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| 2. |
- Abbas, Muhammad, et al.
(författare)
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On the relationship between similar requirements and similar software : A case study in the railway domain
- 2023
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Ingår i: Requirements Engineering. - : Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH. - 0947-3602 .- 1432-010X. ; 28, s. 23-47
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recommender systems for requirements are typically built on the assumption that similar requirements can be used as proxies to retrieve similar software. When a stakeholder proposes a new requirement, natural language processing (NLP)-based similarity metrics can be exploited to retrieve existing requirements, and in turn, identify previously developed code. Several NLP approaches for similarity computation between requirements are available. However, there is little empirical evidence on their effectiveness for code retrieval. This study compares different NLP approaches, from lexical ones to semantic, deep-learning techniques, and correlates the similarity among requirements with the similarity of their associated software. The evaluation is conducted on real-world requirements from two industrial projects from a railway company. Specifically, the most similar pairs of requirements across two industrial projects are automatically identified using six language models. Then, the trace links between requirements and software are used to identify the software pairs associated with each requirements pair. The software similarity between pairs is then automatically computed with JPLag. Finally, the correlation between requirements similarity and software similarity is evaluated to see which language model shows the highest correlation and is thus more appropriate for code retrieval. In addition, we perform a focus group with members of the company to collect qualitative data. Results show a moderately positive correlation between requirements similarity and software similarity, with the pre-trained deep learning-based BERT language model with preprocessing outperforming the other models. Practitioners confirm that requirements similarity is generally regarded as a proxy for software similarity. However, they also highlight that additional aspect comes into play when deciding software reuse, e.g., domain/project knowledge, information coming from test cases, and trace links. Our work is among the first ones to explore the relationship between requirements and software similarity from a quantitative and qualitative standpoint. This can be useful not only in recommender systems but also in other requirements engineering tasks in which similarity computation is relevant, such as tracing and change impact analysis.
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| 3. |
- Abdeen, Waleed, et al.
(författare)
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An approach for performance requirements verification and test environments generation
- 2023
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Ingår i: Requirements Engineering. - : Springer. - 0947-3602 .- 1432-010X. ; 28:1, s. 117-144
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Model-based testing (MBT) is a method that supports the design and execution of test cases by models that specify theintended behaviors of a system under test. While systematic literature reviews on MBT in general exist, the state of the arton modeling and testing performance requirements has seen much less attention. Therefore, we conducted a systematic map-ping study on model-based performance testing. Then, we studied natural language software requirements specificationsin order to understand which and how performance requirements are typically specified. Since none of the identified MBTtechniques supported a major benefit of modeling, namely identifying faults in requirements specifications, we developed thePerformance Requirements verificatiOn and Test EnvironmentS generaTion approach (PRO-TEST). Finally, we evaluatedPRO-TEST on 149 requirements specifications. We found and analyzed 57 primary studies from the systematic mappingstudy and extracted 50 performance requirements models. However, those models don’t achieve the goals of MBT, whichare validating requirements, ensuring their testability, and generating the minimum required test cases. We analyzed 77 Soft-ware Requirements Specification (SRS) documents, extracted 149 performance requirements from those SRS, and illustratethat with PRO-TEST we can model performance requirements, find issues in those requirements and detect missing ones.We detected three not-quantifiable requirements, 43 not-quantified requirements, and 180 underspecified parameters in the149 modeled performance requirements. Furthermore, we generated 96 test environments from those models. By modelingperformance requirements with PRO-TEST, we can identify issues in the requirements related to their ambiguity, measur-ability, and completeness. Additionally, it allows to generate parameters for test environments
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| 4. |
- Duboc, Leticia, et al.
(författare)
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Requirements engineering for sustainability: an awareness framework for designing software systems for a better tomorrow
- 2020
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Ingår i: Requirements Engineering. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0947-3602 .- 1432-010X. ; 25:4, s. 469-492
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Integrating novel software systems in our society, economy and environment can have far-reaching effects. As a result, software systems should be designed in such a way as to maintain or improve the sustainability of their intended socio-technical systems. However, a paradigm shift is required to raise awareness of software professionals on the potential sustainability effects of software systems. While Requirements Engineering is considered the key for driving this change, requirements engineers lack the knowledge, experience and methodological support for acting as facilitators for a broader discussion on sustainability effects. This paper presents a question-based framework for raising awareness of the potential effects of software systems on sustainability, as the first step towards enabling the required paradigm shift. An evaluation study of the framework was conducted with four groups of computer science students. The results of the study indicate that the framework is applicable to different types of systems and helps to facilitate discussions about the potential effects that software systems could have on sustainability.
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| 5. |
- Franch, Xavier, et al.
