area of requirements engineering

(García-García et al., 2012), (Escalona et al., 2013b),

(ii) the Software Process Management (Garcia-Garcia

et al., 2017), (Meidan et al., 2018), (iii) the PLM

systems (Product Lifecycle Management) (Escalona

et al., 2013a) and (iv) the CPM (Clinical Process

Management) (García García et al., 2015).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research has been partially supported by the

POLOLAS project (code TIN2016-76956-C3-2-R) of

the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.

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