Comprehensive and Targeted Access to and Visualization of Decision Knowledge

[Context & Motivation] Developers need to document decisions and related decision knowledge during the software development process. This ensures that future decisions can be assessed in the right context and past decisions can be retraced and understood. The documentation of decision knowledge encompasses all aspects that comprise a decision, including the problem, alternatives, arguments for and against these alternatives, and the selected solution. Since the value of the documentation is not immediately apparent, it is important to provide tools that allow easy documentation and coherent visualization of the documented knowledge. It also demands maintenance of the documentation to ensure consistency and completeness. [Contributions] This thesis provides a problem investigation, a treatment design, and an evaluation concerning the management and visualization of documented decision knowledge. The problem investigation was done in the form of a literature review on current approaches towards the grouping of decision knowledge. The results of the review show that decision grouping is often merely a small part of larger frameworks. These frameworks either use predefined labels for their groups or allow the users to freely select group names. The practical contributions in this thesis are the extension of the Jira ConDec plug-in, which provides features for the documentation and visualization of decision knowledge within Jira. In particular, a grouping possibility for decisions as well as respective views and filters were added to this plug-in. To keep the necessary time spent on the documentation process as low as possible, it was decided to use a mix of fixed groups, in the form of different decision levels and custom groups, which the user is free to assign. New views were implemented which allow users to see relationships between source code and Jira issues and a dashboard is built, which can be used to assess the completeness of decision knowledge within a Jira project. The implementation was preceded by a specification of requirements and a design phase. Extensive testing, including system and component tests, were part of the quality assurance phase. Lastly, an evaluation was done by creating and analysing a gold standard of decision knowledge documentation and a survey with developers who provided feedback on the plug-in extension. [Conclusions] The main focus of the thesis was to improve the visualization of relationships between knowledge elements. The evaluation showed that especially those views, creating connections between Jira elements and code classes were highly anticipated by ConDec users, as support for this form of visualization did not exist. The newly implemented features were almost uniformly evaluated positively. Some concerns were expressed about a need for even more information to be displayed within the views. This was a result of the compromise between a wealth of information and a possible overload in individual views. Evaluation of the responsiveness and time behaviour of the newly implemented features also showed that loading times were passable but require more focus in future works to improve the user experience thoroughly

A Value-Driven Framework for Software Architecture

Software that is not aligned with the business values of the organization for which it was developed does not entirely fulfill its raison d’etre. Business values represent what is important in a company, or organization, and should influence the overall software system behavior, contributing to the overall success of the organization. However, approaches to derive a software architecture considering the business values exchanged between an organization and its market players are lacking. Our quest is to address this problem and investigate how to derive value-centered architectural models systematically. We used the Technology Research method to address this PhD research question. This methodological approach proposes three steps: problem analysis, innovation, and validation. The problem analysis was performed using systematic studies of the literature to obtain full coverage on the main themes of this work, particularly, business value modeling, software architecture methods, and software architecture derivation methods. Next, the innovation step was accomplished by creating a framework for the derivation of a software reference architecture model considering an organization’s business values. The resulting framework is composed of three core modules: Business Value Modeling, Agile Reference Architecture Modeling, and Goal-Driven SOA Architecture Modeling. While the Business value modeling module focuses on building a stakeholder-centric business specification, the Agile Reference Architecture Modeling and the Goal-Driven SOA Architecture Modeling modules concentrate on generating a software reference architecture aligned with the business value specification. Finally, the validation part of our framework is achieved through proof-of-concept prototypes for three new domain specific languages, case studies, and quasi-experiments, including a family of controlled experiments. The findings from our research show that the complexity and lack of rigor in the existing approaches to represent business values can be addressed by an early requirements specification method that represents the value exchanges of a business. Also, by using sophisticated model-driven engineering techniques (e.g., metamodels, model transformations, and model transformation languages), it was possible to obtain source generators to derive a software architecture model based on early requirements value models, while assuring traceability throughout the architectural derivation process. In conclusion, despite using sophisticated techniques, the derivation process of a software reference architecture is helped by simple to use methods supported by black box transformations and guidelines that facilitate the activities for the less experienced software architects. The experimental validation process used confirmed that our framework is feasible and perceived as easy to use and useful, also indicating that the participants of the experiments intend to use it in the future

