基于面向方面MDA的实时系统开发方法

实时系统有许多难以处理的横切整个系统的非功能需求。针对以上问题,提出基于面向方面模型驱动架构的实时系统开发方法。该方法在设计阶段将系统的非功能需求从功能需求中分离出,以降低系统开发的复杂性,提高系统的可重用性、可维护性和横切关注点的模块化程度。通过应用实例证明该方法是有效的。     

An engineering process for developing Secure Data Warehouses

We present a new approach for the elicitation and development security requirements in the entire Data Warehouse (DWs) life cycle, which we have called a Secure Engineering process for DAta WArehouses (SEDAWA). Whilst many methods for the requirements analysis phase of the DWs have been proposed, the elicitation of security requirements as non-functional requirements has not received sufficient attention. Hence, in this paper we propose a methodology for the DW design based on Model Driven Architecture (MDA) and the standard Software Process Engineering Metamodel Specification (SPEM) from the Object Management Group (OMG). We define four phases comprising of several activities and steps, an d five disciplines which cover the whole DW design. Our methodology adapts the i¹ framework to be used under MDA and the SPEM approaches in order to elicit and develop security requirements for DWs. The benefits of our proposal are shown through an example related to the management of the pharmacies consortium business.     

Promoting software quality through a human,social and organisational requirements elicitation process

Human, social and organisational (HSO) factors play a decisive role in software development in terms of determining functional and non-functional characteristics of software products. The significance of these factors is underlined by the need to produce applications that fit nicely in a working setting, supporting the working procedures followed and promoting users' content and productivity. In this context, a new requirements elicitation process is proposed, a part of which utilises a short-scale ethnography analysis. The process introduces specific steps for recording HSO factors based on certain software quality characteristics that are treated as principal components for conducting requirements identification. The output of the process is the HSO document, which can be used in conjunction with the classic requirements document to identify structural and functional aspects of the system.     

System requirements engineering in complex situations

The purpose of this paper is to present an alternative systems thinking–based perspective and approach to the requirements elicitation process in complex situations. Three broad challenges associated with the requirements engineering elicitation in complex situations are explored, including the (1) role of the system observer, (2) nature of system requirements in complex situations, and (3) influence of the system environment. Authors have asserted that the expectation of unambiguous, consistent, complete, understandable, verifiable, traceable, and modifiable requirements is not consistent with complex situations. In contrast, complex situations are an emerging design reality for requirements engineering processes, marked by high levels of ambiguity, uncertainty, and emergence. This paper develops the argument that dealing with requirements for complex situations requires a change in paradigm. The elicitation of requirements for simple and technically driven systems is appropriately accomplished by proven methods. In contrast, the elicitation of requirements in complex situations (e.g., integrated multiple critical infrastructures, system-of-systems, etc.) requires more holistic thinking and can be enhanced by grounding in systems theory.     

支持MDA的交互式需求获取方法及辅助工具

为支持MDA的开发模式,本文提出了表格驱动的交互式需求获取方法并开发了相应的支持工具.该方法通过填写参与者表、非功能性需求表、用例卡、CRC卡以及用户反馈表来得到用户需求,为建立计算独立模型CIM和平台独立模型PIM提供足够的信息.     

Methodenunterst��tzung der?Informationsbedarfsanalyse analytischer Informationssysteme

Due to specific characteristics of analytical information systems, their development varies significantly from transaction-oriented systems. Specific method support is particularly needed for requirements engineering and its information-related component, information requirements analysis. The paper at hand first evaluates the state of the art and identifies necessary method support extensions. On this basis, method support requirements for information requirements engineering are identified. The survey is structured along the five core activities of traditional requirements engineering. It reveals a need for further research especially on information requirements elicitation, validation, and management. It further contributes to a discussion of aspects that should be considered by any method support. Due to comparatively long life cycles of analytical information systems, the introduction of a process perspective is discussed in order to ensure the continuous elicitation, documentation, and management of information requirements.     

Improving requirements elicitation: an empirical investigation of procedural prompts

Abstract.  Information system success is dependent upon the effectiveness of requirements elicitation. Requirements elicitation is subject to numerous challenges, however, including cognitive limitations of analysts. In the present study, we test prompts designed to overcome the cognitive limitations that cause analysts to gather inadequate and inaccurate requirements. The study's results indicate that providing analysts with procedural prompts to aid their requirements elicitation can result in the acquisition of additional meaningful requirements. In addition, the procedural prompts designed to mitigate cognitive challenges were significantly more effective than simple interrogatory prompts. Theoretical implications for the elicitation of requirements and practical implications for the training and practice of systems analysts are discussed.     

