Audit and Certification of Digital Repositories: Creating a Mandate for the Digital Curation Centre (DCC)

The article examines the issues surrounding the audit and certification of digital repositories in light of the work that the RLG/NARA Task Force did to draw up guidelines and the need for these guidelines to be validated.

The Structured Process Modeling Theory (SPMT): a cognitive view on why and how modelers benefit from structuring the process of process modeling

After observing various inexperienced modelers constructing a business process model based on the same textual case description, it was noted that great differences existed in the quality of the produced models. The impression arose that certain quality issues originated from cognitive failures during the modeling process. Therefore, we developed an explanatory theory that describes the cognitive mechanisms that affect effectiveness and efficiency of process model construction: the Structured Process Modeling Theory (SPMT). This theory states that modeling accuracy and speed are higher when the modeler adopts an (i) individually fitting (ii) structured (iii) serialized process modeling approach. The SPMT is evaluated against six theory quality criteria

Improving the quality of process reference models: A quality function deployment-based approach

Little academic work exists on managing reference model development and measuring reference model quality, yet there is a clear need for higher quality reference models. We address this gap by developing a quality management and measurement instrument. The foundation for the instrument is the well-known Quality Function Deployment (QFD) approach. The QFD-based approach incorporates prior research on reference model requirements and development approaches. Initial evaluation of the instrument is carried out with a case study of a logistic reference process. The case study reveals that the instrument is a valuable tool for the management and estimation of reference model quality

Iterative criteria-based approach to engineering the requirements of software development methodologies

Software engineering endeavours are typically based on and governed by the requirements of the target software; requirements identification is therefore an integral part of software development methodologies. Similarly, engineering a software development methodology (SDM) involves the identification of the requirements of the target methodology. Methodology engineering approaches pay special attention to this issue; however, they make little use of existing methodologies as sources of insight into methodology requirements. The authors propose an iterative method for eliciting and specifying the requirements of a SDM using existing methodologies as supplementary resources. The method is performed as the analysis phase of a methodology engineering process aimed at the ultimate design and implementation of a target methodology. An initial set of requirements is first identified through analysing the characteristics of the development situation at hand and/or via delineating the general features desirable in the target methodology. These initial requirements are used as evaluation criteria; refined through iterative application to a select set of relevant methodologies. The finalised criteria highlight the qualities that the target methodology is expected to possess, and are therefore used as a basis for de. ning the final set of requirements. In an example, the authors demonstrate how the proposed elicitation process can be used for identifying the requirements of a general object-oriented SDM. Owing to its basis in knowledge gained from existing methodologies and practices, the proposed method can help methodology engineers produce a set of requirements that is not only more complete in span, but also more concrete and rigorous

Assessing the effectiveness of goal-oriented modeling languages: A family of experiments

[EN] Context Several goal-oriented languages focus on modeling stakeholders' objectives, interests or wishes. However, these languages can be used for various purposes (e.g., exploring system solutions or evaluating alternatives), and there are few guidelines on how to use these models downstream to the software requirements and design artifacts. Moreover, little attention has been paid to the empirical evaluation of this kind of languages. In a previous work, we proposed value@GRL as a specialization of the Goal Requirements Language (GRL) to specify stakeholders' goals when dealing with early requirements in the context of incremental software development. Objective: This paper compares the value@GRL language with the i* language, with respect to the quality of goal models, the participants' modeling time and productivity when creating the models, and their perceptions regarding ease of use and usefulness. Method: A family of experiments was carried out with 184 students and practitioners in which the participants were asked to specify a goal model using each of the languages. The participants also filled in a questionnaire that allowed us to assess their perceptions. Results: The results of the individual experiments and the meta-analysis indicate that the quality of goal models obtained with value@GRL is higher than that of i*, but that the participants required less time to create the goal models when using i*. The results also show that the participants perceived value@GRL to be easier to use and more useful than i* in at least two experiments of the family. Conclusions: value@GRL makes it possible to obtain goal models with good quality when compared to i*, which is one of the most frequently used goal-oriented modeling languages. It can, therefore, be considered as a promising emerging approach in this area. Several insights emerged from the study and opportunities for improving both languages are outlined.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (Adapt@Cloud project, grant number TIN2017-84550-R) and the Programa de Ayudas de Investigación y Desarrollo (PAID-01-17) from the Universitat Politècnica de València.Abrahao Gonzales, SM.; Insfran, E.; González-Ladrón-De-Guevara, F.; Fernández-Diego, M.; Cano-Genoves, C.; Pereira De Oliveira, R. (2019). Assessing the effectiveness of goal-oriented modeling languages: A family of experiments. Information and Software Technology. 116:1-24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infsof.2019.08.003S12411

