A '''model-driven application''' is a [[software application]] that the functions or behaviors are based on, or in control of, some evolutionary applied models of the target things to the application.<ref>Yu, T.-Y. "Model-Driven Applications: Using Model-Driven Mechanism to Bridge the Gap between Business and IT." Díaz, V.G. et al. (Eds.), ''Advances and Applications in Model-Driven Software Engineering, pp. 53-72''. IGI Global, August 2013. {{ISBN|9781466644953}}.</ref> The applied models are served as a part of the app in which it can be changed at runtime. The ''target things'' are what the application deals with, such as the objects and affairs in business for a business application. Follows the definition of application in ''TOGAF'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://pubs.opengroup.org/architecture/togaf9-doc/arch/index.html|title=TOGAF® 9.1|website=pubs.opengroup.org|access-date=2017-04-08}}</ref> a model-driven business application could be described as an IT system that supports business functions and services running on the models of the (things in) business. [[Gartner Group]] defined the model-driven packaged applications as "enterprise applications that have explicit metadata-driven models of the supported processes, data and relationships, and that generate runtime components through metadata models, either dynamically interpreted or compiled, rather than [[Hard coding|hardcoded]]."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gartner.com/it-glossary/model-driven-packaged-applications|title=Gartner IT Glossary: Model-Driven Packaged Applications|last=Gartner Group|first=|date=|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=}}</ref> [[Business process management]] is the significant practice of model-driven application [[Software Architecture styles and patterns|architectural style]]. A BPM system is model-driven if the functions are operating on business process models which are built and changed at the application time but not the design or implementation time; the biggest advantage is that it can deal with the continuous changing business process directly without modifying the software. Model-driven application architecture is one of few technology trends to driven the next generation of [[application modernization]], that claimed by some industrial researchers in 2012.<ref>Winslow, P., Panigrahi, S. & Morrison, D. “''The Apps Revolution Manifesto —Volume 1: The Technologies.''” Credit Suisse. March 29, 2012.</ref> Note that it should be distinguished from the [[Model-driven architecture|Model-Driven Architecture]] (MDA); the latter is a [[software design]] approach for the development of [[software system]]s and generally does not specify a specific system style or the runtime configuration.
