DECISION SUPPORT BY AUTOMATIC ANALYSIS OF BUSINESS PROCESS MODELS

It is advantageous for companies to have an in-depth understanding of their business processes. To support companies in decision making, based on the properties of their business processes, a method was developed for the automatic analysis of business process models. A machine-readable representation of the model is parsed to extract several features. Based on a set of domain-specific business rules, a recommendation is generated. The method was validated by implementing it in a software program and applying it to the domain of product data storage. Several experts in that domain participated in a survey. From the three features tested in this study, the ‘data access frequency’ seems to be most useful. This feature could thus be reused in future applications of the method. The method could be helpful for companies that have many large, complex, dynamic business processes, and which would like to (dynamically) optimize product data storage. In addition, by replacing a set of domain-specific rules, the method may be applied to other domains where business process models need to be analyzed to support decision making

How Do Business People Rank Requirements Representations for Information Systems?

The research question that summarises the primary research goals is: How do business people rank their intentions to use different requirements representations for information systems? An additional goal of the research is to understand the determinants that contribute to these intentions. Business people in this research are defined as working people who are not in an information systems role. The requirements representations evaluated were Prose Narrative, Image Narrative, Diagram Narrative and Video Narrative. The results of this research show that business people rank their intention to use the requirements representations in the following order: Prose Narrative, Image Narrative, Diagram Narrative and Video Narrative. The determinants that influence the intention to use a representation are: Job Performance, Effort, Attitude to a Representation, Social Influence, Facilitating Conditions, Self-Efficacy, Anxiety, Freedom of Choice, Experience, Age and Gender. This research shows that the influence of each of these determinants on the intention to use a representation is significantly different for each requirements representation

Abordando o problema de análise de requisitos não funcionais em engenharia de software

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Computação.As novas tecnologias podem ser alternativas revolucionadoras para o mundo moderno, oportunizando o aparecimento de novos softwares aplicados a todas as áreas. Isto solicita que o desenvolvimento de software seja cada vez mais de qualidade e eficiente, exigindo assim um instrumental mais eficaz na definição. A definição deve conter clareza na definição do problema, a fim de propiciar os fundamentos para uma solução de software compatível com a realidade do ambiente organizacional, e, principalmente, ter a definição de prioridade de implementação, resultante da comparação de relacionamento e interpretação entre eles. O foco do trabalho é, identificar objetivamente o papel que a fonte responsável pela declaração ocupa no contexto organizacional como formadora de opinião e quais suas necessidades; também, identificar a funcionalidade a partir da informação e qual a sua aplicabilidade. O conteúdo desta dissertação refere-se à fase inicial do desenvolvimento de software, especialmente centrado no conhecimento do problema. Seu objetivo central é abordar o problema de análise não funcionais em Engenharia de Software