Variability in requirements engineering for software assets.

status: publishe

Variability in software engineering paradigms

The concept of variability is not new in software engineering, but current research mostly remains vague about the overall variability concept when it comes to giving a clear overview of the dimensions of variability. In this paper we evaluate the core variability concept by proposing an overview of the set of definitions concerning variability related concepts and by setting up dimensions of variability. These dimensions represent different possible views on variability for all types of stakeholders. Through an analysis of the gaps in the current state-of-the-art literature, we identify challenges for the current state-of-the-art and we propose an extension to current variability related paradigms to fill in these gaps.nrpages: 9status: publishe

Building a requirements engineering methodology for software product lines

Software product lines are a great way to achieve reusability when they are correctly implemented. Theories about the product line paradigm already exist for multiple decades, but empirical research and reports of real life success stories are still scarce. Companies often still struggle to implement a software product line, because they don’t possess the necessary knowledge and therefore do not sufficiently focus on the most basic aspect of a product line, namely the variability. Variability is the key to systematic and successful reuse, and should be considered as soon as possible in any software engineering project. The goal of the research is to develop a methodology for dealing explicitly with variability in software product lines during requirements engineering, because its impact will be maximal during this phase of software engineering. The methodology will be developed based on case-study research, in order to ensure practical relevance.status: publishe

Requirements for successful software development with variability: a case study

According to state of the art literature, software product lines are an effective way to achieve economies of scale through reusability while coping with the problem of variability in related software systems. Fundamentals of variability management and product lines have been available in the software engineering research field for several decades. Nevertheless, projects to cope with variability in practice tend to fall short of target. The reason for this gap between sound theories and poor practice, common in multiple software engineering subfields, remains unclear. Therefore, an empirical study was conducted in a large-scale software dependent multinational. The results of this case study show a number of factors that impact successful variability practice. These factors can be abstracted into general hypotheses useful for bridging the gap between theory and practice. Based on the sources of discrepancy, this research suggests a practical way to overcome the obstacles on the road towards successful variability management.status: publishe

Using and extending formal concept analysis to visualise variability during requirements engineering

Research on variability in software artefacts is something which is already studied extensively in research. The visualisation of variability is one aspect of this research, and results like e.g. feature diagrams are well-known and well-spread. When it concerns the origin of the variability within the phase of requirements engineering, research is much scarcer. A visualisation technique for both representing the origin and the amount of variability in requirements is not readily available in research. This paper provides a way to represent the origin of variability in requirements with the aid of a technique called formal concept analysis (FCA). Additionally the support that FCA can provide for variability related decisions during (early) requirements engineering is also depicted in this paper. Proof of the usability of FCA for the visualization, and as such documentation, of variability is shown with the aid of a real-life case study. FCA is also applied in the real-life case study to check the compatibility of FCA as a visualization method to support variability decision making during requirements engineering.status: publishe

Using and Extending Formal Concept Analysis to Visualise Variability during Requirements Engineering

Research on variability in software artefacts is something which is already studied extensively in research. The visualisation of variability is one aspect of this research, and results like e.g. feature diagrams are well-known and well-spread. When it concerns the origin of the variability within the phase of requirements engineering, research is much scarcer. A visualisation technique for both representing the origin and the amount of variability in requirements is not readily available in research. This paper provides a way to represent the origin of variability in requirements with the aid of a technique called formal concept analysis (FCA). Additionally the support that FCA can provide for variability related decisions during (early) requirements engineering is also depicted in this paper. Proof of the usability of FCA for the visualization, and documentation, of variability is shown with the aid of a real-life case study. FCA is also applied in the real-life case study to check the compatibility of FCA as a visualization method to support variability decision making during requirements engineering

A case study on variability management in software product lines: identifying why real-life projects fail

Economies of scale can be seen as some kind of “holy grail” in state of the art literature on the development of sets of related software systems. Software product line methods are often mentioned in this context, due to the variability management aspects they propose, in order to deal with sets of related software systems. They realize the sought-after reusability. Both variability management and software product lines already have a strong presence in theoretical research, but in real-life software product line projects trying to obtain economies of scale still tend to fall short of target. The objective of this paper is to study this gap between theory and reality through a case study in order to see why such gap exists, and to find a way to bridge this gap. Through analysis of the causes of failure identified by the stakeholders in the case study, the underlying problem, which is found to be located in the requirements engineering phase, is crystallized. The identification of a framework describing the problems will provide practitioners with a better focus for future endeavors in the field of software product lines, so that economies of scale can be achieved.status: publishe

A case study on variability management in software product lines: identifying why real-life projects fail

Economies of scale can be seen as some kind of “holy grail” in state of the art literature on the development of sets of related software systems. Software product line methods are often mentioned in this context, due to the variability management aspects they propose, in order to deal with sets of related software systems. They realize the sought-after reusability. Both variability management and software product lines already have a strong presence in theoretical research, but in real-life software product line projects trying to obtain economies of scale still tend to fall short of target. The objective of this paper is to study this gap between theory and reality through a case study in order to see why such gap exists, and to find a way to bridge this gap. Through analysis of the causes of failure identified by the stakeholders in the case study, the underlying problem, which is found to be located in the requirements engineering phase, is crystallized. The identification of a framework describing the problems will provide practitioners with a better focus for future endeavors in the field of software product lines, so that economies of scale can be achieved