中文非功能需求描述的识别与分类方法研究

非功能需求描述系统质量相关的属性,是软件设计决策的重要依据和评估标准.与功能需求的描述相比,非功能需求描述通常比较分散,且往往是隐含的.当采集到的需求原始描述内容较多时,逐一进行人工判别和整理需要耗费大量的时间和精力.针对中文自然语言描述的需求文本,提出了自动化的非功能需求识别和分类方法.其中,识别过程旨在从文本中提取出可能包含非功能需求的语句,尽可能地缩小人工检查的范围.分类过程则进一步将包含非功能需求的语句划分到性能、可靠性、可用性、安全性、可维护性这五大类非功能需求类型之中.分类训练和实验测试基于课题组工作项目整理的实验数据集进行,最终,基于一个工业界的实际应用案例数据,验证了方法的有效性.     

智能需求获取与建模研究综述

需求获取和建模是指从需求文本或记录中获取显式和隐式的需求,并通过表格化、图形化、形式化等方法构建相应模型的过程,是软件开发过程中极为关键的一步,为后续系统设计与实现铺平道路,提高软件开发效率和质量,提升软件系统稳定性和可行性.研究者们在需求获取与建模方面获得了一系列研究成果,根据其关注阶段不同,可以将它们分为需求知识提...     

SPL Conqueror: Toward optimization of non-functional properties in software product lines

A software product line (SPL) is a family of related programs of a domain. The programs of an SPL are distinguished in terms of features, which are end-user visible characteristics of programs. Based on a selection of features, stakeholders can derive tailor-made programs that satisfy functional requirements. Besides functional requirements, different application scenarios raise the need for optimizing non-functional properties of a variant. The diversity of application scenarios leads to heterogeneous optimization goals with respect to non-functional properties (e.g., performance vs. footprint vs. energy optimized variants). Hence, an SPL has to satisfy different and sometimes contradicting requirements regarding non-functional properties. Usually, the actually required non-functional properties are not known before product derivation and can vary for each application scenario and customer. Allowing stakeholders to derive optimized variants requires us to measure non-functional properties after the SPL is developed. Unfortunately, the high variability provided by SPLs complicates measurement and optimization of non-functional properties due to a large variant space. With SPL Conqueror, we provide a holistic approach to optimize non-functional properties in SPL engineering. We show how non-functional properties can be qualitatively specified and quantitatively measured in the context of SPLs. Furthermore, we discuss the variant-derivation process in SPL Conqueror that reduces the effort of computing an optimal variant. We demonstrate the applicability of our approach by means of nine case studies of a broad range of application domains (e.g., database management and operating systems). Moreover, we show that SPL Conqueror is implementation and language independent by using SPLs that are implemented with different mechanisms, such as conditional compilation and feature-oriented programming.     

软件非功能需求权衡代价

软件非功能需求的实现涉及软件质量这一重要问题,非功能需求的满足程度,直接影响软件质量的满足程度.针对一直以来对软件质量的一贯重视以及软件非功能需求权衡的重要性,借鉴微观经济学领域的生产理论、替代弹性原理和线性规划方法,提出了软件非功能需求权衡代价分析方法并开发了辅助工具.首先,对项目组前期完成的可信软件非功能需求可满足性分析方法进行改进,提出了利益相关者通过协商获取非功能需求评估数据的方法,建立了非功能需求本体概念并构建本体知识库;针对实现非功能需求的策略,使用前期已完成的策略推理方法,对推理产生矛盾的策略提出权衡代价分析方法;通过分析策略实施代价,为软件开发及演化提供具有实际可操作的权衡决策依据,从更加符合产业化需要的角度解决软件非功能需求权衡问题;最后,基于可信第三方认证中心软件案例的维护及演化需要,对推理出矛盾的策略进行权衡代价分析,并给予决策建议,说明所提出方法的可行性.     

