Method Support of Information Requirements Analysis for Analytical Information Systems: State of the Art, Practice Requirements, and Research Agenda

Due to specific characteristics of analytical information systems, their development varies significantly from transaction-oriented systems. Specific method support is particularly needed for requirements engineering and its information-related component, information requirements analysis. The paper at hand first evaluates the state of the art and identifies necessary method support extensions. On this basis, method support requirements for information requirements engineering are identified. The survey is structured along the five core activities of traditional requirements engineering. It reveals a need for further research especially on information requirements elicitation, validation, and management. It further contributes to a discussion of aspects that should be considered by any method support. Due to comparatively long life cycles of analytical information systems, the introduction of a process perspective is discussed in order to ensure the continuous elicitation, documentation, and management of information requirement

Entwicklungsstufen des Unternehmensarchitekturmanagements

Zusammenfassungen: Je nach Ausgestaltung kann Unternehmensarchitekturmanagement (UAM) eine wichtige Komponente des strategischen IT-Managements bilden — oder auch nicht. Um die Ausgestaltungsmöglichkeiten besser zu verstehen, führen wir zunächst UAM-Dimensionen ein und beschreiben auf dieser Grundlage vier zentrale UAM-Entwick-lungsstufen, deren letzte >>strategisches UAM<< ist. Die vier Entwicklungsstufen ermöglichen dem Leser die Positionierung des jeweils realisierten UAM im eigenen Unternehmen sowie die Definition eines angemessenen Zielzustands. Drei Kurzfallstudien zeigen konkret auf, in welchen Variationen strategisches UAM umgesetzt und in welcher Weise dadurch strategisches Informationsmanagement unterstützt werden kan

Method Support of Information Requirements Analysis for Analytical Information Systems State of the Art, Practice Requirements, and Research Agenda

Due to specific characteristics of analyticalinformation systems, their developmentvaries significantly from transaction-oriented systems. Specific methodsupport is particularly needed forrequirements engineering and itsinformation-related component, informationrequirements analysis. The paperat hand first evaluates the state ofthe art and identifies necessary methodsupport extensions.On this basis,methodsupport requirements for informationrequirements engineering are identified.The survey is structured alongthe five core activities of traditional requirementsengineering. It reveals aneed for further research especially oninformation requirements elicitation,validation, and management. It furthercontributes to a discussion of aspectsthat should be considered by anymethod support. Due to comparativelylong life cycles of analytical informationsystems, the introduction of a processperspective is discussed in order to ensurethe continuous elicitation, documentation,and management of informationrequirements

Success Factors of Application Integration: An Exploratory Analysis

The increased deployment of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) applications creates application integration challenges. However, very few articles focus on application integration success. That is why we first analyze these contributions and derive success factor candidates (SFCs). In addition, contributions dealing with problems and risks of application integration and related research fields are examined—as they allow for the derivation of further SFCs. In total twenty-six SFCs are collected. A factor analysis is conducted to examine interrelations between SFCs. It yields seven success factor groups, e.g., architecture management, IT/business alignment, or use of methods. In a second step, an exploratory analysis is conducted to examine the impact of these SFCs on various success indicators of application integration. These success indicators were defined beforehand by analyzing theories for information system (IS) success. As a result of the exploratory analysis, twenty-seven hypotheses are proposed. These hypotheses need to be corroborated in a future confirmatory study

Multi-paradigm modelling for cyber–physical systems: a descriptive framework

The complexity of cyber–physical systems (CPSS) is commonly addressed through complex workflows, involving models in a plethora of different formalisms, each with their own methods, techniques, and tools. Some workflow patterns, combined with particular types of formalisms and operations on models in these formalisms, are used successfully in engineering practice. To identify and reuse them, we refer to these combinations of workflow and formalism patterns as modelling paradigms. This paper proposes a unifying (Descriptive) Framework to describe these paradigms, as well as their combinations. This work is set in the context of Multi-Paradigm Modelling (MPM), which is based on the principle to model every part and aspect of a system explicitly, at the most appropriate level(s) of abstraction, using the most appropriate modelling formalism(s) and workflows. The purpose of the Descriptive Framework presented in this paper is to serve as a basis to reason about these formalisms, workflows, and their combinations. One crucial part of the framework is the ability to capture the structural essence of a paradigm through the concept of a paradigmatic structure. This is illustrated informally by means of two example paradigms commonly used in CPS: Discrete Event Dynamic Systems and Synchronous Data Flow. The presented framework also identifies the need to establish whether a paradigm candidate follows, or qualifies as, a (given) paradigm. To illustrate the ability of the framework to support combining paradigms, the paper shows examples of both workflow and formalism combinations. The presented framework is intended as a basis for characterisation and classification of paradigms, as a starting point for a rigorous formalisation of the framework (allowing formal analyses), and as a foundation for MPM tool development

Industry Best Practices in Robotics Software Engineering

Robotics software is pushing the limits of software engineering practice. The 3rd International Workshop on Robotics Software Engineering held a panel on "the best practices for robotic software engineering". This article shares the key takeaways that emerged from the discussion among the panelists and the workshop, ranging from architecting practices at the NASA/Caltech Jet Propulsion Laboratory, model-driven development at Bosch, development and testing of autonomous driving systems at Waymo, and testing of robotics software at XITASO. Researchers and practitioners can build on the contents of this paper to gain a fresh perspective on their activities and focus on the most pressing practices and challenges in developing robotics software today.Comment: 10 pages, 0 figure