Status Quo in Requirements Engineering : A Theory and a Global Family of Surveys

Requirements Engineering (RE) has established itself as a software engineering discipline over the past decades. While researchers have been investigating the RE discipline with a plethora of empirical studies, attempts to systematically derive an empirical theory in context of the RE discipline have just recently been started. However, such a theory is needed if we are to define and motivate guidance in performing high quality RE research and practice. We aim at providing an empirical and externally valid foundation for a theory of RE practice, which helps software engineers establish effective and efficient RE processes in a problem-driven manner. We designed a survey instrument and an engineer-focused theory that was first piloted in Germany and, after making substantial modifications, has now been replicated in 10 countries worldwide. We have a theory in the form of a set of propositions inferred from our experiences and available studies, as well as the results from our pilot study in Germany. We evaluate the propositions with bootstrapped confidence intervals and derive potential explanations for the propositions. In this article, we report on the design of the family of surveys, its underlying theory, and the full results obtained from the replication studies conducted in 10 countries with participants from 228 organisations. Our results represent a substantial step forward towards developing an empirical theory of RE practice. The results reveal, for example, that there are no strong differences between organisations in different countries and regions, that interviews, facilitated meetings and prototyping are the most used elicitation techniques, that requirements are often documented textually, that traces between requirements and code or design documents are common, that requirements specifications themselves are rarely changed and that requirements engineering (process) improvement endeavours are mostly internally driven. Our study establishes a theory that can be used as starting point for many further studies for more detailed investigations. Practitioners can use the results as theory-supported guidance on selecting suitable RE methods and techniques.Peer reviewe

Function-oriented in-line quality assurance of hybrid sheet molding compound

Die Verwendung von faserverstärkten Kunststoffen (FVK) nimmt weltweit stetig zu. Die Kombination von diskontinuierlichem Sheet Molding Compound (DiCo-SMC) und kontinuierlichem SMC (Co-SMC) in einer neuen, hybriden Materialklasse (CoDiCo-SMC) verspricht günstige Herstellungskosten bei gleichzeitig hoher lokaler Steifigkeit und Festigkeit zu erreichen. Allerdings gefährden auftretende Fertigungsabweichungen die Funktionserfüllung der gefertigten Bauteile. Die resultierende Forderung nach fehlerfreien FVK-Bauteilen gilt neben den hohen Preisen für Rohmaterialien als ein weiterer Kostentreiber. Mithilfe des Ansatzes einer bauteilindividuellen, funktionsorientierten In-line-Qualitätssicherung soll im Rahmen dieser Arbeit Abhilfe geschaffen werden. Für diese Art der Qualitätssicherung werden In-line-Messergebnisse in Funktionsmodelle integriert. Metamodelle der Funktionsmodelle beschleunigen die Funktionsbewertung und ermöglichen eine Funktionsaussage innerhalb der Zykluszeit in der Produktion. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde die bauteilindividuelle, funktionsorientierte In-line-Qualitäts-sicherung exemplarisch für die neue Werkstoffklasse CoDiCo-SMC umgesetzt. Zur Quantifizierung von drei relevanten Fertigungsabweichungen (lokale Glasfaseranteile, Pose des Co-SMC Patches, Delamination) wurden drei verschiedene Messtechniken eingesetzt. Die Terahertz-Spektroskopie wurde zum ersten Mal zur In-line-Messung lokaler Glasfaseranteile in DiCo-SMC eingesetzt. Die Puls-Phasen-Thermografie wurde zur Quantifizierung der Delamination und eine Industriekamera zur Messung der Pose des Co-SMC Patches genutzt. Für jede Messtechnik wurde die Messunsicherheit gemäß des „Guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement“ (GUM) quantifiziert. Die Messergebnisse wurden in einem parametrierten Finite-Elemente-Modell (FE) weiterverarbeitet und zu einer Funktionsprädiktion aggregiert. Mit Hilfe der Messergebnisse und der modellierten Funktion konnten über diese Input-Output-Beziehungen Metamodelle trainiert werden. In dieser Arbeit wird die prädizierte Bauteilfunktion ebenfalls als Messergebnis verstanden. Daher wurden die Mess-unsicherheiten sowohl der FE-Modelle als auch der Metamodelle bestimmt. Der vorgeschlagene Ansatz wurde anhand von zwei exemplarischen Prüfkörpern validiert. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass insbesondere die Messung der lokalen Glasfaseranteile und der Pose des Co-SMC Patches Rückschlüsse auf die bauteilspezifische Steifigkeit zulassen. Allerdings muss aufgrund der ermittelten Messunsicherheiten derzeit noch auf eine industrielle Anwendung verzichtet werden. Die Nutzung bauteilspezifischer Funktionsinformationen nach der Fertigung ermöglicht es, gängige Sicherheitsfaktoren in der Dimensionierung von FVK-Bauteilen zu reduzieren