Software Product Line

The Software Product Line (SPL) is an emerging methodology for developing software products. Currently, there are two hot issues in the SPL: modelling and the analysis of the SPL. Variability modelling techniques have been developed to assist engineers in dealing with the complications of variability management. The principal goal of modelling variability techniques is to configure a successful software product by managing variability in domain-engineering. In other words, a good method for modelling variability is a prerequisite for a successful SPL. On the other hand, analysis of the SPL aids the extraction of useful information from the SPL and provides a control and planning strategy mechanism for engineers or experts. In addition, the analysis of the SPL provides a clear view for users. Moreover, it ensures the accuracy of the SPL. This book presents new techniques for modelling and new methods for SPL analysis

Architecture evaluation in continuous development

Context: In automotive, stage-gate processes have previously been the norm, with architecture created mainly during an early phase and then used to guide subsequent development phases. Current iterative and Agile development methods, where the implementation evolves continuously, changes the role of architecture. Objective: We investigate how architecture evaluation can provide useful feedback during development of continuously evolving systems. Method: Starting from the Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method (ATAM), we performed architecture evaluation, both in a national research project led by an automotive Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), and at the OEM, in the context of continuous development. This allows us to include the experience of several architects from different organizations over several years. Using data produced during the evaluations we perform a post-hoc analysis to derive initial findings. We then validate and refine these findings through a series of focus groups with architects and industry experts. Findings: We propose principles of continuous evaluation and evolution of architecture, and based on these discuss a roadmap for future research. Conclusion: In iterative development settings, the needs are different from what typical architecture evaluation methods provide. Our principles show the importance of dedicated feedback-loops for continuous evolution of systems and their architecture

An OMG model-based approach for aligning information systems requirements and architectures with business

