O ZEP Framework: um framework para a criação de métodos para envolvimento de stakeholders no desenvolvimento de soluções de software.

A especificação dos requisitos de software pressupõe que se conheçam os requisitos do sistema do que será parte. Os requisitos do sistema, por sua vez, pressupõem o conhecimento do negócio (business) onde o sistema será utilizado. Para que estes conhecimentos sejam obtidos é importante o envolvimento dos stakeholders tanto no nível de sistema quanto no nível de negócio. As literaturas sobre Engenharia de Requisitos, Engenharia de Software e Engenharia de Sistemas concordam que o envolvimento dos stakeholders é fundamental. O tratamento dispensado ao assunto, no entanto, é pequeno, dada a importância do tema. Esta dissertação, utilizando conceitos da Engenharia de Métodos Situacionais e de Design Science, apresenta o ZEP Framework, um artefato, produzido com o software EPF Composer, que permite a criação de métodos para envolver o stakeholder. Estes métodos, para serem criados, devem levar em consideração as peculiaridades da organização, dos recursos disponíveis e do projeto em si. São apresentados, ainda, alguns cenários, na área de Turismo, como exemplos da utilização do framework.

软件需求工程--方法及工具评述

文中从需求工程的基本概念和研究内容出发，简单介绍了需求工程生命周期和需求规范等概念；比较全面地总结了现有的有代表性的需求工程开发方法和工具，对其中一些重要的方法及工具作了分类和评述，并指出了需求工程方法和工具开发与实际领域相脱离等不足之处；最后探讨了需求工程研究现状中存在的一些主要问题及一些相应的解决方案

Measuring the blame of each formula for inconsistent prioritized knowledge bases.

It is increasingly recognized that identifying the degree of blame or responsibility of each formula for inconsistency of a knowledge base (i.e. a set of formulas) is useful for making rational decisions to resolve inconsistency in that knowledge base. Most current techniques for measuring the blame of each formula with regard to an inconsistent knowledge base focus on classical knowledge bases only. Proposals for measuring the blames of formulas with regard to an inconsistent prioritized knowledge base have not yet been given much consideration. However, the notion of priority is important in inconsistency-tolerant reasoning. This article investigates this issue and presents a family of measurements for the degree of blame of each formula in an inconsistent prioritized knowledge base by using the minimal inconsistent subsets of that knowledge base. First of all, we present a set of intuitive postulates as general criteria to characterize rational measurements for the blames of formulas of an inconsistent prioritized knowledge base. Then we present a family of measurements for the blame of each formula in an inconsistent prioritized knowledge base under the guidance of the principle of proportionality, one of the intuitive postulates. We also demonstrate that each of these measurements possesses the properties that it ought to have. Finally, we use a simple but explanatory example in requirements engineering to illustrate the application of these measurements. Compared to the related works, the postulates presented in this article consider the special characteristics of minimal inconsistent subsets as well as the priority levels of formulas. This makes them more appropriate to characterizing the inconsistency measures defined from minimal inconsistent subsets for prioritized knowledge bases as well as classical knowledge bases. Correspondingly, the measures guided by these postulates can intuitively capture the inconsistency for prioritized knowledge bases.

Behavioral Model Generation from Use Cases Based on Ontology Mapping and GRASP Patterns

This paper contributes a new approach for developing UML software designs from Natural Language (NL), making use of a meta-domain oriented ontology, well established software design principles and Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools. In the approach described here, banks of grammatical rules are used to assign event flows from essential use cases. A domain specific ontology is also constructed, permitting semantic mapping between the NL input and the modeled domain. Rules based on the widely-used General Responsibility Assignment Software Principles (GRASP) are then applied to derive behavioral models.

Integração de um sistema de gestão de informação clínica hospitalar numa unidade de cuidados continuados

O crescimento da população idosa impõe o desenvolvimento de serviços de qualidade orientados para as necessidades comuns desta faixa etária. A área dos cuidados continuados corresponde a um segmento em crescimento com um forte potencial de desenvolvimento no que concerne ao domínio dos sistemas de informação (SI). O presente trabalho pressupõe o acompanhamento do processo de integração de um SI de uma Unidade Hospitalar (UH) numa Unidade de Cuidados Continuados (UCC) para idosos. A análise envolveu o recurso à Teoria Actor-network (ANT), enquanto posicionamento teórico de relevo para o desenvolvimento de SI. Esta teoria coloca, equitativamente, em destaque os factores humano e não humano como concorrentes para o sucesso no desenvolvimento de um SI. O processo em destaque neste trabalho envolveu a análise compreensiva dos SI das unidades de saúde envolvidas; monitorização e descrição do processo de integração do SI de inspiração hospitalar na UCC; avaliação do resultado final; estabelecimento de requisitos fundamentais para o desenho de um SI adaptado a uma organização prestadora de cuidados continuados a idosos. Estas etapas foram desenvolvidas tendo por base a concretização de 3 ciclos, integradores dos conceitos da ANT com o processo de Engenharia de Requisitos: Ciclo 1 - análise do sistema sócio-técnico; Ciclo 2 – desenho do novo sistema sócio-técnico; Ciclo 3 – transformação da rede sócio-técnica. A metodologia inerente ao processo envolveu a análise documental, realização de notas de campo, entrevista e questionário. Os requisitos são apresentados através da conceptualização de um SI denominado Gestão de Cuidados Residenciais (GCR). Conclui-se, que para que um SI resulte com eficácia, eficiência e efetividade para uma organização, deverá revelar-se adaptado ao propósito e missão da organização em causa, sob pena de induzir fragilidade ao ciclo operacional e ao modelo de gestão de informação.

Goal sketching with activity diagrams

Goal orientation is acknowledged as an important paradigm in requirements engineering. The structure of a goal-responsibility model provides opportunities for appraising the intention of a development. Creating a suitable model under agile constraints (time, incompleteness and catching up after an initial burst of creativity) can be challenging. Here we propose a marriage of UML activity diagrams with goal sketching in order to facilitate the production of goal responsibility models under these constraints.

A practical approach to goal modelling for time-constrained projects

Goal modelling is a well known rigorous method for analysing problem rationale and developing requirements. Under the pressures typical of time-constrained projects its benefits are not accessible. This is because of the effort and time needed to create the graph and because reading the results can be difficult owing to the effects of crosscutting concerns. Here we introduce an adaptation of KAOS to meet the needs of rapid turn around and clarity. The main aim is to help the stakeholders gain an insight into the larger issues that might be overlooked if they make a premature start into implementation. The method emphasises the use of obstacles, accepts under-refined goals and has new methods for managing crosscutting concerns and strategic decision making. It is expected to be of value to agile as well as traditional processes.

A pattern language for goals

Previous work has established the value of goal-oriented approaches to requirements engineering. Achieving clarity and agreement about stakeholders’ goals and assumptions is critical for building successful software systems and managing their subsequent evolution. In general, this decision-making process requires stakeholders to understand the implications of decisions outside the domains of their own expertise. Hence it is important to support goal negotiation and decision making with description languages that are both precise and expressive, yet easy to grasp. This paper presents work in progress to develop a pattern language for describing goal refinement graphs. The language has a simple graphical notation, which is supported by a prototype editor tool, and a symbolic notation based on modal logic.

Goal-refinement appraisal of soft projects (GRASP)

Industrial projects are often complex and burdened with time pressures and a lack of information. The term 'soft-project' used here stands for projects where the ‘what’ and/or the ‘how’ is uncertain, which is often the experience in projects involving software intensive systems developments. This thesis intertwines the disciplines of project management and requirements engineering in a goal-oriented application of the maxim ‘keep all objectives satisfied’. It thus proposes a method for appraising projects. In this method, a goal-oriented analysis establishes a framework with which expert judgements are collected so as to construct a confidence profile in regard to the feasibility and adequacy of the project's planned outputs. It is hoped that this appraisal method will contribute to the activities of project ‘shaping’ and aligning stakeholders’ expectations whilst helping project managers appreciate what parts of their project can be progressed and what parts should be held pending further analysis. This thesis offers the following original contribution: an appreciation of appraisal in the project context; a goal-oriented confidence profiling technique; and: a technique to produce goal-refinement diagrams – referred to as Goal Sketching. Collectively these amount to a method for the ‘Goal Refinement Appraisal of Soft-Projects’ (GRASP). The validity of the GRASP method is shown for two projects. In the first it is used for shaping a business investigation project. This is done in real-time in the project. The second case is a retrospective study of an enterprise IT project. This case tests the effectiveness of forecasting project difficulty from an initial confidence profile.

KPIs and their properties defined with the EXTREME method

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are the main instruments of Business Performance Management. KPIs are the measures that are translated to both the strategy and the business process. These measures are often designed for an industry sector with the assumptions about business processes in organizations. However, the assumptions can be too incomplete to guarantee the required properties of KPIs. This raises the need to validate the properties of KPIs prior to their application to performance measurement. This paper applies the method called EXecutable Requirements Engineering Management and Evolution (EXTREME) for validation of the KPI definitions. EXTREME semantically relates the goal modeling, conceptual modeling and protocol modeling techniques into one methodology. The synchronous composition built into protocol modeling enables raceability of goals in protocol models and constructive definitions of a KPI. The application of the method clarifies the meaning of KPI properties and procedures of their assessment and validation.

The synergies between goal sketching and enterprise architecture

This paper introduces a pragmatic and practical method for requirements modeling. The method is built using the concepts of our goal sketching technique together with techniques from an enterprise architecture modeling language. Our claim is that our method will help project managers who want to establish early control of their projects and will also give managers confidence in the scope of their project. In particular we propose the inclusion of assumptions as first class entities in the ArchiMate enterprise architecture modeling language and an extension of the ArchiMate Motivation Model principle to allow radical as well as normative analyses. We demonstrate the usefulness of this method using a simple university library system as an example.