# Improving Conceptual Modeling with Object-Process Methodology Stereotypes
## 6 Conclusions and Future Work  
Modelers use stereotypes to adapt the language to specific situations or needs, such as hypersonic and suborbital transportation systems in the aerospace domain [40]. Designers of modeling languages, who introduced stereotypes to overcome certain language limitations, have created a well-defined set of general-purpose model elements called extension mechanisms, which allow for customization of the language. The focus of this paper is to define stereotypes in OPM and demonstrate their deployment in OPM models. We show how OPM stereotypes and their OPCloud implementation can improve the modeling process and enhance the model quality, making it more robust and amenable to validation. We have used the new OPM stereotype feature in an example of an IoT system, where value ranges are defined and validated during the modeling. While the main example in this paper is stereotypes for IoT systems, the use of stereotype is by no means specific to IoT systems. For example, we have shown in Sections 3.3, 3.5 and 5.1 That stereotypes are useful in transportation, GPS, and other kinds of systems. Aside from improving the modeling process, stereotypes have several other benefits, but using stereotypes also involves potential risks. Stereotypes can help both in modeling time and execution time, providing the modeler with the ability to use properly defined and well-crafted model building blocks. Stereotypes can include semantic and value validations, optimally balancing model formality and understandability. The unique ability of OPM stereotypes to be global or organizational makes OPM especially suitable and appealing for organizations. However, inappropriate use of stereotypes may lead to misuse, causing more harm than good. Excessive use of unsystematic stereotypes, creation of inconsistent and contradicting stereotypes will cause bad models and misunderstanding of the modeled system. Indeed, OPM stereotypes have limitations that stem primarily from misuse: While the technical mechanism has been implemented successfully in OPCloud, creating a stereotype for a specific purpose is challenging; It requires a cognitive effort to design the stereotype so as to make its use in a model correct, effective, and efficient. Therefore, in our OPCloud implementation of stereotypes, only organizational admins can create or edit organizational stereotypes, and only OPCloud admins can create or edit global stereotypes. This is done deliberately to ensure that great care is taken while creating and updating stereotypes, and to prevent abuse of the stereotype mechanism, which would flood the stereotypes library with numerous stereotypes, most of which are superfluous and confusing. As future work, we plan to extend stereotypes to processes and to multi-OPD models and provide for stereotype inheritance. With stereotype inheritance formally specified and implemented, we will be able to define a hierarchy of stereotypes that inherit attributes from their ancestors. Thus, in our example, instead of defining the stereotype **Embedded Device**. **Attribute Set**, we will be able to define **Embedded Device**, which exhibits **Attribute Set**. Defining **Sensor** as a specialization of **Embedded Device**, **Attribute Set** shall be inherited to **Sensor** and added to its set of sensor-specific attributes. We also plan to enhance the stereotypes to include constraining capability to the modeling process beyond value range validation. For example, if a process is modeled such that two agents are needed to handle it, OPM and its OPCloud modeling tool will be able to enforce this. To examine the usability aspect of stereotypes, we plan to carry out an experiment with two different student groups. In this experiment, we will assess the impact of using OPM stereotypes on several factors, including modeling rate, model understandability, and model quality. The experimental group will use OPM stereotypes, while the control group will not. The experiment participants of both groups will have basic OPM knowledge.