Identification of non-functional requirements in textual specifications: A semi-supervised learning approach

ContextEarly detection of non-functional requirements (NFRs) is crucial in the evaluation of architectural alternatives starting from initial design decisions. The application of supervised text categorization strategies for requirements expressed in natural language has been proposed in several works as a method to help analysts in the detection and classification of NFRs concerning different aspects of software. However, a significant number of pre-categorized requirements are needed to train supervised text classifiers, which implies that analysts have to manually assign categories to numerous requirements before being able of accurately classifying the remaining ones.ObjectiveWe propose a semi-supervised text categorization approach for the automatic identification and classification of non-functional requirements. Therefore, a small number of requirements, possibly identified by the requirement team during the elicitation process, enable learning an initial classifier for NFRs, which could successively identify the type of further requirements in an iterative process. The goal of the approach is the integration into a recommender system to assist requirement analysts and software designers in the architectural design process.MethodDetection and classification of NFRs is performed using semi-supervised learning techniques. Classification is based on a reduced number of categorized requirements by taking advantage of the knowledge provided by uncategorized ones, as well as certain properties of text. The learning method also exploits feedback from users to enhance classification performance.ResultsThe semi-supervised approach resulted in accuracy rates above 70%, considerably higher than the results obtained with supervised methods using standard collections of documents.ConclusionEmpirical evidence showed that semi-supervision requires less human effort in labeling requirements than fully supervised methods, and can be further improved based on feedback provided by analysts. Our approach outperforms previous supervised classification proposals and can be further enhanced by exploiting feedback provided by analysts.     

Quality requirements engineering for systems and software architecting: methods, approaches, and tools

Requirements engineering and software architecture are quite mature software engineering sub-disciplines, which often seem to be disconnected for many reasons and it is difficult to perceive the impact of functional and non-functional requirements on architecture and to establish appropriate trace links for traceability purposes. In other cases, the estimation of how non-functional requirements, as the quality properties a system should pose, is not perceived useful enough to produce high-quality software. Therefore, in this special issue, we want to highlight the importance and the role of quality requirements for architecting and building complex software systems that in many cases require multidisciplinary engineering techniques, which increases the complexity of the software development process.     

Effective Hybrid Content-Based Collaborative Filtering Approach for Requirements Engineering

Requirements engineering (RE) is among the most valuable and critical processes in software development. The quality of this process significantly affects the success of a software project. An important step in RE is requirements elicitation, which involves collecting project-related requirements from different sources. Repositories of reusable requirements are typically important sources of an increasing number of reusable software requirements. However, the process of searching such repositories to collect valuable project-related requirements is time-consuming and difficult to perform accurately. Recommender systems have been widely recognized as an effective solution to such problem. Accordingly, this study proposes an effective hybrid content-based collaborative filtering recommendation approach. The proposed approach will support project stakeholders in mitigating the risk of missing requirements during requirements elicitation by identifying related requirements from software requirement repositories. The experimental results on the RALIC dataset demonstrate that the proposed approach considerably outperforms baseline collaborative filtering-based recommendation methods in terms of prediction accuracy and coverage in addition to mitigating the data sparsity and cold-start item problems.     

情景感知的软件需求获取与建模技术综述

情境感知的移动应用能够适应用户当前状态,因此这类应用越来越受到青睐。但由于上下文情景的维度是无数的,这使得获取和建模情境感知系统的情景需求成为一大挑战。本文通过文献综述的方法,旨在:(1)发现有哪些情境感知的需求获取与建模方法;(2)评估这些方法的技术转移成熟度。通过对所选择的61篇相关文献,进行数据抽取和分析综合,本文总结并识别出11种需求获取的方法、10种需求建模的方法以及它们的技术转移现状。结果显示:(1)最受欢迎的情景感知需求获取方法是用例和场景,而最常用的情境感知需求建模方法则是面向目标的方法;(2)在大多数相关文献中的需求获取与建模技术的技术成熟度都不高,不利于其面向工业界进行技术转移。     

Survey and analysis on Security Requirements Engineering

Security Requirements Engineering is a new research area in software engineering, with the realization that security must be analyzed early during the requirements phase. Many researchers are working in this area; however, there is a lack in security requirements treatment. The security requirements are one of the non-functional requirements, which act as constraints on functions of the system. Organizations are depending on information systems for communicating and sharing information. Thus, IT security is becoming central in fulfilling business goals, to guard assets and to create trustworthy systems. To develop systems with adequate security features, it is essential to capture the security requirements. In this paper, we present a view on Security Requirements, issues, types, Security Requirements Engineering (SRE) and methods. We analyzed and compared different methods and found that SQUARE and Security Requirements Engineering Process methods cover most of the important activities of SRE. The developers can adopt these SRE methods and easily identify the security requirements for software systems.     

