Towards a framework for improving goal-oriented requirement models quality

Goal-orientation is a widespread and useful approach to Requirements Engineering. However, quality assessment frameworks focused on goal-oriented processes are either limited or remain on the theoretical side. Requirements quality initiatives range from simple metrics applicable to requirements documents, to general-purpose quality frameworks that include syntactic, semantic and pragmatic concerns. In some recent works, we have proposed a metrics framework for goal-oriented models, but the approach did not cover the cycle of quality assessment. In this paper we present a semiotic-based quality assessment proposal built upon the i* framework and the SEQUAL proposal. We propose a simplification of SEQUAL which can be applied to i* models by defining semantic, pragmatic and social metrics. As a result, we obtain suites of metrics that can be applied to i* goal-oriented requirements models. This theoretical work is put into practice by using iStarML, a XML representation of i* models, over which XQuery sentences compute the proposed metrics.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Quality and perceived usefulness of process models

Modeling is now an essential ingredient in business process management and information systems development. The general usefulness of models in these areas is therefore generally accepted. It is also undisputed that the quality of the models has a significant impact on their usefulness. In the literature we can find any number of quality metrics, but hardly any study that investigates their relation with (perceived) usefulness and none that considers their relative impact on usefulness. We take a look at some of the most frequent quality dimensions and their relative impact on the perceived usefulness of models

Business Process Quality Management

During the past 25 years, research in the field of business process management as well as the practical adoption of corresponding methods and tools have made substantial progress. In particular, this development was driven by the insight that well-managed business processes enable organizations to better serve their stakeholders, save costs and, ultimately, realize competitive advantage. It is therefore not surprising that improving business processes ranks high on the list of priorities of organizations. In practice, this challenge is currently being addressed through approaches such as benchmarking, industry-specific best practice reference models or process reengineering heuristics. However, no systematic and generic proposition towards managing business process quality has achieved broad acceptance yet. To address this gap, this thesis contributes to the field of business process quality management with the results lined out in the following. First, it defines a concise notion of business process quality based on organizational targets, and applies it to a sample real-world case. This definition is not specific to any particular application field, and thus constitutes a vital first step towards systematic and generic business process quality management. On that basis, an approach is developed to model business objectives in the sense of the requirements that shall be fulfilled by the results of a business process. In turn, this approach enables appraising if a business process achieves its business objective as one of the core criteria relevant to business process quality. Further, this thesis proposes extensions to common business process meta-models which enable quality-aware business process modeling, and demonstrates how fundamental quality characteristics can be derived from corresponding models. At this stage, the results achieved have enabled an advanced understanding of business process quality. By means of these insights, a model of business process quality attributes with corresponding quality criteria is developed. This model complements and exceeds preceding approaches since, for the first time, it systematically derives relevant quality attributes from a business process management perspective instead of adopting these from related fields. It enables appraising business process quality independently of a particular field of application, and deriving recommendations to improve the processes assessed. To enable practical adoption of the concepts developed, the integration of procedures and functionality relevant to quality in business process management lifecycles and system landscapes is discussed next. To establish the contribution of this thesis beyond the previous state of the art, the proposed quality model is then compared to existing business process reengineering practices as well as propositions in the area of business process quality. Further, quality attributes are employed to improve a substantial real-world business process. This experience report demonstrates how quality management practices can be applied even if quality-aware system landscapes are not in place yet. It thus contributes to bridging the gap between the research results proposed in this thesis and the conditions present in practice today. Finally, remaining limitations with regard to the research objectives pursued are discussed, and challenges for future research are lined out. Addressing the latter will enable further leveraging the potentials of business process quality management

Responsible AI and Analytics for an Ethical and Inclusive Digitized Society

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Factors Affecting the Quality of Enterprise Architecture Models

We start our research by introducing the subject of Enterprise Architecture (EA), its content and purpose, as well as discussing what we mean by a ‘model’, and ‘quality’, building on concepts from semiotics and in particular on conceptual model quality. We set out to answer three questions. The first deals with how we measure the quality of a set of Enterprise Architecture models, and to answer this we produce a mathematical framework and then test it using a case study. This extends the conceptual model quality work done by Lindland and Krogstie into the realm of Enterprise Architecture, adding new aspects related to completeness of sets of models, modelling maturity as well as conditions for increasing quality. This incorporates mathematical concepts, including set theory and calculus, and proposes three specific metrics for the quality of sets of models (related to truthfulness, syntax and completeness). This uses a simple case study, based upon purely quantitative data, sampling the contents of an existing Enterprise Architecture repository. The second deals with how we measure the effectiveness of the language used in Enterprise Architecture models. We again use mathematical techniques to construct metrics, this time related to comprehension and utility: the former incorporating a triangulation technique based upon Kvanvig’s concept of moderate factivity of objectual understanding, and the latter being a more subjective measure (i.e. self-assessment). From these two metrics we provide a new conceptual visualisation of the effectiveness of language concepts. We then test this framework using a mixed-mode case study, carrying out 68 interviews, based mostly upon quantitative data again but with additional elements of qualitative data. Although the conceptual framework is independent of any particular language, in order to test it we actually need to select an Enterprise Architecture framework, or more specifically, the modelling language within such a framework; the framework we choose for this purpose is ArchiMate. Through the use of alternative modelling notations in the survey process, we gain insights not just into the understanding and utility of various ArchiMate concepts, as perceived by respondents, we also gain insights into the effect of understanding and utility of using the specific notation provided by ArchiMate through the use of differential analysis of the result sets thus obtained. The final question we address is more practically focused and deals with how we can specify and automate various kinds of changes to Enterprise Architecture models based upon the previous research. We construct a conceptual framework illustrating the kinds of transformations that may be required, given what we have learnt in the previous chapters, demonstrate that these can be deterministic and finally demonstrate, by use of a specific Enterprise Architecture modelling tool (BiZZdesign), that they can be implemented in software, and thus automated. vii In the course of our research, we deliver reusable methodologies and frameworks that will assist future researchers into Enterprise Architecture and related frameworks, as well as Enterprise Architecture practitioners