Reference Model for Management of RFID System Implementations

Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is adopted in supply chain as it possesses high potential for optimization. However, the adoption is constrained with management and technological issues for certain domains. Applicability and profitability of the technology and implementation approaches as well as maturity of the technology and data integration are few of the concerns in this regard. Therefore, many enterprises are still skeptical about investment in RFID technology. Rightly, for instance, there are no appropriate approaches for management of the RFID system implementations at present that consider specific concerns of preparation of the food manufacturing enterprises. This research suggests a reference model for the purpose. The model is a result of extensive literature reviews and practice-oriented research aiming practical solutions to the problems of the respective domain. The model, which involves planning, organization and realization of RFID system implementation activities, considers multiple facets of RFID system implementations in order to increase understanding of RFID technology (i.e. knowledge development), ease decision making of an RFID implementation (i.e. willingness), and reduce cost and complexity of RFID system implementations (i.e. effectiveness and efficiency). It is an artifact of design-oriented information system research and includes a frame of reference, a process model, input and output templates, and tools and techniques. The model is applied in ‘real life context’ in order to achieve objectives of the involved enterprises. Similarly, the model aims effectiveness and efficiency in the future use, for example, by providing free of cost acquisition and appropriateness for manufacturing industries of food businesses of Saxony-Anhalt. However, adaptation efforts (e.g. by instantiation or specialization) may vary depending on the skills of users of individual enterprises. The reference model provides flexibility in terms of independence from specific vendors, openness by complying with available standards (e.g. PMBOK), and relationship to RFID system development artifacts during technical work realization

Dagstuhl-Workshop MBEES:

modellbasierte automobile Steuergeräteentwicklun

Theory and Practice for System Services Providers in Complex Value and Service Systems: ISSS 2013 Proceedings

In September 2013, the „International Symposium on Service Science (ISSS)“ offered various participants a unique platform for advancing research and discussions in service science for the fifth consecutive year. Being held as part of the “Leipzig Days of Applied Informatics/Leipziger Tage der Angewandten Informatik”, researchers and practitioners alike joined in their effort to better understand the emergence of system services providers in complex value chains and service systems. The proceedings book documents some of their insights and wants to serve as reference for the advancing discussion.:Research Paper Session: Stefan Kirn, Johannes Murray, Marc Premm, Michael Schüle, Tobias Widmer Towards a Research Framework for Multiagent Organizations Sven Tackenberg, Sönke Duckwitz, Christopher M. Schlick Simulation- and Optimization-based Development of Proposals for Service and Engineering Projects Michael Sonnenberg, Boris Ansorge, Michael Becker Potential of Service Engineering in the Field of Renewable Energies Discussion Paper Session: Sebastian Schneider, Susanne Mütze-Niewöhner Process-Oriented Simulation of Complex Service Provision Based on the Design Structure Matrix Axel Hummel, René Keßler, Arndt Döhler, Stefan Kühne Simulation as a Decision-Making Support Tool for Full-Service E-Commerce Providers Bernd Pfitzinger, Thomas Jestädt, Dragan Macos Enhancing dependability through simulations: The example of the German toll system Routis Forum: Nicola Saccani Towards a maturity assessment of service business development by manufacturers. A framework Deniz Özcan, Christina Niemöller, Michael Fellmann, Michel Matijacic, Gerald Däuble, Michael Schlicker, Oliver Thomas, Markus Nüttgens A Use Case-driven Approach to the Design of Service Support Systems: Making Use of Semantic Technologies Sibylle Hermann, Walter Ganz, Philipp Westner The path to a computer-aided design system for services Lars-Peter Meyer, Michael Thieme, Kyrill Meyer Round-Trip Engineering for System Service