Development of an Ontology-based Framework and Tool for Employer Information Requirements (OntEIR)

The identification of proper requirements is a key factor for a successful construction project. Many attempts in the form of frameworks, models, and tools have been put forward to assist in identifying those requirements. In projects using Building Information Modelling (BIM), the Employer Information Requirements (EIR) is a fundamental ingredient in achieving a successful BIM project.As of April 2016, Building Information Modelling (BIM) was mandated for all UK government projects, as part of the Government Construction Strategy. This means that all central Government departments must only tender with suppliers that demonstrate their capability on working with the Level-2 BIM.One of the fundamental ingredients of achieving the BIM Level-2 is the provision of full and clear Employer Information Requirements (EIR). As defined by PAS 1192-2, EIR is a “pre- tender document that sets out the information to be delivered and the standards and processes to be adopted by the suppler as part of the project delivery process”. it also notes that “EIR should be incorporated into tender documentation to enable suppliers to produce an initial BIM Execution Plan (BEP)”.Effective definition of EIRs can contribute to better productivity; within the budget and time limit set and improve the quality of the built facility. Also, EIR contribute to the information clients get at the end of the project, which will enable the effective management and operation of the asset at less cost, in an industry, where typically 60% of the cost go towards maintenance and operation.The aim of this research is to develop a better approach, for producing a full and complete set of EIRs, which ensures that the clients information needs for the final model delivered by BIM be clearly defined from the very beginning of the BIM process. It also manages the collaboration between the different stakeholders of the project, which allows them to communicate and deliver to the client’s requirements. In other words, an EIR that manages the whole BIM process and the information delivered throughout its lifecycle, and the standards to be adopted by the suppliers as an essential ingredient for the success of a BIM project. For the research to be able to achieve the aims set and the formulated objectives, firstly a detailed and critical review on related work and issues was conducted. Then the initial design of the OntEIR Framework, which introduced the new categorisation system of the information requirements and the elicitation of requirements from high-level needs using ontology was presented. A research prototype of an online tool was developed as a proof-of- concept to implement and operationalise the research framework.The evaluation of the framework and prototype tool via interviews and questionnaires was conducted with both industry experts and inexperienced stakeholders. The findings indicateivthat the adoption of the framework and tool, in addition to the new categorisation system, could contribute towards effective and efficient development of EIRs that provide a better understanding of the information requirements as requested by BIM, and support the production of a complete BIM Execution Plan (BEP) and a Master Information Delivery Plan (MIDP)

Coordinating Large Distributed Process Structures

Representing a business process as interacting small processes has become feasible with data-centric business process management paradigms. These small processes have relations and, thereby, form a relational process structure. The interactions of processes within this relational process structure must be coordinated to arrive at a meaningful overall business goal. However, relational process structures may become arbitrarily large and, with cloud technology, they may additionally be distributed over multiple nodes. Coordination processes have been proposed to coordinate relational process structures, where processes have one-to-many and many-to-many relations at run-time. This paper shows how multiple coordination processes can be used in a decentralized fashion to coordinate large, distributed process structures. The main challenge is to effectively realize the coordination responsibility of each coordination process. Key components of the solution are the subsidiary principle and the hierarchy of the relational process structure. Moreover, from these key components and the technical properties of coordination processes, an implementation based on microservices was developed, which allows fast and concurrent enactment of multiple, decentralized coordination processes in large, distributed process structures