Elaborating Analysis Models with Tool Support

2004

Latest research results have shown that requirements errors have a prolonged impact on software development and that they are more expensive to fix during later stages than early stages in software development. Use case diagrams in UML are used to give requirements for a software system, but all descriptions for each use case are written in informal language. In this paper, we propose a new language HCL (High-Level Constraint Language) to which any requirement model given by use case diagrams can be mapped. Not only is the language HCL based on a formal language but also the requirement model written in HCL can be executed. Many errors occurring during requirements analysis and design can be detected by means of execution.

Journal of Computer Information Systems, 2006

There are many Requirements Engineering approaches and techniques that help to specify, analyze and validate requirements in the context of practically any kind of project. However, they are neither widely accepted nor widely used by industrial software community. One of the main problems faced when applying a requirement technique is to what extent it can be easily adapted to the specific needs of the project. This has often led to unsatisfactory requirements management in industrial software development. Currently, Use Case model is the most widely accepted despite its restricted expressiveness and overloaded semantics. Other more sophisticated modeling techniques have been developed independently of any others and/or for specific application domains. Frequently, techniques that provide richer expressiveness do not include scalability from other more popular techniques nor do they offer integration with other more advanced techniques. In this work, we present an approach for requirements modeling that allows the integration of the expressiveness of some of the more relevant techniques in the Requirements Engineering arena. Our work takes advantage of metamodeling as a medium for integrating and customizing Requirements Engineering techniques. By focusing on the scalability with respect to expressiveness and adaptability to the application domain, we have established some basic guidelines and extension mechanisms that lend coherence and semantic precision to our approach. A case study is presented to describe the application of our approach in a real-life project and the tool support we are using.

2006

This paper presents the formal specification for a tool that models the functional requirements of a system based on use case models. The formal model of such a tool is made using Alloy, which is a lightweight modeling language. The structure of the model as well as an analysis of the model are specified using Alloy. As a complement of the formal model, a model diagram is also presented using the Alloy notation.

Bell Labs Technical Journal, 2003

Software requirements are traditionally documented in a relatively unstructured text requirements document. A better approach is to use modern tools to create a requirements model. A requirements model structures the information to facilitate management of requirements churn and flow-through of information to design and test artifacts. In this paper we describe the requirements model and explain how using such a model can lead to interval reduction and improved product quality.

2005

The main aim of this chapter is to present and discuss a set of modeling and specification techniques, in what concerns their ontology and support in the requirements representation of computer-based systems. A systematic classification of meta-models, also called models of computation, is presented. This topic is highly relevant since it supports the definition of sound specification methodologies in relation to the semantic definition of the modeling views to adopt for a given system. The usage and applicability of Unified Modeling Language (UML) diagrams is also related to their corresponding meta-models. A set of desirable characteristics for the specification methodologies is presented and justified to allow system designers and requirements engineers to more consciously define or choose a particular specification methodology. A heuristic-based approach to support the transformation of user into system requirements is suggested, with some graphical examples in UML notation.

Proceedings of the 3rd annual conference on Task models and diagrams - TAMODIA '04, 2004

In this paper we discuss an approach linking GUI specifications to abstract dialog models. Both specifications are based on task models describing behavioral features. It will be shown how first prototypes of interactive systems, which are generated from user interface models, can help to capture requirements. Users can interactively play with prototypes. Tool support is also provided for co-operative work of different users, which starts with abstract canonical prototypes that can evolve to concrete GUI specifications.

The first phases of the FORSEN system that helps the analyst to use an informal specification as the basis of producing a formal specification and concerns the modelisation of the requirements into entity relationship models (ERM) is described. The modelisation is done from the logical form expressions obtained from the analysis of the natural language text. The ERM models are then used as a basis for the production of formal specification in the Vienna Development Method (VDM).

IFAC Proceedings Volumes, 1984

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2010 Fifth International Workshop on Requirements Engineering Visualization, 2010

Requirements engineering for complex systems often requires inter-disciplinary collaboration between domain experts who might not have software or systems engineering background. Existing requirements modeling languages unfortunately do not support this scenario well. First, the visual notation of languages like UML or SysML does not follow scientific heuristics and therefore does not provide a homogeneous and more important interdisciplinary comprehensible visualization. Second they provide isolated solutions for specific aspects like feature modeling or hazard modeling and therefore do not provide integrated and interdisciplinary traceability. We propose the Unified Requirements Modeling Language (URML) to overcome these two issues. URML integrates aspects like goal modeling, feature modeling and hazard analysis into one model and aims at a homogeneous and comprehensible visualization. In this paper we propose the meta-model for URML, describe the development of the corresponding visualization as well as initial tool support.

A major task in designing systems development is the systematic elaboration of functional system requirements and their integration into the environment of the overall technical system. The main challenge is to handle the versatile tasks of coordinating the communication and consolidation of the various stakeholder requirements of the different involved diciplines and derive a common definition of the system behavior, which is appropriate to the problem. The problem-and customer-related product definition must be consolidated with and integrated into the manifold requirements of the functional and technical system design. Accordingly, the model-based requirements analysis and system-definition presented here defines a well-structured modeling approach, which provides a basic model of RE work products (RE Product Model) and systematically guides the goal-oriented formulation and adjustment of the different stakeholder-requirements by using functional system views and descriptive specification techniques. Thus it allows a clear specification of a consistent and complete system design. The central steps of this approach are implemented in a requirements management (RM) tool prototype called AUTORAID.