The i* framework for goal-oriented modeling

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39417-6i* is a widespread framework in the software engineering field that supports goal-oriented modeling of socio-technical systems and organizations. At its heart lies a language offering concepts such as actor, dependency, goal and decomposition. i* models resemble a network of interconnected, autonomous, collaborative and dependable strategic actors. Around this language, several analysis techniques have emerged, e.g. goal satisfaction analysis and metrics computation. In this work, we present a consolidated version of the i* language based on the most adopted versions of the language. We define the main constructs of the language and we articulate them in the form of a metamodel. Then, we implement this version and a concrete technique, goal satisfaction analys is based on goal propagation, using ADOxx. Throughout the chapter, we used an example based on open source software adoption to illustrate the concepts and test the implementation.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Extended requirements traceability: results of an industrial case study

Contribution structures offer a way to model the network of people who have participated in the requirements engineering process. They further provide the opportunity to extend conventional forms of artifact-based requirements traceability with the traceability of contributing personnel. In this paper, we describe a case study that investigated the modeling and use of contribution structures in an industrial project. In particular, we demonstrate how they made it possible to answer previously unanswerable questions about the human source(s) of requirements. In so doing, we argue that this information addresses problems currently attributed to inadequate requirements traceability

Requirements Engineering as Creative Problem Solving: A Research Agenda for Idea Finding

This vision paper frames requirements engineering as a creative problem solving process. Its purpose is to enable requirements researchers and practitioners to recruit relevant theories, models, techniques and tools from creative problem solving to understand and support requirements processes more effectively. It uses 4 drivers to motivate the case for requirements engineering as a creative problem solving process. It then maps established requirements activities onto one of the longest-established creative problem solving processes, and uses these mappings to locate opportunities for the application of creative problem solving in requirements engineering. The second half of the paper describes selected creativity theories, techniques, software tools and training that can be adopted to improve requirements engineering research and practice. The focus is on support for problem and idea finding - two creative problem solving processes that our investigation revealed are poorly supported in requirements engineering. The paper ends with a research agenda to incorporate creative processes, techniques, training and tools in requirements projects

Modeling Business Process: Analysis of Goal-Oriented Approaches

A crucial management issue for most corporations is the effective design and implementation of their business process. However, existing approaches describe an enterprise in terms of activities and tasks view without offering sufficient guidance towards a process-centric description of the organization. Goals have long been recognized to be essential components involved in the business process. Business process engineering research has increasingly recognized the leading role played by goals in the business process. Such recognition has led to a whole stream of research on goaloriented approaches. The study of goal-oriented methodologies indicates that modeling of organizational goals constitutes a central activity of the business process. In this paper we advocate the use of goal-oriented approaches to business process modeling. Some systematic approaches to developing and documenting business processes on the basis of the explicit or implicit business objectives are discussed. From the representation view of model, the way that models are expressed is demonstrated

Goal-driven agent-oriented software processes

The quality of software processes is acknowledged as a critical factor for delivering quality software systems. Any initiative for improving the quality of software processes requires their explicit representation and management. A current representational metaphor for systems is agent orientation, which has become one of the recently recognized engineering paradigms. In this article, we argue for the convenience of representing the software process using an agent-oriented language to model it and a goal-driven procedure to design it. Particularly we propose using the i* framework which is both an agent- and a goal-oriented modeling language. We review the possibilities of i* as a software process modeling language, and we also show how success factors can be made explicit in i* representations of the software processes. Finally, we illustrate the approach with an example based on the development of a set of ergonomic and safety software tools.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Managing Security Requirements: Towards Better Alignment Between Information Systems And Business

Information Systems are increasingly becoming essential to the success of business organizations. They play a central role in the success of almost all components of the organization such as business decision-making, business strategy formulation, business goal modeling, managing organizational resources, structure, managing organizational data etc. However, protecting information systems and organizational resources from security threats is a critical task in the management of the business, which alternately, negatively affects the alignment process between business and information systems. Managing information security within business organizations calls for a clear understanding of the viewpoint of business and the architecture of the system that is being used in the organization. This paper presents a requirements engineering based approach to modeling and maping the issue of information security at an early stage of the system’s development life cycle in the context of alignment between business and information systems