A requirements engineering process for control engineering software

This paper presents a novel approach for the specification of control engineering software. The proposal is based on software engineering techniques which have improved the performance and quality of software processes. Some of the best practices for the building of software products are included. An example of the proposal is given for the requirements specification of the 1992 ACC robust control benchmark.     

A practitioner’s guide to light weight software process assessment and improvement planning

Software process improvement (SPI) is challenging, particularly for small and medium sized enterprises. Most existing SPI frameworks are either too expensive to deploy, or do not take an organizations’ specific needs into consideration. There is a need for light weight SPI frameworks that enable practitioners to base improvement efforts on the issues that are the most critical for the specific organization.

This paper presents a step-by-step guide to process assessment and improvement planning using improvement framework utilizing light weight assessment and improvement planning (iFLAP), aimed at practitioners undertaking SPI initiatives. In addition to the guide itself the industrial application of iFLAP is shown through two industrial cases. iFLAP is a packaged improvement framework, containing both assessment and improvement planning capabilities, explicitly developed to be light weight in nature. Assessment is performed by eliciting improvements issues based on the organization’s experience and knowledge. The findings are validated through triangulation utilizing multiple data sources. iFLAP actively involves practitioners in prioritizing improvement issues and identifying dependencies between them in order to package improvements, and thus establish a, for the organization, realistic improvement plan. The two cases of iFLAP application in industry are presented together with lessons learned in order to exemplify actual use of the framework as well as challenges encountered.     

软件项目需求波动风险分析及对策

从需求波动风险的定义出发,总结了需求波动形成的原因和对软件项目的影响,列举了一些代表性的风险分析和评估方法。最后提出了基于面向对象方法的系统需求工程的分析设计思路。     

An operational model for structuring the requirements generation process

Product quality is directly related to how well that product meets the customers needs and intents. Therefore, the ability to capture customer requirements correctly and succinctly is paramount. Unfortunately, within most software development frameworks requirements elicitation, recording and evaluation are some of the more ill-defined and least structured activities. To help address such inadequacies, we propose a requirements generation model (RGM) that (a) decomposes the conventional requirements analysis phase into sub-phases which focus and refine requirement generation activities, (b) bounds and structures those activities to promote a more effective generation process, and (c) implements a monitoring methodology to assist in detecting deviations from well-defined procedures intended to support the generation of requirements that meet the customers intent. The RGM incorporates lessons learned from a preliminary study that concentrated on identifying where and how miscommunication and requirements omission occur. An industry study (also reported in this paper) attests to the effectiveness of the RGM. The results of that study indicate that the RGM helps (a) reduce the late discovery of requirements, (b) reduce the slippage in milestone completion dates, and (c) increase customer and management satisfaction levels.     

Managing the requirements engineering process

Process management is a crucial issue in developing information or computer systems. Theories of software development process management suggest that the process should be supported and managed based on what the process really is. However, our learning from an action research study reveals that the requirements engineering (RE) process differs significantly from that which the current literature tends to describe. The process is not a systematic, smooth and incremental evolution of the requirements model, but involves occasional simplification and restructuring of the requirements model. This revised understanding of the RE process suggests a new challenge to both the academic and industrial communities, demanding new process management approaches. In this paper, we present our understanding of the RE process and its implications for process management.     

Evaluation of a game to teach requirements collection and analysis in software engineering at tertiary education level

A highly important part of software engineering education is requirements collection and analysis which is one of the initial stages of the Database Application Lifecycle and arguably the most important stage of the Software Development Lifecycle. No other conceptual work is as difficult to rectify at a later stage or as damaging to the overall system if performed incorrectly. As software engineering is a field with a reputation for producing graduates who are inappropriately prepared for applying their skills in real life software engineering scenarios, it suggests that traditional educational techniques such as role-play, live-through case studies and paper-based case studies are insufficient preparation and that other approaches are required. To attempt to combat this problem we have developed a games-based learning application to teach requirements collection and analysis at tertiary education level as games-based learning is seen as a highly motivating, engaging form of media and is a rapidly expanding field. This paper will describe the evaluation of the requirements collection and analysis game particularly from a pedagogical perspective. The game will be compared to traditional methods of software engineering education using a pre-test/post-test, control group/experimental group design to assess if the game can act as a suitable supplement to traditional techniques and assess if it can potentially overcome shortcomings. The game will be evaluated in five separate experiments at tertiary education level.     

