Principles of software product lines and process variants

Emerging technologies and new trends such as web services and the increasing collaboration between companies have reinforced the importance of the business process for the design and development of future software. This and the increasing need for individualization via mass customisation requires technologies that facilitate the efficient customizing of processes - or in other words, the efficient management of process variants. Today, the leading approach for successful software mass customisation is software product line technology. It therefore represents a key technology for managing process variants. This report presents the main principles of software product line technology and sketches their application for the management of process variants.