Fattah-Weil, Jasmin | Schmeissner, Marie | Gronau, Norbert

Bridging Domain Models and Microservices: A Domain-Specific Language for Domain-Aligned System Design (accepted)

Abstract

Microservice architectures offer flexibility but often widen the gap between business and IT understanding. While Domain-Driven Design (DDD) structures software around business domains, its implementation remains inconsistent and largely informal. This paper presents a domain-specific language (DSL) that formalizes DDD based microservice architectures to improve strategic domain alignment and conceptual clarity. Following the Design Science Research Methodology, the study identifies recurring challenges in translating domain knowledge into executable microservice structures, derives modeling requirements from literature, and extends the Context Mapping Language (CML) accordingly. Based on Xtext, the DSL enables explicit representation of bounded contexts, context maps, and strategic DDD patterns, thus fostering shared understanding between business and technical stakeholders. The prototype is evaluated using a controlled reference scenario to demonstrate internal validity. The evaluation shows that DSL-based modeling enhances traceability and consistency in enterprise system design, contributing to process transparency and improved business–IT alignment.