MARTE — [NFP: Profile]. Fig 8.4

[NFP: Profile]. Fig 8.4 shows a domain model for NFP declaration. In this domain model, the NFP concept has to attributes (statisticalQualifier + direction). However, these two attributes do not appear in the corresponding Stereotype: <<Nfp>> (Fig. 8-5). Section 8.3.2.1 justifies this by saying: “the attributes of NFP, statistical qualifier and direction, are implemented in the library of NFP Types”. However, it could be useful to allow stereotype users to define these two parameters at the NFP declaration stage (and not only at the value specification stage). On the other hand, the current mechanism to define these two parameters at the NFP declaration stage (default values of NFPs), is not strict enough, as users can modify default values. So, I propose to put this two attributes (statisticalQualifier + direction) in the <<Nfp>> stereotype.

If we adopt these two attributes for the 'Nfp' stereotype, there may exist some issues regarding to consistency and duplication of information. Indeed, statisticalQualifier and direction would be able to be specified in 'Nfp' and in the value specification too (e.g., maxLatency= (value=5, unit=ms, statQ=max)).
Another question that rises is why other qualifiers would not able to be specified in 'Nfp' attributes (e.g., source) in the same way.
In order to keep consistency and to avoid confusions between the domain model and profile definition, both 'statisticalQualifier' and 'direction' attributes of the 'NFP' metaclass are removed from the domain model.
This means that the proposal to include these two attributes in the stereotype definition is not accepted. However, for comprehensibility, they are removed from the domain model.