Tese de Doutoramento (Programa Doutoral em Tecnologias e Sistemas de Informação)The challenges involved in developing information systems (which are able to adapt to rapidly changing business and technological conditions) are directly related to the importance of their alignment with the business counterpart. These challenges comprise issues that cross management and information systems domains, relating and aligning them in order to attain superior performance for the organization, while identifying its strategy and tailoring its business processes. As this relation is increasingly intertwined its concepts are conducted to pragmatic methods, incorporating both management and information systems components, for how, when and where this alignment really matters. The related topics of the alignment between business and information systems comprise diverse paths of research, though with little common ground established inside the community, where problems arouse due to the fast moving business and technological environments. According to these circumstances, the process of developing information systems to support the alignment benefits from incorporating the use of structured and model-based approaches. So, as the development of evermore complex information systems presents a challenge for the currently available methods, the use of models to support the alignment with business stands as an increasingly important issue. Following those challenges, we set out to question how to develop solutions aligning information systems with business in a model-based approach. Accordingly, we support our research on the need to understand what are the perspectives involved in aligning information systems with business, and, moreover, to comprehend in what sense model adoption drives information systems development. So, the proposed goals for this thesis are: (1) set the basis for the elicitation of business requirements in order to support a well-grounded development of information systems; (2) provide for the generation of business models based on the business requirements, while assuring their alignment and traceability; and (3) arrange for the derivation of information system architectures from the business requirements, while attaining alignment and traceability for their mutual transformation and adaptation. Several issues surrounding these goals have already been described and approached in diverse ways by other researchers, where existing approaches and associated methods achieved good results. Nevertheless, these approaches are not without their shortfalls, sometimes failing to present a complete solution, others being unable to adapt to new challenges, or even incapable of reacting to recent trends. In order to tackle these issues we propose to build upon those approaches by adapting, evolving and innovating on solutions in each of the three proposed goals, respectively intertwining with perspectives from related standards and reference models. Answering the first goal, in what regards the main contributions of this thesis, we propose to broaden the elicitation of requirements by relating functional and nonfunctional requirements from business processes. So, we present a unified metamodel representation for those requirements, accompanied by a customizable method for their joint elicitation, based-on business-driven use-cases, goals and rules. This approach adopts the Rational Unified Process (RUP) development methodology and the Business Motivation Model (BMM) standard model language representation for business requirements. Moreover, the metamodel representation and method operationalization are accompanied by a prototype support tool that completes this first contribution. For the second goal, a more business-oriented one correlated to the higher-level requirements, we propose to generate business models directly from the inferred functional and nonfunctional requirements. So, we present a three-dimensional approach built on the relation of the referred requirements with the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) reference model, where an additional mapping to the Business Model Canvas (BMC) is also made available. This proposal provides an associated metamodel representation for the relation between the elements involved and a customizable method for their operationalization, all accompanied by a prototype support tool. On the third goal, focused on system architectures and connected to the lower-level requirements, we propose to derive service-oriented participants from the functional requirements, while aligning the nonfunctional requirements with the quality characteristics of the solution to-be. First, we present an evolution of an existing method for the derivation of a logical architecture, in order to adapt it to a service-oriented approach (SOA). Then, following on the existing relation between the nonfunctional and functional side of the low-level requirements, our approach is able to associate these last with its related services on the derived architecture, in another three-dimensional approach. Additionally, a mapping of the nonfunctional requirements with the system quality characteristics (CISQ) is made available. Once more, an associated metamodel, a customizable method and a prototype support tool are also provided. The development of these three approaches is supported through the execution of tasks which originate artifacts and lead to publications associated to their respective research and development efforts, all according to the Design Science Research (DSR) methodology. These are applied in ongoing projects involving experimental scenarios in industrial settings and associated to established research reference patterns, balancing the interests of both researchers and practitioners while focused both on technology and management audiences. The results obtained from their evaluation reflect the quality and depth of our findings, helping to validate the scientific contribution of this work.Os desafios implicados no desenvolvimento de sistemas de informação (que sejam capazes de se adaptar a condições tecnológicas e de negócios em rápida mutação) estão diretamente relacionados à importância do seu alinhamento com a contraparte do negócio. Esses desafios envolvem questões que cruzam os domínios da gestão e dos sistemas de informação, relacionando-os e alinhando-os com o intuito de alcançar um desempenho superior para a organização, ao mesmo tempo que identificam a sua estratégia e adequam os seus processos de negócio. Como esta relação está cada vez mais interligada, os seus conceitos são canalizados para métodos pragmáticos, incorporando ambos os componentes de sistemas de informação e de gestão, para saber como, quando e onde este alinhamento realmente interessa. Os tópicos relacionados com o alinhamento entre negócio e sistemas de informação abrangem diversos caminhos de pesquisa, embora com poucos alicerces em comum estabelecidos dentro da comunidade, onde os problemas surgem devido às rápidas mudanças nos negócios e nos ambientes tecnológicos. De acordo com estas circunstâncias, o processo de desenvolvimento de sistemas de informação para apoiar o alinhamento beneficia de incorporar o uso de abordagens estruturadas e baseadas em modelos. Assim, dado que o desenvolvimento de sistemas de informação cada vez mais complexos apresenta um desafio para os métodos atualmente disponíveis, o uso de modelos para apoiar o alinhamento com o negócio destaca-se como uma questão cada vez mais importante. Em linha com esses desafios, estabelecemos a questão de como desenvolver soluções para alinhar sistemas de informações com o negócio numa abordagem baseada em modelos. Neste sentido, apoiamos a nossa pesquisa na necessidade de compreender quais são as perspetivas envolvidas no alinhamento dos sistemas de informação com o negócio, e, além disso, de compreender em que sentido a adoção de modelos capacita o desenvolvimento desses sistemas. Assim, os objetivos propostos para esta tese são: (1) definir as bases para o levantamento de requisitos de negócio a fim de suportar um desenvolvimento bem fundamentado de sistemas de informação; (2) disponibilizar a geração de modelos de negócio baseados nos requisitos de negócio, garantindo o alinhamento e a rastreabilidade entre ambos; e (3) estruturar a derivação de arquiteturas de sistema de informação a partir dos requisitos de negócio, preservando o alinhamento e rastreabilidade para a sua mútua transformação e adaptação. Várias questões envolvendo estes objetivos foram já descritas e tratadas de diversas maneiras por outros investigadores, tendo as abordagens existentes e os métodos associados alcançado bons resultados. No entanto, essas abordagens têm as suas lacunas, umas vezes falham em apresentar uma solução completa, noutras são ineficientes ao se adaptarem a novos desafios, ou mesmo incapazes de reagir às novas tendências. Para lidar com estas questões, propomo-nos apoiar nessas abordagens, adaptando, evoluindo e inovando em soluções para cada um dos três objetivos propostos, intersetando-as, respetivamente, com perspetivas de modelos de referência e padrões relacionados. Relativamente ao primeiro objetivo, no que concerne aos principais contributos desta tese, propomos alargar o levantamento de requisitos, relacionando os requisitos funcionais e nãofuncionais dos processos de negócios. Assim, apresentamos um meta-modelo para a representação unificada desses requisitos, acompanhado por um método personalizável para o seu levantamento conjunto, baseada em casos-de-uso, metas e regras orientadas a negócio. Esta abordagem adota a metodologia de desenvolvimento do Rational Unified Process (RUP) e a representação padrão do modelo de linguagem do Business Motivation Model (BMM), para os requisitos de negócio. Além disso, a representação meta-modelo e a operacionalização do método são acompanhados por um protótipo de uma ferramenta de suporte que completa esta primeira contribuição. Quanto ao segundo objetivo, mais orientado ao negócio e correlacionado com os requisitos de nível superior, propomos gerar modelos de negócio a partir dos requisitos funcionais e não-funcionais inferidos. Assim, apresentamos uma abordagem tridimensional, construída sobre a relação dos referidos requisitos com o modelo de referência do Balanced Scorecard (BSC), em que um mapeamento adicional para o Business Model Canvas (BMC) é também disponibilizado. Esta proposta inclui um meta-modelo para representação da relação entre os elementos envolvidos e um método personalizável para a sua operacionalização, tudo acompanhado por um protótipo de uma ferramenta de suporte. No terceiro objetivo, focado em arquiteturas de sistema e ligado aos requisitos de nível inferior, propomos derivar participantes orientados-a-serviços desde os requisitos funcionais, alinhando os requisitos não-funcionais com as características de qualidade da solução a obter. Primeiro, apresentamos uma evolução de um método existente para a derivação de uma arquitetura lógica, adaptando-o a uma abordagem-orientada-a-serviços (SOA). Assim, prosseguindo a relação existente entre o lado não-funcional e funcional dos requisitos de baixo nível, a nossa abordagem associa estes últimos com os serviços relacionados na arquitetura derivada, numa outra abordagem tridimensional. Além disso, um mapeamento dos requisitos não-funcionais com as características de qualidade do sistema (CISQ) é disponibilizado. Mais uma vez, um meta-modelo associado, um método personalizável e um protótipo da ferramenta de suporte são disponibilizados. O desenvolvimento destas três abordagens é suportado pela execução de tarefas, as quais dão origem a artefatos e levam a publicações associadas aos seus esforços de pesquisa e desenvolvimento respetivamente, tudo de acordo com a metodologia DSR. Estas são aplicadas a projetos em andamento, os quais envolvem cenários experimentais em ambientes industriais e associados a padrões de investigação de referência, equilibrando os interesses de investigadores e profissionais assim como dos diferentes públicos de tecnologia e gestão. Os resultados obtidos na sua avaliação refletem a qualidade e a profundidade dos nossos resultados, ajudando a validar a contribuição científica deste trabalho