Relationship analysis in requirements engineering

This research addresses a major shortcoming in todays requirements analysis techniques—the lack of a rigorous and comprehensive process to explicitly capture the relationship structure of the problem domain. Whereas other analysis techniques lightly address the relationship discovery process, relationship analysis (RA) is a systematic, domain-independent analysis technique focusing exclusively on a domains relationship structure. This paper describes RAs taxonomy of relationship types and corresponding brainstorming questions for eliciting the relationship structure from a domain expert. A preliminary case study analysis of online bookstores using RA as well as a formal experiment have both confirmed RAs effectiveness in helping the analyst produce significantly higher quality requirements. RA should become an invaluable tool for analysts, irrespective of the software engineering approach taken during systems analysis.     

Deriving static and dynamic concepts from software requirements using sophisticated tagging

Natural language requirements specifications form the basis for the subsequent phase of the information system development process, namely the development of conceptual schemata. Both, the textual as well as the conceptual representations are not really appropriate for being thoroughly captured and validated by the ‘requirement holders’, i.e. the end users. Therefore, in our approach the textual specifications are firstly linguistically analyzed and translated into a so-called conceptual predesign schema. That schema is formulated using an interlingua which is based on a lean semantic model, thus allowing users to participate more efficiently in the design and validation process. After validation, the predesign schema is mapped to a conceptual representation (e.g. UML). The sequence of these translation and transformation steps is described by the “NIBA workflow”. This paper focuses on the information supporting a step by step mapping of natural language requirements specifications to a conceptual model, and on how that information is gained. On particular, we present a four-level interpretation of tagging-output.     

A measurement framework for assessing the maturity of requirements engineering process

Because requirements engineering (RE) problems are widely acknowledged as having a major impact on the effectiveness of the software development process, Sommerville et al. have developed a requirements maturity model. However, research has shown that the measurement process within Sommerville’s model is ambiguous, and implementation of his requirements maturity model leads to confusion. Hence, the objective of our research is to propose a new RE maturity measurement framework (REMMF) based on Sommerville’s model and to provide initial validation of REMMF. The main purpose of proposing REMMF is to allow us to more effectively measure the maturity of the RE processes being used within organisations and to assist practitioners in measuring the maturity of their RE processes. In order to evaluate REMMF, two organisations implemented the measurement framework within their IT divisions, provided us with an assessment of their requirements process and gave feedback on the REMMF measurement process. The results show that our measurement framework is clear, easy to use and provides an entry point through which the practitioners can effectively judge the strengths and weakness of their RE processes. When an organisation knows where it is, it can more effectively plan for improvement.

Understanding replication of experiments in software engineering: A classification

ContextReplication plays an important role in experimental disciplines. There are still many uncertainties about how to proceed with replications of SE experiments. Should replicators reuse the baseline experiment materials? How much liaison should there be among the original and replicating experimenters, if any? What elements of the experimental configuration can be changed for the experiment to be considered a replication rather than a new experiment?ObjectiveTo improve our understanding of SE experiment replication, in this work we propose a classification which is intend to provide experimenters with guidance about what types of replication they can perform.MethodThe research approach followed is structured according to the following activities: (1) a literature review of experiment replication in SE and in other disciplines, (2) identification of typical elements that compose an experimental configuration, (3) identification of different replications purposes and (4) development of a classification of experiment replications for SE.ResultsWe propose a classification of replications which provides experimenters in SE with guidance about what changes can they make in a replication and, based on these, what verification purposes such a replication can serve. The proposed classification helped to accommodate opposing views within a broader framework, it is capable of accounting for less similar replications to more similar ones regarding the baseline experiment.ConclusionThe aim of replication is to verify results, but different types of replication serve special verification purposes and afford different degrees of change. Each replication type helps to discover particular experimental conditions that might influence the results. The proposed classification can be used to identify changes in a replication and, based on these, understand the level of verification.     

