VEL TC members are developing an interoperability standard that will enable the exchange of variability information among variant management tools and systems development tools. The goal is to enable the exchange of variability information among tools for variant management tools and systems development tools.
 
Variability is a widely used model for describing common and unique features of systems at all stages of the lifecycle. It describes the ability of artifacts to be used in different contexts by changing or customizing some characteristics of them, and those changeable characteristics are localized somewhere within the artifacts. VEL will eliminate the cost of building customized interfaces by defining a standard way for information to be exchanged among corresponding tools. Using VEL, a variant management tool will be able to read the variability from a development tool and pass configurations of selected system features to a development tool. By defining a common variability data interface that can be implemented by both the development tools and the variant management tools, VEL will enable a continuous development process for variable systems and more flexible use of tools.