Applications and Experiences of Quality Control

The rich palette of topics set out in this book provides a sufficiently broad overview of the developments in the field of quality control. By providing detailed information on various aspects of quality control, this book can serve as a basis for starting interdisciplinary cooperation, which has increasingly become an integral part of scientific and applied research

Proceedings. 22. Workshop Computational Intelligence, Dortmund, 6. - 7. Dezember 2012

Dieser Tagungsband enthält die Beiträge des 22. Workshops "Computational Intelligence" des Fachausschusses 5.14 der VDI/VDE-Gesellschaft für Mess- und Automatisierungstechnik (GMA) der vom 6. - 7. Dezember 2012 in Dortmund stattgefunden hat. Die Schwerpunkte sind Methoden, Anwendungen und Tools für - Fuzzy-Systeme, - Künstliche Neuronale Netze, - Evolutionäre Algorithmen und - Data-Mining-Verfahren sowie der Methodenvergleich anhand von industriellen Anwendungen und Benchmark-Problemen

Aerosol characterization over a Central Asian site: long-term lidar profiling at Dushanbe, Tajikistan (March 2015 – August 2016)

For the first time, a comprehensive characterization of optical, microphysical, and cloud-relevant properties of Central Asian aerosol particles with a state-of-the-art lidar has been performed. This study fills a gap between observations in Eastern Mediterranean (e.g., in Greece, Cyprus, and Israel) and Eastern Asian (e.g, in China, Korea, and Japan) aerosol monitoring. During the Central Asian Dust Experiment (CADEX), an automatic multiwavelength polarization Raman lidar PollyXT was operated in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, from 17 March 2015 until 31 August 2016. During the 18-month campaign, on 487 days, lidar data has been acquired for a time period of at least 3 h. On 308 of these days, the lidar ran even longer than 20 h. 328 manually analyzed profiles of nighttime observations build the data basis of this study and cover well the annual cycle of dust and pollution aerosol layering. Thorough quality assurance and calibration efforts have been made before, during, and after the measurement campaign. With the lidar, vertical profiles of the particle backscatter coefficient at 355 nm, 532 nm, and 1064 nm, of the particle extinction coefficient at 355 nm and 532 nm, and of the particle linear depolarization ratio at 355 nm and 532 nm wavelength were determined. From these quantities, lidar ratios and backscatter-related and extinction-related Ångström exponents were derived. Furthermore, the optical properties were converted to mass concentration and cloud-relevant parameters (CCN and INP concentration) by means of the recently developed lidar technique POLIPHON

New Opportunities for Integrated Formal Methods

Formal methods have provided approaches for investigating software engineering fundamentals and also have high potential to improve current practices in dependability assurance. In this article, we summarise known strengths and weaknesses of formal methods. From the perspective of the assurance of robots and autonomous systems~(RAS), we highlight new opportunities for integrated formal methods and identify threats to their adoption to be mitigated. Based on these opportunities and threats, we develop an agenda for fundamental and empirical research on integrated formal methods and for successful transfer of validated research to RAS assurance. Furthermore, we outline our expectations on useful outcomes of such an agenda