A method to evaluate the openness of automation tools for increased interoperability

Interoperability of engineering tools, which is important for engineering efficiency, requires the openness of the tools for the import and/or export of engineering data. A metric to assess the openness of an engineering tool has been presented recently at IEEE ETFA 2012. This contribution reflects the methodology and focuses on the initial empirical assessment of the method with data from industrial practice, i.e., the comparison of openness evaluation of well-established engineering tools. The authors report evaluation results and discuss lessons learnt to guide improving the openness of automation tools for supporting more efficient engineering processes. Major results are: the measurement method has been found useful and usable in practice and pointed out strengths and weaknesses in 15 well-established engineering tools from 4 tool categories.