An approach to analyzing the software process change impact using process slicing and simulation

When a software process is changed, a project manager needs to perform two types of change impact analysis activities: one for identifying the affected elements of a software process which is affected by the change and the other for analyzing the quantitative impact of the change on the project performance. We propose an approach to obtain the affected elements of a software process using process slicing and developing a simulation model based on the affected elements to quantitatively analyzing the change using simulation. We suggest process slicing to obtain the elements affected by the change. Process slicing identifies the affected elements of a software process using a process dependency model. The process dependency model contains activity control dependencies, artifact information dependencies, and role replacement dependencies. We also suggest transformation algorithms to automatically derive the simulation model from the process model containing the affected elements. The quantitative analysis can be performed by simulating the simulation model. In addition, we provide the tool to support our approach. We perform a case study to validate the usefulness of our approach. The result of the case study shows that our approach can reduce the effort to identify the elements affected by changes and examine alternatives for the project.     

User participation in the requirements engineering process: An empirical study

In the development of information systems, user participation in the requirements engineering (RE) process is hypothesised to be necessary for RE success. In this paper we develop a theoretical model which predicts that the interaction between user participation in the RE process and uncertainty has an impact on RE success. This theory is empirically tested using survey data. We develop instruments to measure user participation and uncertainty. An existing instrument for measuring RE success was used. This instrument covers two dimensions of RE success: (a) the quality of RE service, and (b) the quality of RE products. The results, indicate that as uncertainty increases, greater user participation alleviates the negative influence of uncertainty on the quality of RE service, and that as uncertainty decreases, the beneficial effects on the quality of RE service of increasing user participation diminish. Furthermore, we did not find that the interaction between user participation and uncertainty had an impact on the quality of RE products. Based on these results, we make recommendations for managing user participation in the RE process, and provide directions for future research.This work has been supported, in part, by the IT Macroscope Project and NSERC Canada.     

Ontology of systems and software engineering

Systems and software engineering have evolved in the last years in a process of consolidation of their specificities as engineering disciplines. This has resulted in research and inquiry on ontological and epistemological issues related to them. Due to the supporting nature of systems and software engineering with regards to other engineering disciplines, these aspects are also relevant to researchers and practitioners in other engineering domains. The contents of this issue provide a selection of research aimed at consolidating ontology of systems and software engineering as a useful and consistent body of knowledge.     

Supporting the acquisition and modeling of requirements in software design

This paper describes a system for supporting the construction of software requirement models, which are initial computable models representing users' requirements in software design. The system principally consists of two components, a system for aiding the formation of requirement concepts by visualizing a user's thought space, and a knowledge-based system which automatically assembles the ascertained requirement concepts into a requirement model. The system extracts reusable components of a requirement model, corresponding to the users' abstract requirement concept, from a store of similar past cases. The components are then automatically arranged using heuristic reasoning. By using the system, users can make their requirement concepts more mature, and simultaneously get computable requirement models as by-products.     

Modeling uncertainty in software engineering using rough sets

Uncertainty casts a shadow over all facets of software engineering. This negative meta-property is found in every aspect of software including requirement specifications, design, and code. It can also manifest itself in the tools and engineering practices employed, and in the off-the-shelf software incorporated into the final product. Unfortunately, it is often the case that software engineers ignore these sources of uncertainty or abstract them away. Perhaps this is because there is insufficient understanding of this uncertainty, and no universal techniques for handling its many forms. This paper focuses on the issues of uncertainty in software engineering. It further describes a rough set framework for making decisions in the face of such uncertainty and inconsistency. In particular, we show how to induce rule-based decision making from uncertain information in software engineering applications. Moreover, a freely available tool, Rosetta, is employed to automate the decision-making process. NASA has mandated the use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions where possible. But in commercial real-time operating systems certain attributes are uncertain, even where published information is available. Therefore, the selection of a commercial real-time operating system for an embedded system is the software engineering problem with which we explain the rough set decision-making process.     

