ppXML: A generic and extensible language for lifecycle modelling of platform products

This paper presents a new language, ppXML (platform product eXtensible Markup Language), for the lifecycle modelling of platform products in agile product development for mass customization (MC). ppXML has multi-folded meanings. Firstly, ppXML provides a set of constructs that are consistent with concepts and methods widely used in platform product development (PPD) for MC. Secondly, derived from XML as a sublanguage, ppXML is a standard and yet extensible modelling language dedicated to the modelling of product variants and platforms reflecting commonality, modularity, scalability and other strategies. Thirdly, ppXML can also be extended for defining web services deployed in the computation grid of web-based decision support systems (DSS) for platform product development and mass customization. Finally, ppXML serves as a standard interface with the product platform repository and a PPD web service registry, together with a set of online facilities for data representation and transformation between different components and parties involved in the web services. ppXML complements the efforts in product lifecycle data modelling by emphasizing the strategic level of product planning using a platform approach.