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Requirements Engineering (requirement + engineering)
Selected AbstractsAgile requirements engineering practices and challenges: an empirical studyINFORMATION SYSTEMS JOURNAL, Issue 5 2010Balasubramaniam Ramesh Abstract This paper describes empirical research into agile requirements engineering (RE) practices. Based on an analysis of data collected in 16 US software development organizations, we identify six agile practices. We also identify seven challenges that are created by the use of these practices. We further analyse how this collection of practices helps mitigate some, while exacerbating other risks in RE. We provide a framework for evaluating the impact and appropriateness of agile RE practices by relating them to RE risks. Two risks that are intractable by agile RE practices emerge from the analysis. First, problems with customer inability and a lack of concurrence among customers significantly impact agile development. Second, risks associated with the neglecting non-functional requirements such as security and scalability are a serious concern. Developers should carefully evaluate the risk factors in their project environment to understand whether the benefits of agile RE practices outweigh the costs imposed by the challenges. [source] A goal-driven approach for service request modelingINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS, Issue 8 2010Chiung-Hon Leon Lee We propose a goal-driven approach to model the service request intention in service-oriented systems. The service request intention can be extracted from the user input and modeled by predefined goal models. We identify this problem as the service request intention extraction. If a service-oriented system has the abilities of user's intention extraction and can make some activities to satisfy the extracted intention, the system can provide a more convenient and efficient service for the user. We start the system construction from the view of goal-driven requirements engineering. The requirements specification is generated by the goal-based requirements analysis in which the functional and nonfunctional requirements will be extended with goal models. A set of computable goal models that represent the user requirements is selected and refined as the basis of system services. The designer can also design related system services based on the requirements specification. Based on the proposed intention extraction approach, the user's vague and imprecise intention will be extracted and mapped to computer understandable and computable goal models for representing the intention. A case-based method is developed to implement the intention extraction process. The intention interpretation knowledge is stored in a case base, and the intention interpretation is based on the process of case retrieval and adaptation. A general architecture for an intention-aware service-oriented system is proposed for demonstrating how to apply the proposed approach. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] An MDE modeling framework for measurable goal-oriented requirementsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS, Issue 8 2010Fernando Molina It is a proved fact that the appropriate management of requirements is one of the most influential factors in the success of software development projects. With the advent of the model-driven engineering (MDE) development paradigm, the need for formal gathering mechanisms, which provide the necessary degree of nonambiguity and detail, has led to the proposal of a myriad of requirements metamodels. However, a great disparity exists, both in the concepts/relationships and in the underlying semantics involved in each metamodel. Moreover, most existing proposals lack backward (e.g., alignment with business goals) or forward (e.g., connection with validation methods) traceability. In view of this situation, this article proposes a "measurable requirements metamodel" that offers support to the elicitation of measurable requirements. This support is based on the explicit connection of goals, requirements, and measures, thus fostering a goal-driven measurable requirements engineering (RE) perspective. Additionally, since it is well known that metamodels only reflect the abstract syntax of the modeling language, the proposed metamodel also includes a notation (concrete syntax) which, for reasons of understandability, is based on the goal-oriented requirements language (GRL) notation. This notation is supported by a unified modeling language (UML) profile that facilitates its adoption by RE analysts in the context of any UML-based software engineering process. To support this proposal, an Eclipse tool has been developed. This tool permits the integration of measurable requirements as a driving force in the context of a given MDE development process. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Improving change tolerance through Capabilities-based design: an empirical analysisJOURNAL OF SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE AND EVOLUTION: RESEARCH AND PRACTICE, Issue 2 2008Ramya Ravichandar Abstract We introduce a Capabilities-based approach for constructing large-scale systems such that they are change - tolerant. The inherent complexity of software systems increases their susceptibility to change when subjected to the vagaries of user needs, technology advances, market demands, and other change-inducing factors. Despite the inevitability of change, traditional requirements engineering strives to develop systems based on a fixed solution; a mostly unsuccessful approach as evidenced by the history of system failures. In contrast, we utilize Capabilities,functional abstractions that are neither as amorphous as user needs nor as rigid as system requirements,to architect systems that accommodate change with minimum impact. These entities are designed to exhibit the desirable characteristics of high cohesion, low coupling, and balanced abstraction levels and are generated by a two-phased process called Capabilities Engineering. Phase I mathematically exploits the structural semantics of a function decomposition graph,a representation of user needs,to formulate change-tolerant Capabilities. Phase II optimizes these Capabilities to comply with schedule and technology constraints. In this paper, we present the overall framework of this process and detail the algorithm to identify Capabilities. In addition, we empirically evaluate the change tolerance of Capabilities resulting from Phase I. For this we examine the ripple effect of needs change on a real-world Course Evaluation System based on the original requirements-based design and the corresponding Capabilities-based design. Our experimental results indicate, with statistical significance, that the Capabilities-based design is less impacted by change and thereby improves the change tolerance of the system when subjected to needs volatility. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Modelling the evolution of legacy systems to Web-based systemsJOURNAL OF SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE AND EVOLUTION: RESEARCH AND PRACTICE, Issue 1-2 2004Janet Lavery Abstract To advance operational legacy systems, with their out-of-date software, distributed data and entrenched business processes, to systems that can take advantage of current Web technologies to give consistent, customized and secure access to existing information bases and legacy systems is a complex and daunting task. The Institutionally Secure Integrated Data Environment (INSIDE) is a collaborative project between the Universities of St Andrews and Durham that is addressing the issues surrounding the development and delivery of integrated systems for large institutions, constrained by the requirement of working with the existing information bases and legacy systems. The work has included an exploration of the incremental evolution of existing systems by building Web-based value-added services upon foundations derived from analysing and modelling the existing legacy systems. Progressing from initial informal models to more formal domain and requirements models in a systematic way, following a meta-process incorporating good practice from domain analysis and requirements engineering has allowed the project to lay the foundation for its development of Web-based services. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | ||||||||||