Trusted product lines

This thesis describes research undertaken into the application of software product line approaches to the development of high-integrity, embedded real-time software systems that are subject to regulatory approval/certification. The motivation for the research arose from a real business need to reduce cost and lead time of aerospace software development projects. The thesis hypothesis can be summarised as follows: It is feasible to construct product line models that allow the specification of required behaviour within a reference architecture that can be transformed into an effective product implementation, whilst enabling suitable supporting evidence for certification to be produced. The research concentrates on the following four main areas: 1. Construction of an argument framework in which the application of product line techniques to high-integrity software development can be assessed and critically reviewed. 2. Definition of a product-line reference architecture that can host components containing variation. 3. Design of model transformations that can automatically instantiate products from a set of components hosted within the reference architecture. 4. Identification of verification approaches that may provide evidence that the transformations designed in step 3 above preserve properties of interest from the product line model into the product instantiations. Together, these areas form the basis of an approach we term “Trusted Product Lines”. The approach has been evaluated and validated by deployment on a real aerospace project; the approach has been used to produce DO-178B/ED-12B Level A applications of over 300 KSLOC in size. The effect of this approach on the software development process has been critically evaluated in this thesis, both quantitatively (in terms of cost and relative size of process phases) and qualitatively (in terms of software quality). The “Trusted Product Lines” approach, as described within the thesis, shows how product line approaches can be applied to high-integrity software development, and how certification evidence created and arguments constructed for products instantiated from the product line. To the best of our knowledge, the development and effective application of product line techniques in a certification environment is novel and unique