A framework for the operationalization of monitoring in business intelligence requirements engineering

Business intelligence (BI) is perceived as a critical activity for organizations and is increasingly discussed in requirements engineering (RE). RE can contribute to the successful implementation of BI systems by assisting the identification and analysis of such systems’ requirements and the production of the specification of the system to be. Within RE for BI systems, we focus in this paper on the following questions: (i) how the expectations of a BI system’s stakeholders can be translated into accurate BI requirements, and (ii) how do we operationalize specifically these requirements in a system specification? In response, we define elicitation axes for the documentation of BI-specific requirements, give a list of six BI entities that we argue should be accounted for to operationalize business monitoring, and provide notations for the modeling of these entities. We survey important contributions of BI to define elicitation axes, adapt existing BI notations issued from RE literature, and complement them with new BI-specific notations. Using the i* framework, we illustrate the application of our proposal using a real-world case study.     

可信软件非功能需求形式化表示与可满足分析

可信软件的可信性由其功能需求和非功能需求共同来体现,其中,非功能需求的实现是可信软件获得用户对其行为实现预期目标能力的信任程度的客观依据.针对可信软件的重要性以及对可信软件的迫切需求,在可信软件的早期需求工程阶段,提出可信软件非功能需求驱动的过程策略选取方法.首先,对可信软件需求进行定义,提出由功能需求和非功能需求中的可信关注点构成可信需求,非可信关注点的非功能需求则定义为软目标,用于表达质量需求,基于模糊集合论和信息熵对可信软件非功能需求进行排序并获取可信关注点和软目标.在此基础上,提出可信软件非功能需求驱动的过程策略选取方法.传统的软件早期需求工程阶段的目标是为了获取满足需求的技术及设计决策,与此不同,本文对可信软件非功能需求进行分析的目标是获取过程策略,从过程角度解决可信软件生产问题.由于非功能需求间复杂的相关关系,尤其是因为存在冲突关系,故提出了基于可满足性问题求解方法推理过程策略的方法,选取满足可信软件非功能需求的过程策略.最后,通过第三方可信认证中心软件的案例,说明所提出方法的可行性.     

可信软件非功能需求可满足性经济学方法分析

针对软件可信性的重要性以及非功能需求的策略选取对软件可信性的影响,提出了一种在早期需求工程阶段将用于辅助决策的经济学和需求工程相结合的方法,并提出了可信软件非功能需求可满足性的策略选取框架,以辅助策略选取。首先,对功能需求及经济学方法概念进行了定义和转换,例如,将软件开发过程中的非功能需求看作经济学生产过程中的生产要素、软件的利益相关者看作生产过程中的生产者等;并定义了非功能需求分解模型。在此基础上,基于模糊集合论和信息熵对软件非功能需求进行模糊排序从而获取利益相关者的关键非功能需求,并利用经济学中生产过程的相关方法计算使用策略的可信性效益,辅助策略的选取。以移动基础维护管理平台为例,使用提出的方法,说明了所提方法的可行性。     

Toward automated feature model configuration with optimizing non-functional requirements

ContextA software product line is a family of software systems that share some common features but also have significant variabilities. A feature model is a variability modeling artifact, which represents differences among software products with respect to the variability relationships among their features. Having a feature model along with a reference model developed in the domain engineering lifecycle, a concrete product of the family is derived by binding the variation points in the feature model (called configuration process) and by instantiating the reference model.ObjectiveIn this work we address the feature model configuration problem and propose a framework to automatically select suitable features that satisfy both the functional and non-functional preferences and constraints of stakeholders. Additionally, interdependencies between various non-functional properties are taken into account in the framework.MethodThe proposed framework combines Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCM) to compute the non-functional properties weights based on stakeholders’ preferences and interdependencies between non-functional properties. Afterwards, Hierarchical Task Network (HTN) planning is applied to find the optimal feature model configuration.ResultOur approach improves state-of-art of feature model configuration by considering positive or negative impacts of the features on non-functional properties, the stakeholders’ preferences, and non-functional interdependencies. The approach presented in this paper extends earlier work presented in [1] from several distinct perspectives including mechanisms handling interdependencies between non-functional properties, proposing a novel tooling architecture, and offering visualization and interaction techniques for representing functional and non-functional aspects of feature models.Conclusionour experiments show the scalability of our configuration approach when considering both functional and non-functional requirements of stakeholders.