A Model for Capturing and Managing Software Engineering Knowledge and Experience

During software development projects there is always a particular working "product" that is generated but rarely managed: the knowledge and experience that team members acquire. This knowledge and experience, if conveniently managed, can be reused in future software projects and be the basis for process improvement initiatives. In this paper we present a model for managing the knowledge and experience team members acquire during software development projects in a non-disruptive way, by integrating its management into daily project activities. The purpose of the model is to identify and capture this knowledge and experience in order to derive lessons learned and proposals for best practices that enable an organization to preserve them for future use, and support software process improvement activities. The main contribution of the model is that it enables an organization to consider knowledge and experience management activities as an integral part of its software projects, instead of being considered, as it was until now, as a follow-up activity that is (infrequently) carried out after the end of the projects

APPLICATION OF ACTIVITY THEORY TO ELICITATION OF USER REQUIREMENTS FOR A COMPUTERIZED CLINICAL PRACTICE GUIDELINE: THE ACTCPG CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Clinical practice guidelines are knowledge uptake instrument that support decision making by the physicians. They are often implemented as computer-interpreted guidelines that are embedded in a hospital information system. We argue that computer-interpreted guidelines should be considered as regular information system, thus their development should follow all the steps of system analysis and design, starting with exploration and definition of user requirements. In this paper we propose the ActCPG conceptual framework to establish basic user requirements for implementing computer-interpreted guidelines. This framework relies on the Activity Theory to structure and decompose information coming from a clinical practice guideline and associated narrative so UML use cases can be developed. We illustrate operation of the ActCPG framework with an example of a practice guideline for a management of clinically obese children enrolled in some obesity program

The RISKSUR EVA Tool (Survtool): a tool for the integrated evaluation of animal health surveillance systems

Information about infectious diseases at the global level relies on effective, efficient and sustainable national and international surveillance systems. Surveillance systems need to be regularly evaluated to ensure their effectiveness, the quality of the data and information provided, as well as to be able to allocate resources efficiently. Currently available frameworks for evaluation of surveillance systems in animal or human health often treat technical, process and socio-economic aspects separately instead of integrating them. The surveillance evaluation (EVA) tool, a support tool for the evaluation of animal health surveillance systems, was developed to provide guidance for integrated evaluation of animal health surveillance including economic evaluation. The tool was developed by international experts in surveillance and evaluation in an iterative process of development, testing and revision; taking into account existing frameworks and guidance, scientific literature and expert opinion elicitation. The EVA tool encompasses a web interface for users to develop an evaluation plan, a Wiki classroom to provide theoretical information on all required concepts and a generic evaluation work plan to facilitate implementation and reporting of outputs to decision makers. The tool was used to plan and conduct epidemiological and economic evaluations of surveillance for classical and African swine fever, bovine virus diarrhoea, avian influenza, and Salmonella Dublin in five European countries. These practical applications highlighted the importance of a comprehensive evaluation approach to improve the quality of the evaluation outputs (economic evaluation; multiple attributes assessment) and demonstrated the usefulness of the guidance provided by the EVA tool. At the same time they showed that comprehensive evaluations might be constrained by practical issues (e.g. confidentiality concerns, data availability) and resource scarcity. In the long term, the EVA tool is expected to increase professional evaluation capacity and help optimising health surveillance system efficiency and resource allocation for both public and private actors of the surveillance systems

Un modelo para la obtención de requisitos de interoperabilidad de sistemas organizacionales

Introduction: this article is the product of the research called a framework to support the elicitation of interoperability requirements (IR) based on the needs of an organization's business processes, developed at the Universidad del Cauca in 2019. Problem: within the requirements elicitation process, stakeholders generally fail to articulate IR according to the business needs, causing the development of systems incompatible with systems in other functional areas. Objective: to identify, define and classify a set of attributes that constitute the interoperability at the business level, which must be considered during the elicitation of an IR. Methodology: the development of the model followed these activities: (i) establishment of the aspects to be considered in the interoperability at the business level, (ii) identification of the attributes that make up each aspect, (iii) definition of the identified attributes and the options that can be obtained in response, and (iv) classification of the attributes. Results: a model that describes 21 attributes that constitute the interoperability at the business level, classified in the following views: emitters and receivers, types of interaction, data flow properties, and conditions to use the communicated data. Conclusion: from the application of the model in the elicitation of a set of IR of two functional areas of an organization, it was identified that the attributes favor the common understanding among members of different areas and support the analysis and planning of the exchanges of information. Originality: to identify and define a set of attributes that constitute interoperability at the business level. Limitations: the model must be used by a process that guides the elicitation of the attributes that make up the IR.Introducción: este artículo es producto de una investigación denominada marco para apoyar la elicitación de requisitos de interoperabilidad (RI) en función de las necesidades de los procesos de negocio de una organización, desarrollada en la Universidad del Cauca en 2019. Problema: dentro del proceso de obtención de requisitos, las partes interesadas a menudo no logran articular los IR de acuerdo con las necesidades del negocio, lo que provoca el desarrollo de sistemas incompatibles con los sistemas en otras áreas funcionales. Objetivo: identificar, definir y clasificar un conjunto de atributos que constituyen la interoperabilidad a nivel empresarial, los cuales deben ser considerados al momento de obtener RI. Metodología: el desarrollo del modelo siguió las siguientes actividades: (i) establecimiento de aspectos a considerar en interoperabilidad a nivel empresarial, (ii) identificación de los atributos que componen cada aspecto, (iii) definición de los atributos identificados y las opciones que pueden ser obtenidas en la respuesta y (iv) clasificación de atributos. Resultados: modelo que describe 21 atributos que constituyen la interoperabilidad a nivel empresarial, clasificados en las siguientes vistas: emisores y receptores, tipos de interacción, propiedades del flujo de datos y condiciones de uso de los datos comunicados. Conclusión: a partir de la aplicación del modelo en la elicitación de un conjunto de RI de dos áreas funcionales de una organización, se identificó que los atributos favorecen el entendimiento común entre miembros de diferentes áreas y apoyan el análisis y planificación del intercambio de información. Originalidad: identificar y definir un conjunto de atributos que constituyen la interoperabilidad a nivel empresarial. Limitaciones: el modelo debe ser utilizado por un proceso que oriente la elicitación de los atributos que componen los RI

An Objectives-Driven Process for Selecting Methods to Support Requirements Engineering Activities

This paper presents a framework that guides the requirements engineer in the implementation and execution of an effective requirements generation process. We achieve this goal by providing a well-defined requirements engineering model and a criteria based process for optimizing method selection for attendant activities. Our model, unlike other models, addresses the complete requirements generation process and consists of activities defined at more adequate levels of abstraction. Additionally, activity objectives are identified and explicitly stated - not implied as in the current models. Activity objectives are crucial as they drive the selection of methods for each activity. Our model also incorporates a unique approach to verification and validation that enhances quality and reduces the cost of generating requirements. To assist in the selection of methods, we have mapped commonly used methods to activities based on their objectives. In addition, we have identified method selection criteria and prescribed a reduced set of methods that optimize these criteria for each activity defined by our requirements generation process. Thus, the defined approach assists in the task of selecting methods by using selection criteria to reduce a large collection of potential methods to a smaller, manageable set. The model and the set of methods, taken together, provide the much needed guidance for the effective implementation and execution of the requirements generation process.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures, 3 tables, publisheed: 29th Annual IEEE/NASA Software Engineering Workshop, April 200