Enterprise reference architectures for higher education institutions: Analysis, comparison and practical uses

Enterprise Architecture (EA) is currently accepted as one on the major instruments for enabling organisations in their transformation processes to achieve business-technology alignment. Despite that over the last years EA has been successfully adopted in many industries, Higher Education still represents one of the sectors with lower levels of adoption and maturity of EA practices. The present thesis puts the emphasis particularly on the study Enterprise Reference Architectures (ERAs), as a particular type of EA artefact, in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). After formally clarifying the concept of ERAs and giving a panoramic view of the current state-of-the-art of existing HEI-oriented ERAs, the thesis proposes an artefact framework build through a Design Science Research (DSR) approach aimed to facilitate practitioners their (re-)use or application in their own real practical settings. The purpose of the constructed artefact is to support practitioners when conducting the necessary adjustments to exiting HEI-oriented ERAs in order to be successfully applied for their specific needs.La Arquitectura Empresarial (AE) es actualmente reconocida como una disciplina que permite configurar procesos de trasformación organizativa a objeto de alinear el negocio con la tecnología. A pesar de que en los últimos años la AE se ha ido adoptando progresivamente de forma exitosa en diversas industrias, la educación superior representa todavía hoy en día uno de los sectores con menores niveles de adopción y de madurez en lo que se refiere a las prácticas de AE. La presente tesis hace especial hincapié en el estudio de las Arquitecturas de Referencia Empresariales (AREs), entendidas como un artefacto específico de AE, en Instituciones de Educación Superior (IES). Así, después de clarificar formalmente el concepto de ARE y de ofrecer una visión panorámica del estado del arte relativo a las AREs para IES existentes, la tesis propone un framework de trabajo construido a través de un enfoque de investigación basado en la Ciencia del diseño destinado a facilitar su (re-)utilización o aplicación práctica en dominios de trabajo reales. El objetivo del artefacto es proporcionar soporte práctico a los profesionales para realizar los ajustes necesarios a las AREs para IES existentes para que puedan aplicarlas con éxito a sus necesidades específicas.L'Arquitectura Empresarial (AE) és actualment reconeguda com una disciplina que permet configurar processos de transformació organitzatius a fi d'alinear el negoci amb la tecnologia. Tot i que en els darrers anys l'AE s'ha anat adoptant progressivament amb èxit en diverses indústries, l'educació superior representa encara avui dia un dels sectors amb menors nivells d'adopció i de maduresa pel que fa a pràctiques d'AE. Aquesta tesi posa especial èmfasi en l'estudi de les Arquitectures de Referència Empresarials (AREs), enteses com un artefacte concret d'AE, a Institucions d'Educació Superior (IES). Així, després d'aclarir formalment el concepte d'ARE i oferir una visió panoràmica de l'estat de l'art relatiu a les ARE per a IES existents, la tesi proposa un framework de treball construït a través d'un enfocament de recerca basat en la ciència del disseny destinat a facilitar-ne la seva (re-)utilització o aplicació pràctica en dominis de treball reals. L'objectiu de l'artefacte és proporcionar suport pràctic als professionals per realitzar els ajustaments necessaris a les AREs per a IES existents de forma que les puguin aplicar amb èxit a les seves necessitats específiques.Tecnologies de la informació i de xarxe

Feature interaction in composed systems. Proceedings. ECOOP 2001 Workshop #08 in association with the 15th European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming, Budapest, Hungary, June 18-22, 2001

Feature interaction is nothing new and not limited to computer science. The problem of undesirable feature interaction (feature interaction problem) has already been investigated in the telecommunication domain. Our goal is the investigation of feature interaction in componet-based systems beyond telecommunication. This Technical Report embraces all position papers accepted at the ECOOP 2001 workshop no. 08 on "Feature Interaction in Composed Systems". The workshop was held on June 18, 2001 at Budapest, Hungary