CDADE: Conflict detector in activity diagram evolution based on speech act and ontology

Software system user requirements tend to change and evolve over time. The UML activity diagrams are a useful language for modeling system processes. Additionally, designers must often maintain activity diagrams incrementally. This paper presents the CDADE tool, which can help designers detect conflicts in activity diagram evolution. The CDADE tool is composed of ontologies, metadata, and conflict detection rules. Speech act theory is used to reveal evolutionary change in the activity diagrams. The CDADE prototype and a case study of electronic commerce are presented to demonstrate and validate the feasibility and effectiveness of the CDADE tool.