Consistent Interaction of Software Components

Constructing complex software systems by integrating different software components is a promising and challenging approach. With the functionality of software components given by models it is possible to ensure consistency of such models before implementation in order to successfully build the system. Models consisting of different submodels, the absence of an overall formal semantics and the numerous possibilities of employing models requires the development of techniques ensuring the consistency. In this paper, we discuss the issue of consistency of models made up of different submodels proposing a concept for the management of consistency. Consistency management relies on a consistency concept and a process for ensuring consistency of models. We introduce a consistency concept for software components modeled in the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and devise suitable consistency checks. On this basis, we propose a process how to locate and resolve inconsistencies, thus ensuring the consistency of models and by that the consistency of componentbased systems derived from those models.