Verifying Software Requirements with XSLT

In this article, we present an approach for the automatic verification of software requirements documents. This approach is based on the representation of software requirements in XML and the usage of the XSLT language not only to automatically generate requirements documents, but also to verify some desired quality properties and to compute some metrics. These ideas have been implemented in REM, an experimental requirements management tool that is also described in this paper.Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología TIC 2000–1106–C02–0

An XML-Based Approach for the Automatic Verification of Software Requirements Specifications

In this paper, we present an approach for the automatic verification of software requirements specifications. This approach is based on the representation of software requirements in XML and the usage of the XSLT language not only to automatically generate requirements documents, but also to verify some desired quality properties and to automatically compute some metrics. These ideas have been implemented in REM, an experimental requirements management tool that is also described in this paper.Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología TIC 2000–1106–C02–0

A Controlled Experiment for Evaluating a Metric–Based Reading Technique for Requirements Inspection

Natural language requirements documents are often verified by means of some reading technique. Some recommendations for defining a good reading technique point out that a concrete technique must not only be suitable for specific classes of defects, but also for a concrete notation in which requirements are written. Following this suggestion, we have proposed a metric–based reading (MBR) technique used for requirements inspections, whose main goal is to identify specific types of defects in use cases. The systematic approach of MBR is basically based on a set of rules as ”if the metric value is too low (or high) the presence of defects of type must be checked”. We hypothesised that if the reviewers know these rules, the inspection process is more effective and efficient, which means that the defects detection rate is higher and the number of defects identified per unit of time increases. But this hypotheses lacks validity if it is not empirically validated. For that reason the main goal of this paper is to describe a controlled experiment we carried out to ascertain if the usage of MBR really helps in the detection of defects in comparison with a simple Checklist technique. The experiment result revealed that MBR reviewers were more effective at detecting defects than Checklist reviewers, but they were not more efficient, because MBR reviewers took longer than Checklist reviewers on average.Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología TIC 2003-02737-C02-01Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología TIC2003-07804-C05-0

A Controlled Experiment to Evaluate the Effects of Mindfulness in Software Engineering

Context. Many reports support the fact that some psycho--social aspects of software engineers are key factors for the quality of the software development process and its resulting products. Based on the experience of some of the authors after more than a year of practising mindfulness---a meditation technique aimed to increase clearness of mind and awareness---we guessed that it could be interesting to empirically evaluate whether mindfulness affects positively not only the behaviour but also the professional performance of software engineers. Goal. In this paper, we present a quasi--experiment carried out at the University of Seville to evaluate whether Software Engineering & Information Systems students enhance their conceptual modelling skills after the continued daily practice of mindfulness during four weeks. Method. Students were divided into two groups: one group practised mindfulness, and the other---the control group---were trained in public speaking. In order to study the possible cause--and--effect relationship, effectiveness (the rate of model elements correctly identified) and efficiency (the number of model elements correctly identified per unit of time) of the students developing conceptual modelling exercises were measured before and after taking the mindfulness and public speaking sessions. Results. The experiment results have revealed that the students who practised mindfulness have become more efficient in developing conceptual models than those who attended the public speaking sessions. With respect to effectiveness, some enhancement have been observed, although not as significant as in the case of efficiency. Conclusions. This rising trend in effectiveness suggests that the number of sessions could have been insufficient and that a longer period of sessions could have also enhanced effectiveness significantly.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2012-32273Junta de Andalucía P12-TIC-1867Junta de Andalucía TIC-590

Una Revisión Empírica de Heurísticas de Verificación de Casos de Uso basadas en Métricas

En este artículo se presenta una revisión de varias de las heurísticas de verificación de requisitos basadas en métricas desarrolladas por el Grupo de Ingeniería del Software de la Universidad de Sevilla. Esta revisión se basa en los datos empíricos obtenidos de prácticas de alumnos de segundo ciclo de la Ingeniería Informática de la Universidad de Sevilla. El análisis de los datos empíricos ha permitido confirmar la validez de las heurísticas previamente propuestas así como afinar algunos de sus parámetros, mejorando de esta forma su capacidad de predecir la presencia de defectos en los requisitos. Uno de los aspectos más interesantes obtenidos mediante el análisis empírico ha sido la detección de posibles mejoras en el modelo de casos de uso en el que estaban basadas las heurísticas iniciales, proporcionando una importante realimentación a la investigación inicial.Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología TIC 2000–1106–C02–01Junta de Castilla-La Mancha PCB–02–00

Comprobación Automática de Requisitos de Calidad en Sistemas Multiorganizacionales

