Combining SysML and AADL for the design, validation and implementation of critical systems

The realization of critical systems goes through multiple phases of specification, design, integration, validation, and testing. It starts from high-level sketches down to the final product. Model-Based Design has been acknowledged as a good conveyor to capture these steps. Yet, there is no universal solution to represent all activities. Two candidates are the OMG-based SysML to perform high-level modeling tasks, and the SAE AADL to perform lower-level ones, down to the implementation. The paper shares an experience on the seamless use of SysML and the AADL to model, validate/verify and implement a flight management system

Change Support in Process-Aware Information Systems - A Pattern-Based Analysis

In today's dynamic business world the economic success of an enterprise increasingly depends on its ability to react to changes in its environment in a quick and flexible way. Process-aware information systems (PAIS) offer promising perspectives in this respect and are increasingly employed for operationally supporting business processes. To provide effective business process support, flexible PAIS are needed which do not freeze existing business processes, but allow for loosely specified processes, which can be detailed during run-time. In addition, PAIS should enable authorized users to flexibly deviate from the predefined processes if required (e.g., by allowing them to dynamically add, delete, or move process activities) and to evolve business processes over time. At the same time PAIS must ensure consistency and robustness. The emergence of different process support paradigms and the lack of methods for comparing existing change approaches have made it difficult for PAIS engineers to choose the adequate technology. In this paper we suggest a set of changes patterns and change support features to foster the systematic comparison of existing process management technology with respect to process change support. Based on these change patterns and features, we provide a detailed analysis and evaluation of selected systems from both academia and industry. The identified change patterns and change support features facilitate the comparison of change support frameworks, and consequently will support PAIS engineers in selecting the right technology for realizing flexible PAIS. In addition, this work can be used as a reference for implementing more flexible PAIS

Use of IBM Collaborative Lifecycle Management Solution to Demonstrate Traceability for Small, Real-World Software Development Project

The Standish Group Study of 1994 showed that 53 percent of software projects failed outright and another 31 percent were challenged by extreme budget and/or time overrun. Since then different responses to the high rate of software project failures have been proposed. SEI’s CMMI, the ISO’s 9001:2000 for software development, and the IEEE’s JSTD-016 are some examples of such responses. Traceability is the one common feature that these software development standards impose. Over the last decade, software and system engineering communities have been researching subjects such as developing more sophisticated tooling, applying information retrieval techniques capable of semi-automating the trace creation and maintenance process, developing new trace query languages and visualization techniques that use trace links, applying traceability in specific domains such as Model Driven Development, product line systems and agile project environment. These efforts have not been in vain. The 2012 CHAOS results show an increase in project success rate of 39% (delivered on time, on budget, with required features and functions), and a decrease of 18% in the number of failures (cancelled prior to completion or delivered and never used). Since research has shown traceability can improve a project’s success rate, the main purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate traceability for a small, real-world software development project using IBM Collaborative Lifecycle Management. The objective of this research was fulfilled since the case study of traceability was described in detail as applied to the design and development of the Value Adjustment Board Project (VAB) of City of Jacksonville using the scrum development approach within the IBM Rational Collaborative Lifecycle Management Solution. The results may benefit researchers and practitioners who are looking for evidence to use the IBM CLM solution to trace artifacts in a small project