30,724 research outputs found
Using quality models in software package selection
The growing importance of commercial off-the-shelf software packages requires adapting some software engineering practices, such as requirements elicitation and testing, to this emergent framework. Also, some specific new activities arise, among which selection of software packages plays a prominent role. All the methodologies that have been proposed recently for choosing software packages compare user requirements with the packages' capabilities. There are different types of requirements, such as managerial, political, and, of course, quality requirements. Quality requirements are often difficult to check. This is partly due to their nature, but there is another reason that can be mitigated, namely the lack of structured and widespread descriptions of package domains (that is, categories of software packages such as ERP systems, graphical or data structure libraries, and so on). This absence hampers the accurate description of software packages and the precise statement of quality requirements, and consequently overall package selection and confidence in the result of the process. Our methodology for building structured quality models helps solve this drawback.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version
A Model-Driven approach for functional test case generation
Test phase is one of the most critical phases in software engineering life cycle to assure the final system quality. In this context, functional system test cases verify that the system under test fulfills its functional specification. Thus, these test cases are frequently designed from the different scenarios and alternatives depicted in functional requirements. The objective of this paper is to introduce a systematic process based on the Model-Driven paradigm to automate the generation of functional test cases from functional requirements. For this aim, a set of metamodels and transformations and also a specific language domain to use them is presented. The paper finishes stating learned lessons from the trenches as well as relevant future work and conclusions that draw new research lines in the test cases generation context.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2013-46928-C3-3-
On Evidence-based Risk Management in Requirements Engineering
Background: The sensitivity of Requirements Engineering (RE) to the context
makes it difficult to efficiently control problems therein, thus, hampering an
effective risk management devoted to allow for early corrective or even
preventive measures. Problem: There is still little empirical knowledge about
context-specific RE phenomena which would be necessary for an effective
context- sensitive risk management in RE. Goal: We propose and validate an
evidence-based approach to assess risks in RE using cross-company data about
problems, causes and effects. Research Method: We use survey data from 228
companies and build a probabilistic network that supports the forecast of
context-specific RE phenomena. We implement this approach using spreadsheets to
support a light-weight risk assessment. Results: Our results from an initial
validation in 6 companies strengthen our confidence that the approach increases
the awareness for individual risk factors in RE, and the feedback further
allows for disseminating our approach into practice.Comment: 20 pages, submitted to 10th Software Quality Days conference, 201
Towards guidelines for building a business case and gathering evidence of software reference architectures in industry
Background: Software reference architectures are becoming widely adopted by organizations that need to support the design and maintenance of software applications of a shared domain. For organizations that plan to adopt this architecture-centric approach, it becomes fundamental to know the return on investment and to understand how software reference architectures are designed, maintained, and used. Unfortunately, there is little evidence-based support to help organizations with these challenges.
Methods: We have conducted action research in an industry-academia collaboration between the GESSI research group and everis, a multinational IT consulting firm based in Spain.
Results: The results from such collaboration are being packaged in order to create guidelines that could be used in similar contexts as the one of everis. The main result of this paper is the construction of empirically-grounded guidelines that support organizations to decide on the adoption of software reference architectures and to gather evidence to improve RA-related practices.
Conclusions: The created guidelines could be used by other organizations outside of our industry-academia collaboration. With this goal in mind, we describe the guidelines in detail for their use.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version
Recommended from our members
Scoping a vision for formative e-assessment: a project report for JISC
Assessment is an integral part of teaching and learning. If the relationship between teaching and learning were causal, i. e. if students always mastered the intended learning outcomes of a particular sequence of instruction, assessment would be superfluous. Experience and research suggest this is not the case: what is learnt can often be quite different from what is taught. Formative assessment is motivated by a concern with the elicitation of relevant information about student understanding and / or achievement, its interpretation and an exploration of how it can lead to actions that result in better learning. In the context of a policy drive towards technology-enhanced approaches to teaching and learning, the question of the role of digital technologies is key and it is the latter on which this project particularly focuses. The project and its deliverables have been informed by recent and relevant literature, in particular recent work by Black andIn this work, they put forward a framework which suggests that assessment for learning their term for formative assessment can be conceptualised as consisting of a number of aspects and five keystrategies. The key aspects revolve around the where the learner is going, where the learner is right now and how she can get there and examines the role played by the teacher, peers and the learner. Language: English Keywords: assessments, case studies, design patterns, e-assessmen
Towards the ontology-based consolidation of production-centric standards
Production-centric
international
standards
are
intended
to
serve
as
an
important
route
towards
information
sharing
across
manufacturing
decision
support
systems.
As
a
consequence
of
textual-based
definitions
of
concepts
acknowledged
within
these
standards,
their
inability
to
fully
interoperate
becomes
an
issue
especially
since
a
multitude
of
standards
are
required
to
cover
the
needs
of
extensive
domains
such
as
manufacturing
industries.
To
help
reinforce
the
current
understanding
to
support
the
consolidation
of
production-centric
standards
for
improved
information
sharing,
this
article
explores
the
specification
of
well-defined
core
concepts
which
can
be
used
as
a
basis
for
capturing
tailored
semantic
definitions.
The
potentials
of
two
heavyweight
ontological
approaches,
notably
Common
Logic
(CL)
and
the
Web
Ontology
Language
(OWL)
as
candidates
for
the
task,
are
also
exposed.
An
important
finding
regarding
these
two
methods
is
that
while
an
OWL-based
approach
shows
capabilities
towards
applications
which
may
require
flexible
hierarchies
of
concepts,
a
CL-based
method
represents
a
favoured
contender
for
scoped
and
facts-driven
manufacturing
applications
A process for appraising commerical usability evaluation methods.
Recent international quality standards and European Community legislation have identified new software quality factors. These new factors include suitability, installability and adaptability. Other quality factors need to be reviewed in the light of these developments. This has impacted on established commercial usability evaluation methods to the extent that it is appropriate to ask if these evaluation methods comply with the new standards and legislation. In order to answer this question the commercial evaluation methods need to be appraised (meta-evaluation) using a suitable method appraisal process. This paper describes such an appraisal process which specifically addresses the many considerations raised by the standards and the law. The appraisal method consists of two parts which provide an overview of the commercial method and a methodical analysis of how it complies. By combining this analysis with a weighting and rating technique the appraised method can achieve a score which can be compared with other commercial methods. The process is an essential tool for strategic managers who are responsible for usability evaluation during systems acquisition. It is also of benefit to supplier organisations who, in their efforts to develop the highest quality systems, need to demonstrate compliance with international standards and development process maturity models
- …