Structuring the modeling space and supporting evolution in software product line engineering

The scale and complexity of product lines means that it is practically infeasible to develop a single model of the entire system, regardless of the languages or notations used. The dynamic nature of real-world systems means that product line models need to evolve continuously to meet new customer requirements and to reflect changes of product line artifacts. To address these challenges, product line engineers need to apply different strategies for structuring the modeling space to ease the creation and maintenance of models. This paper presents an approach that aims at reducing the maintenance effort by organizing product lines as a set of interrelated model fragments defining the variability of particular parts of the system. We provide support to semi-automatically merge fragments into complete product line models. We also provide support to automatically detect inconsistencies between product line artifacts and the models representing these artifacts after changes. Furthermore, our approach supports the co-evolution of models and their respective meta-models. We discuss strategies for structuring the modeling space and show the usefulness of our approach using real-world examples from our ongoing industry collaboration.     

Clear justification of modeling decisions for goal-oriented requirements engineering

Representation and reasoning about goals of an information system unavoidably involve the transformation of unclear stakeholder requirements into an instance of a goal model. If the requirements engineer does not justify why one clear form of requirements is chosen over others, the subsequent modeling decisions cannot be justified either. If arguments for clarification and modeling decisions are instead explicit, justifiably appropriate instances of goal models can be constructed and additional analyses applied to discover richer sets of requirements. The paper proposes the “Goal Argumentation Method (GAM)” to fulfil three roles: (i) GAM guides argumentation and justification of modeling choices during the construction or critique of goal model instances; (ii) it enables the detection of deficient argumentation within goal model instances; and (iii) it provides practical techniques for the engineer to ensure that requirements appearing both in arguments and in model instance elements are clear.

The MINI software factory: Development of kernel mechanisms around process modeling and software bus techniques

The global evolution of software development leads to large projects involving many people. Organizing these people is a big challenge for software engineering. The ESF (Eureka Software Factory) program, funded by a number of European countries, relies on the idea of a software factory for improving the productivity and the quality of software development. The MINI is a software factory prototype. Based on the principles and the architecture defined by the ESF project, the MINI factory intends to demonstrate the cooperation of users involved in the management, production, and support of software development. Built from a set of heterogeneous and dissimilar components or tools, the MINI factory provides an integrated and coherent environment available for each actor of the software production. The MINI factory allows us to look at the users' daily activities within the context of a software factory, as well as at the integration mechanisms used to build such an environment.     

A methodology for the selection of requirements engineering techniques

The complexity of software projects as well as the multidisciplinary nature of requirements engineering (RE) requires developers to carefully select RE techniques and practices during software development. Nevertheless, the selection of RE techniques is usually based on personal preference or existing company practice rather than on characteristics of the project at hand. Furthermore, there is a lack of guidance on which techniques are suitable for a certain project context. So far, only a limited amount of research has been done regarding the selection of RE techniques based on the attributes of the project under development. The few approaches that currently exist for the selection of RE techniques provide only little guidance for the actual selection process. We believe that the evaluation of RE techniques in the context of an application domain and a specific project is of great importance. This paper describes a Methodology for Requirements Engineering Techniques Selection (MRETS) as an approach that helps requirements engineers select suitable RE techniques for the project at hand. The MRETS has three aspects: Firstly, it aids requirements engineers in establishing a link between the attributes of the project and the attributes of RE techniques. Secondly, based on the evaluation schema proposed in our research, MRETS provides an opportunity to analyze RE techniques in detail using clustering. Thirdly, the objective function used in our approach provides an effective decision support mechanism for the selection of RE techniques. This paper makes contributions to RE techniques analysis, the application of RE techniques in practice, RE research, and software engineering in general. The application of the proposed methodology to an industrial project provides preliminary information on the effectiveness of MRETS for the selection of RE techniques.