Generation of interactive questionnaires using YAWL-based workflow models

A concept is introduced in this article which has strong practical impact for computer aided system configuration. System configuration is a cumbersome and fault sensitive task while setting up systems in a broad range of business applications like ERP (enterprise resource planning) and other workflow-systems. Given a generic process or workflow model in YAWL-notation (yet another workflow language) or any other process modeling language like business process model and notation or WFMC (workflow management coalition), it could be stated that, by using a set of reduction rules as introduced, it is possible to generate a hierarchically structured tree of sub graphs of the workflow graph-representation. According to the notation used, authors call these sub graphs facts. The tree structure of the graph-representation on one hand and the logical relation between the branches and leafs of the tree on the other can be utilized to create a set of constraints and dependencies among the single facts. Some researchers showed that the nested branches can be associated to (predefined) questions with respect to the configuration of a workflow management system, for instance an ERP-application. They presented an algorithm which dynamically sorts the questions and answers in a maximum efficient configuration path, while working through the corresponding questionnaire. By combining the different elements as facts, constraints on questions, and configuration space, it is thus possible to algorithmically generate the efficient structured and interactive questionnaire for the configuration of workflow systems and algorithmically check the consistency (dead lock free, free of synchronization structural conflict) of the underlying workflow model. The concept was tested in the prototype of the interactive questionnaire for configuration of the web-service based ERP-Application Posity

Performance evaluation of Crystal

Crystal tries to combine the simplicity to write software of Ruby with the performance of C. This presentation aims to show performance comparisons of Crystal with the programming languages Ruby, C and Go. This is done by using different example programs that use specific parts used in real world applications. Those include iterative and recursive implementations of the Fibonacci sequence, reading and writing files, listening to sockets, as well as calling a method written in C. The results show that Crystal can be considered a fast programming language. While C with all optimisations of gcc is still faster, the performance of Crystal is comparable with Go. As expected is Ruby, with just-in-time (JIT) compilation or without, by a factor of 8 respectively 9 slower than Crystal

Rapid development of ICT business services by business engineers independent of computer scientists

Current software development requires computer scientists to create and to adapt services to new or changing needs. In addition development and maintenance of software is time and cost intensive. Customizing of standard software is laborious. Software engineering research approaches as Domain Engineering, Model Driven Software Engineering and Product Line Engineering try to increase the abstraction level of the specification of the models to reduce the required time and money to build applications and services but they still demand the implementation by computer scientists. In two projects supported by the CTI (Commission for Technology and Innovation of the Swiss Confederation) we analysed how to achieve a higher level of abstraction and how to specify database-centric business services in a manner business engineers are able to create and to adapt services completely by themselves. Besides the methodology to specify these services (data structure, business rules, etc.), methods and technologies to hide all technical aspects (infrastructure, software architecture, versioning etc.) entirely from the business engineer had to be developed. In this paper an according graphical notation to specify services or complete applications is discussed

Assisted-modeling requirements for model-driven development tools

Model-driven development (MDD) tools allow software development teams to increase productivity and decrease software time-to-market. Although several MDD tools have been proposed, they are not commonly adopted by software development practitioners. Some authors have noted MDD tools are poorly adopted due to a lack of user assistance during modeling-related tasks. This has led model-driven engineers—i.e., engineers who create MDD tools—to equip MDD tools with intelligent assistants, wizards for creating models, consistency checkers, and other modeling assistants to address such assist-modeling-related issues. However, is this the way MDD users expect to be assisted during modeling in MDD tools? Therefore, we plan and conduct two focus groups with MDD users. We extract data around three main research questions: i) what are the challenges perceived by MDD users during modeling for later code generation? ii) what are the features of the current modeling assistants that users like/dislike? and iii) what are the user’s needs that are not yet satisfied by the current modeling assistants? As a result, we gather requirements from the MDD users’ perspective on how they would like to be assisted while using MDD tools. We propose an emerging framework for assisting MDD users during modeling based on such requirements. In addition, we outline future challenges and research efforts for next-generation MDD tools

OntoTrace : a tool for supporting trace generation in software development by using ontology-based automatic reasoning

Traceability in software development has gained interest due to its software maintainability and quality assurance benefits. Artifacts such as code, requirements, mockups, test cases, among others, are feasible trace sources/targets during the software development process. Existing scientific approaches support tasks like identifying untraced artifacts, establishing new traces, and validating existing traces. However, most approaches require input existing traceability data or are restricted to a certain application domain hindering their practical application. This contemporary challenge in information systems engineering calls for novel traceability solutions. In this paper, we present OntoTrace: a tool for supporting traceability tasks in software development projects by using ontology-based automatic reasoning. OntoTrace allows software development teams for inferring traceability-related data such as i) which are the traceable source/target artifacts; ii) which artifacts are not yet traced; and iii) given a specific artifact, which are the possible traces between it and other artifacts. We demonstrate how OntoTrace works in the context of the Swiss startup LogicFlow AG, supporting the traceability between functional/non-functional requirements and user interface test cases. We conclude the paper by reflecting on the experience from applying the approach in practice, and we draw on future challenges and next research endeavors

Mit Diagrammen programmieren und debuggen

Posity bietet ein SW-Entwicklungstool (Posity Design Studio), welches die SW-Entwicklung im gesamten SW-Life Cycle vollumfänglich unterstützt, mit folgenden Eigenschaften an: - Spezialisierung auf datenbankzentrierte Business-SW - Grafische Spezifikation mittels 6 Diagrammtypen die auch Business - Analysten verstehen (kein textbasierter Code) - Use-Case-Generierung durch Wizard - integriertes Fragebogenkonzept zum Customizing von Standardsoftware - Eine Spezifikation viele Einsatzvarianten Cloud/Lokal, Rich Client/Browser Dadurch wird die Effizienz und Effektivität der Erstellung, Wartung und der kundenspezifischen Anpassung von Business-SW massiv erhöht

Flexible Geschäftsprozesse - auch mit individueller Software

Flexible und kostengünstige Geschäftsprozesse, die sich an ändernde wirtschaftliche Bedingungen anpassen, sind ein wichtiger Wettbewerbsvorteil. Wie kann individuelle Software, die Geschäftsprozesse vorgibt und normalerweise zementiert, den Anforderungen nach Flexibilität gerecht werden