El uso de servicios WEB y de servidores de aplicaciones durante el desarrollo y explotación de sistemas multiorganizacionales basados en la WEB (MOWS), ha puesto de relieve algunas limitaciones de los actuales lenguajes de especificación de requisitos de calidad para soportar el tratamiento automá- tico que, sobre este tipo de requisitos, precisan el desarrollo y la explotación de MOWS. En este artículo se presenta un lenguaje formal de especificación de requisitos que facilita la comprobación automática de la conformidad y la economía, dos propiedades de gran interés para los MOWS.Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología TIC 2000-1106-C02-0

Un Entorno ALM Flexible y Dirigido por Procesos: El Proyecto Alcuza

Recientemente, el concepto de ALM (Application Lifecycle Management) ha surgido como una evolución de los desarrollos previos en integración de herramientas (tool integration) e ingeniería del software centrada en procesos (process–centered software engineering). La experiencia obtenida en el Departamento de Tecnología de Información de Cajasol ha puesto de manifiesto que el hecho de contar con entornos ALM dirigidos por procesos favorece la implantación de metodologías basadas en recomendaciones como CMMI–DEV, y por otro lado también facilita a los desarrolladores la utilización de las correspondientes herramientas de forma coordinada con los procesos prescritos metodológicamente. En su política de mejora de calidad de procesos internos, Cajasol decidió acometer el desarrollo conjunto de una serie de procesos metodológicos acordes al nivel 2 de madurez de CMMI–DEV, junto con un entorno ALM que facilitara su implantación en la entidad, dando lugar al proyecto Alcuza. La decisión de acometer el desarrollo de un sistema tan complejo como un ALM vino motivada por la falta de integración real de las herramientas comerciales disponibles, y por la idea de facilitar la adopción de los procesos metodológicos por parte del personal involucrado al estar soportados directamente por el entorno ALM. En este artículo se describen los problemas que promovieron la decisión de acometer el proyecto Alcuza y las principales características del entorno ALM desarrollado, haciendo especial énfasis en la integración en el mismo de los procesos de desarrollo mediante flujos de trabajo (workflows).Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología (CICYT) TIN2009-07366Junta de Andalucía TIC-5906Junta de Andalucía P07–TIC–2533

Effects of Mindfulness on Conceptual Modeling Performance: a Series of Experiments

Context. Mindfulness is a meditation technique whose main goal is keeping the mind calm and educating attention by focusing only on one thing at a time, usually breathing. The reported benefits of its continued practice can be of interest for Software Engineering students and practitioners, especially in tasks like conceptual modeling, in which concentration and clearness of mind are crucial. Goal. In order to evaluate whether Software Engineering students enhance their conceptual modeling performance after several weeks of mindfulness practice, a series of three controlled experiments were carried out at the University of Seville during three consecutive academic years (2013–2016) involving 130 students. Method. In all the experiments, the subjects were divided into two groups. While the experimental group practiced mindfulness, the control group was trained in public speaking as a placebo treatment. All the subjects developed two conceptual models based on a transcript of an interview, one before and another one after the treatment. The results were compared in terms of conceptual modeling quality (measured as effectiveness, i.e. the percentage of model elements correctly identified) and productivity (measured as efficiency, i.e. the number of model elements correctly identified per unit of time). Results. The statistically significant results of the series of experiments revealed that the subjects who practiced mindfulness developed slightly better conceptual models (their quality was 8.16% higher) and they did it faster (they were 46.67% more productive) than the control group, even if they did not have a previous interest in meditation. Conclusions. The practice of mindfulness improves the performance of Software Engineering students in conceptual modeling, especially their productivity. Nevertheless, more experimentation is needed in order to confirm the outcomes in other Software Engineering tasks and populations.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2015–70560–RJunta de Andalucía US–1264651Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades RTI2018–101204–B–C22Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades RTI2018- 101204–B–C21Junta de Andalucía P18–FR–289

Expressing Customer Requirements Using Natural Language Requirements Templates and Patterns

Expressing customer requirements so they can be understood not only by requirements engineers but also by noncomputer professional customers is not an easy task. Natural language is frequently the usual choice for expressing customer requirements in spite of its well–known problems, but using more formal notations too early is a risky choice that can make requirements impossible to understand for customers and users. In addition, using natural language do not guarantee understanding. Requirements engineers do not usually have good writing skills, and sometimes requirements expressed in natural language are not understood because of the poor way they are written. In this paper, we propose to use requirements templates and patterns to improve requirements expression. We have identified two types of requirements patterns: linguistic patterns, which are very used, well– understood, sentences in natural language requirements descriptions that can be parameterized and integrated into templates, and requirements patterns, which are generic requirements templates that are found very often during the requirements elicitation process and that can be reused with some adaptation