Introduction to Case Studies

In this chapter we provide an overview on the demonstrators of the SPP1593’s case studies. To study evolution, it is important to collaborate by a joint research that supports sharing of knowledge and resources. In order to support joint research, collaboration and replication in empirical studies based on common evolution scenarios and artefacts are required. These studies are rarely reusable as important artefacts (e.g. requirements, design decisions, architectural knowledge, or context knowledge) are often not provided to the community. To overcome these shortcomings in the SPP1593, two case studies are used: CoCoME, which represents a knowledge base for collaborative empirical research on information system evolution, and the xPPU, which represents a lab-size demonstrator for investigating research on evolution in machine and plant automation. Finally, to blur the boundaries between pure information systems and automated production systems, both case studies were integrated as Industry 4.0 demonstrator.