Good practices and deficiencies in conceptual modelling: A systematic literature review

ABSTRACT

Conceptual modelling is a continuous and iterative process that is essential for simulation projects. However, it often does not receive due consideration. In this sense, many projects document and/or perform the conceptual modelling without following good practices, which ends up affecting the next stages of the simulation. This work aims to identify the state of the art and patterns of conceptual modelling through a Systematic Literature Review (SLR), especially regarding the articles’ adherence to good practices. We identified 13 good practices for conceptual modelling in the literature, which aims to develop effective conceptual models, i.e., models with suitable syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic quality. The results of the SLR indicate that although some good practices are consolidated, others need more attention, especially regarding semantic, pragmatic and report quality. Finally, we establish future directions to guide and improve projects that use conceptual modelling.

KEYWORDS:

• Conceptual modelling
• simulation
• systematic literature review

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal deNível Superior (CAPES), the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG) and Honeywell for supporting this research and the anonymous referees for suggestions that contributed to substantial improvements in the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico; Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior; Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais.