Dynamic Requirements Specification for Adaptable and Open Service-Oriented Systems

As Machine Learning (ML) becomes ever more ubiquitous, it is critical to increase the rigor of design and testing. In traditional software, this is done using the Requirements Engineering (RE) process, but RE looks different for ML because it is data-centric. There are different Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs) and standard testing techniques do not apply. While there are standards for verifying NFRs in traditional software, there is no standard measurement for ML NFRs, e.g. how is a model verified to meet an explainability NFR? In traditional software, NFRs are decomposed into Functional Requirements (FRs), but without clear measurements for ML NFRs, their decomposition into FRs is nearly impossible. However, recently, research has shown that provenance can help improve model transparency and reproducibility. This work builds on such literature and suggests provenance as a lower-level NFR to connect high-level NFRs, e.g. explainability and transparency, and FRs, thereby enabling concrete model verification based on requirement specifications. This work examines types of ML provenance and their use in decomposing model NFRs into verifiable FRs, thereby better aligning ML development with RE and increasing the rigor of ML testing. This paper aggregates current literature on provenance for ML and provides a method of measurement for otherwise unquantifiable NFRs. This work also analyzes trends in how provenance can decompose various ML NFRs and future directions for the field.

Requirements Engineering (RE) is the area of softwa re engineering that deals with the discovery and specification of the objectives for the system unde r development and the environment in which it is us ed including the human activities it supports. Require ment Elicitation is process of gathering requiremen ts from stakeholders. Incorporating RE to identify non Functional Requirements (NFR) in early stages of design and implementation avoids ambiguities, confl icting requirement and other defects. The efficacy of the requirement engineering methodology is its abil ity to capture NFR in an efficient manner. In this study, we propose a novel method of elicitation using mobi le multimedia and to automatically trace the NFR. T he requirements description is captured in video using smart phones. Requirement document are prepared using voice to text converter. NFR is detected auto matically from the requirement document and hand gestures emphasise the importance of the requirement. It is observed that the precision and recall of the class ifiers is better using multimedia data. Features were extract ed from video frame and audio using image processing technique and speech processing. We investigated data mining approach to identify Non Functional Requirements (NFR) from Functional Requirement (FR) Documents. Results obtained were satisfactory.

Requirements Engineering (RE) is the most important activity and pivot phase in the software development life cycle. It consists mainly of requirements analysis, design, and specification. The application of RE in a business domain aims to generalize its different specific approaches by meta-models under which each specific approach is an instance or specialization. RE is being applied more and more in different business domains, and its application benefits are found to be valuable. Despite these active RE applications and their added values in different domains, the Traffic Light Control (TLC) domain has not yet been approached, regardless of its everyday interest. The work presented in this paper is part of a TLC enhancement project that explores RE's potential contributions to leveraging TLC quality. Thus, in this work, different recent specific approaches to TLC are analyzed, and a large part of this business domain's functional/ non-functional requirements are elicited and specified. Moreover, the traffic context-aware traffic light control systems (CTLC) are also considered. They are deeply analyzed and compared to the typical TLC systems. As a primary result, the tangling of different concerns was stated, and a separate concerns paradigm was applied. This leads to requirements specification through separated agents. This should lead to TLC and CTLC systems development and maintenance cost reduction. An important agent dealing with security aspects and their evolving technologies is introduced. The impact evaluations of the RE on some TLC and CTLC current approaches are also presented.

Requirements Engineering (RE) has established itself as a software engineering discipline during the past decades. While researchers have been investigating the RE discipline with a plethora of empirical studies, attempts to systematically derive an empirically-based theory in context of the RE discipline have just recently been started. However, such a theory is needed if we are to define and motivate guidance in performing high quality RE research and practice. We aim at providing an empirical and valid foundation for a theory of RE, which helps software engineers establish effective and efficient RE processes. We designed a survey instrument and theory that has now been replicated in 10 countries world-wide. We evaluate the propositions of the theory with bootstrapped confidence intervals and derive potential explanations for the propositions. We report on the underlying theory and the full results obtained from the replication studies with participants from 228 organisations. Our results represent a substantial step forward towards developing an empirically-based theory of RE giving insights into current practices with RE processes. The results reveal, for example, that there are no strong differences between organisations in different countries and regions, that interviews, facilitated meetings and prototyping are the most used elicitation techniques, that requirements are often documented textually, that traces between requirements and code or design documents is common, requirements specifications themselves are rarely changed and that requirements engineering (process) improvement endeavours are mostly intrinsically motivated. Our study establishes a theory that can be used as starting point for many further studies for more detailed investigations. Practitioners can use the results as theory-supported guidance on selecting suitable RE methods and techniques.

As in traditional software development, non-functional requirements play also a crucial role in service-oriented development. Non-functional requirements are spread across the entire service-oriented system or within individual services and cannot be allocated to one specific system / service artefact (such as a package, component). This makes them often more difficult to handle than functional requirements. The specifics of service-oriented architectures (in particular highly distributed services) bring up additional difficulties. In this paper, we present a taxonomy for non-functional requirements in a service-oriented context. The taxonomy implements three main categories of non-functional requirements: process requirements, non-functional external requirements, and non-functional service requirements. The taxonomy can be applied with individual services as well as with a service-based system as a whole. This taxonomy is considered as a starting point and check list when handling non-functional issues in service-oriented and particularly highly distributed environments.

In Dynamic Software Product Lines (DSPLs) product configuration occurs at runtime. Modelling variability and configuring the product in DSPLs should consider the context and non-functional requirements (NFRs) satisfaction. ConG4DaS (Contextual Goal models For Dynamic Software product lines) is a Requirements Engineering (RE) approach for DSPL which supports (i) modelling of variability with goals, NFRs, contexts and the relationship between them; and (ii) offers a product configuration based on contexts, NFRs and their priority and interactions. In this paper, we present a survey evaluation of ConG4DaS with RE and DSPL researchers in regard to the perceived usefulness. In the survey, both RE and DSPL researchers perceived ConG4DaS as useful for modelling and configuring DSPLs. However, the RE group gave more positive answers than the his study presents the report about a case study on the application of REACT-M (Requirements Evolution in Agile ContexT - Management), an agile method to support software requirements management, in a real software development environment. This case study assessed the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats related to the assets that make up REACT-M, namely: work products, life cycle, roles, and ceremonies. About the results, it was observed that REACT-M was effective, simple to use, strongly collaborative, suitable, user centered and goal oriented. Thus, achieved its main purpose to evolve the requirements of a software product in iteratively, efficiently and under of the agile mindset. The results contribute to the software industry by providing empirical data about the use of a agile method to software requirements management, which can serve as a reference for organizations seeking the adoption of agile methods related to the requirements area, as well as to provide the scientific community with a better empirical understanding of the relationship between requirements and agile methodDSPL group.

Requirements Engineering (RE) is experiencing a significant transformation that requires urgent attention and creativity from industry experts to address the challenges of future systems and software development. At the core of this evolution is Requirements Engineering (RE), an essential process that defines, records, and maintains the fundamental aspects of software and systems design. With the rapid increase in complexity and interconnectedness across different industries, the issues linked to requirements engineering are becoming more pressing, significantly affecting costs, timelines, and overall performance. This article outlines current research trends in requirements engineering, focusing on emerging challenges and future pathways. We investigate advancements in RE techniques, methodologies, and tools, assessing their effects on building complex systems. Furthermore, we emphasize the growing significance of stakeholder engagement and agile practices in shaping requirements, highlighting their contributions to improving collaboration and adaptability. By evaluating the present state of practice and pinpointing critical areas of research concern, this article offers a guide for future requirements engineering studies, enabling researchers and practitioners to address the changing needs of software and systems engineering.

It is extensively acknowledged that Requirements Engineering (RE) has critical implication for overall success of program and project systems development. This research examines and presents a framework that demonstrates how System Usability can be measured to improve decision-making during RE phases as valuable input to feed-follow-on Systems Engineering (SE) activities throughout system development life cycle stages. This paper discusses research for a systematic approach in developing a decision framework based upon four major requirement specification factors: requirement text quality, complexity, completeness and capacity to identify system usability prior to being delivered into system operations per documented requirement specification. The objective of the research is to identify the utility of the defined stakeholder requirements during the earliest stages of system development to measure system usability prior to investing or allocating significant resources to deliver an end-system that satisfies customer expectations. The decision framework is a convergence of multiple fields of research that include requirements text analysis, quality attributes, problem complexity, and requirements metrics as input for decision analysis to assist researchers and practitioners with delivery of end-systems that meet the stakeholder expectations. The operational specification statements within requirement documentation will be analyzed to measure text quality attributes for metrics. The decision framework bridges the gap amongst the stakeholder and system engineer during RE phases to identify issues on the front of the systems engineering process to develop quality end-systems.

The delay in the absorption of village funds from the central government to the village government is due to the village government's difficulty preparing village development innovation programs. The innovation tradition will grow if the cycle of transformation of knowledge and acceptable practices from one village to another, especially villages with similar conditions and problems, can run smoothly. For the process of exchanging knowledge and experiences between villages to run smoothly, it is necessary to codify best practices in a structured, documented, and disseminated manner. This research aims to design an application that functions as a medium for sharing knowledge about the use of village funds through government innovation narratives. The application is expected to become a reference for villages to carry out innovative practices by conducting replication studies and replicating acceptable practices that other villages have done. Therefore, it is necessary to have a system requirements elicitation method that can explore the village's requirements in sharing knowledge so that the resulting system is of high quality and by the objectives of being developed. There are several Goal-Oriented Requirements Engineering (GORE) methods used, such as Knowledge Acquisition in Automated Specification (KAOS) and requirements engineering based on business processes. In this research, the KAOS method was demonstrated as the elicitation activity of a village innovation system. Then the results were stated in the Goal Tree Model (GTM). Model building begins with discussions with the manager of the village innovation program to produce goals. The goals are then broken down into several sub-goals using the KAOS method. The KAOS method is used for the requirements elicitation process resulting in functional and non-functional requirements. This research is the elicitation of the requirement for the village innovation system so that it can demonstrate the initial steps in determining the requirements of the village innovation system before carrying out the design process and the system creation process. The results of this requirement elicitation can be used further in the software engineering process to produce quality and appropriate village innovation applications.

Requirements Engineering (RE) discipline deals with elicitation, analysis, specification, validation and management of requirements. Several ontology-driven approaches have been proposed to improve these RE activities. However, the requirements engineering community still lacks a comprehensive understanding on how ontologies are used in RE process. The objective of this work is to explore how ontologies are employed in requirements engineering, aiming to identify the main phases addressed, the languages that have been used, the types of existing contributions, as well as the requirements modeling styles have been used and the benefits of using ontology in RE. We conducted a systematic literature review to identify the primary studies on the use of ontologies in RE, following a pre-defined review protocol. Sixty-six papers were selected, covering the five main RE process phases. Moreover, we have identified thirteen ontology-related languages. Furthermore, twenty-six empirical studies have been identified which provided evidence of five group of benefits. The main findings of this review are: (1) there are empirical evidences to state that ontologies benefit RE activities in both academy and industry settings, helping to reduce ambiguity, inconsistency and incompleteness of requirements; (2) the vast majority of papers do not meet all RE phases; (3) nearly half of the papers use W3C recommended languages; (4) the majority of contributions are supported by a tool; and (5) there is a great diversity of requirements modeling styles supported by ontologies.

SMEs face multiple challenges related to cybersecurity and personal data protection. Prominent amongst these challenges is the lack of appropriate guidelines addressing specific SME requirements. This paper proposes a Requirements Engineering (RE) methodology with the aim to bridge this gap by establishing a generic process specifically targeting SMEs needs and capabilities. This paper describes the conceptual foundation of the methodology and reports on the way that the theoretical foundations were applied on an SME offering social care services.

Requirements engineering (RE) helps to identify, analyze and document system requirements. Proper analysis and understanding of system requirements is important because it helps to discover any requirements defects or mistakes in the early stages of development. Several processes and techniques have been developed to assist requirements engineering activities for product development. However, most of the existing product line practices do not comprise all the RE activities required for proper identification, analysis and understanding of product line requirements. In this paper, we propose a systematic and iterative RE approach for product line development. The approach includes all the activities required for proper identification, analysis, modeling and specification of product line requirements. In addition to this, it proposes several specific techniques such as aspect-orientation or separation of concerns, product maps and extensible markup language (XML) to assist different RE activities. The concept of aspect-oriented programming is used for analyzing the common and variable requirements. Product maps are used for determining the scope and characteristics of the product family. Extensible markup language (XML) is used for requirements specification and traceability.

Software requirements are crucial. Tight relationship between functional and non-functional will determine the quality of requirements, in which ultimately determines the quality of the software being built. Non-Functional Requirements (NFR) often get less attention in the Requirements Engineering (RE) process. In NFR determination, it is necessary to know the attributes and determination criteria that will make easier to determine the relation to FR (Functional Requirements) related. Nowadays many software developers use the Agile Methodology, where the determination of NFR by means of interviews with its stakeholders. Considering the importance of NFR attributes, then the NFR attributes mapping, how to obtain NFR attributes, and how to represent them closely with FR. The research method uses the Prisma Framework. The results of this research determine the NFR attributes domains, identification of NFR attributes, classification of NFR attributes, NFR representation between FR and NFR attributes, are used to obtain application features.

As software systems continue to grow more complex, evaluating software quality becomes increasingly critical. This study analyzes existing software quality models, including McCall, Boehm, FURPS, and ISO Systems and Software Engineering – Systems and Software Quality Requirements and Evaluation (SQuaRE), with a specific focus on the ISO/IEC 25010:2023 standard. The research aims to assess the completeness of these models and explore interdependencies among key quality attributes relevant to software requirements engineering. The paper identifies key characteristics and associated metrics based on ISO/IEC standards using comparative analysis and a literature review. Findings show that ISO/IEC 25010:2023 provides the most comprehensive structure, with Functional Suitability and Compatibility identified as essential due to their universally recommended metrics. Survey data from 328 practicing analysts in Ukraine and internationally demonstrate a gap between theoretical models and real-world requirements documentation practices, particularly for non-functional requirements. The identified dependencies between quality attributes enable a more integrated and structured approach to identifying and analyzing non-functional requirements in IT projects. The study emphasizes that software quality models must be tailored to project-specific goals and constraints, with attention to trade-offs and stakeholder needs during the requirements specification, prioritization, and validation processes. The findings support the adaptation of quality models to specific project constraints and emphasize the business analyst’s role in tailoring quality criteria for practical use in software development.

This paper reports a study in which business process modelling was regarded as a useful tool for requirements engineering. We have used business process models as a starting point to derive alternative sets of requirements for a process-oriented system. These alternative sets capture different decisions regarding the intended ldquolevel of automationrdquo for the various activities in a business process. The approach is demonstrated in a case study which consists of the development of a real system to manage processes in a human resources (HR) department of a large organization. We use a requirements specification that was previously obtained through what we characterize as a ldquoconventionalrdquo requirements engineering technique and we compare it with the requirements specifications derived from the business process model. We discuss the impact of the use of business process models in the completeness, correctness, consistency and traceability of requirements in the case study.