(författare)
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The state-of-practice in requirements specification : an extended interview study at 12 companies
- 2023
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Ingår i: Requirements Engineering. - : Springer. - 0947-3602 .- 1432-010X. ; 28:3, s. 377-409
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Requirements specification is a core activity in the requirements engineering phase of a software development project. Researchers have contributed extensively to the field of requirements specification, but the extent to which their proposals have been adopted in practice remains unclear. We gathered evidence about the state of practice in requirements specification by focussing on the artefacts used in this activity, the application of templates or guidelines, how requirements are structured in the specification document, what tools practitioners use to specify requirements, and what challenges they face. We conducted an interview-based survey study involving 24 practitioners from 12 different Swedish IT companies. We recorded the interviews and analysed these recordings, primarily by using qualitative methods. Natural language constitutes the main specification artefact but is usually accompanied by some other type of instrument. Most requirements specifications use templates or guidelines, although they seldom follow any fixed standard. Requirements are always structured in the document according to the main functionalities of the system or to project areas or system parts. Different types of tools, including MS Office tools, are used, either individually or combined, in the compilation of requirements specifications. We also note that challenges related to the use of natural language (dealing with ambiguity, inconsistency, and incompleteness) are the most frequent challenges that practitioners face in the compilation of requirements specifications. These findings are contextualized in terms of demographic factors related to the individual interviewees, the organization they are affiliated with, and the project they selected to discuss during our interviews. A number of our findings have been previously reported in related studies. These findings show that, in spite of the large number of notations, models and tools proposed from academia for improving requirements specification, practitioners still mainly rely on plain natural language and general-purpose tool support. We expect more empirical studies in this area in order to better understand the reason of this low adoption of research results.
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| 6. |
- Frattini, Julian, 1995-, et al.
(författare)
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Causality in requirements artifacts : prevalence, detection, and impact
- 2023
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Ingår i: Requirements Engineering. - : Springer Science+Business Media B.V.. - 0947-3602 .- 1432-010X. ; 28:1, s. 49-74
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Causal relations in natural language (NL) requirements convey strong, semantic information. Automatically extracting such causal information enables multiple use cases, such as test case generation, but it also requires to reliably detect causal relations in the first place. Currently, this is still a cumbersome task as causality in NL requirements is still barely understood and, thus, barely detectable. In our empirically informed research, we aim at better understanding the notion of causality and supporting the automatic extraction of causal relations in NL requirements. In a first case study, we investigate 14.983 sentences from 53 requirements documents to understand the extent and form in which causality occurs. Second, we present and evaluate a tool-supported approach, called CiRA, for causality detection. We conclude with a second case study where we demonstrate the applicability of our tool and investigate the impact of causality on NL requirements. The first case study shows that causality constitutes around 28 % of all NL requirements sentences. We then demonstrate that our detection tool achieves a macro-F 1 score of 82 % on real-world data and that it outperforms related approaches with an average gain of 11.06 % in macro-Recall and 11.43 % in macro-Precision. Finally, our second case study corroborates the positive correlations of causality with features of NL requirements. The results strengthen our confidence in the eligibility of causal relations for downstream reuse, while our tool and publicly available data constitute a first step in the ongoing endeavors of utilizing causality in RE and beyond. © 2022, The Author(s).
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| 7. |
- Frattini, Julian, 1995-, et al.
(författare)
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Requirements quality research : a harmonized theory, evaluation, and roadmap
- 2023
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Ingår i: Requirements Engineering. - : Springer Science+Business Media B.V.. - 0947-3602 .- 1432-010X. ; 28:4, s. 507-520
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- High-quality requirements minimize the risk of propagating defects to later stages of the software development life cycle. Achieving a sufficient level of quality is a major goal of requirements engineering. This requires a clear definition and understanding of requirements quality. Though recent publications make an effort at disentangling the complex concept of quality, the requirements quality research community lacks identity and clear structure which guides advances and puts new findings into an holistic perspective. In this research commentary, we contribute (1) a harmonized requirements quality theory organizing its core concepts, (2) an evaluation of the current state of requirements quality research, and (3) a research roadmap to guide advancements in the field. We show that requirements quality research focuses on normative rules and mostly fails to connect requirements quality to its impact on subsequent software development activities, impeding the relevance of the research. Adherence to the proposed requirements quality theory and following the outlined roadmap will be a step toward amending this gap. © 2023, The Author(s).
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| 8. |
- Gren, Lucas, 1984-, et al.
(författare)
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Is it possible to disregard obsolete requirements? a family of experiments in software effort estimation
- 2021
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Ingår i: Requirements Engineering. - : Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH. - 0947-3602 .- 1432-010X. ; :3, s. 459-480
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Expert judgement is a common method for software effort estimations in practice today. Estimators are often shown extra obsolete requirements together with the real ones to be implemented. Only one previous study has been conducted on if such practices bias the estimations. We conducted six experiments with both students and practitioners to study, and quantify, the effects of obsolete requirements on software estimation. By conducting a family of six experiments using both students and practitioners as research subjects (N= 461), and by using a Bayesian Data Analysis approach, we investigated different aspects of this effect. We also argue for, and show an example of, how we by using a Bayesian approach can be more confident in our results and enable further studies with small sample sizes. We found that the presence of obsolete requirements triggered an overestimation in effort across all experiments. The effect, however, was smaller in a field setting compared to using students as subjects. Still, the over-estimations triggered by the obsolete requirements were systematically around twice the percentage of the included obsolete ones, but with a large 95% credible interval. The results have implications for both research and practice in that the found systematic error should be accounted for in both studies on software estimation and, maybe more importantly, in estimation practices to avoid over-estimations due to this systematic error. We partly explain this error to be stemming from the cognitive bias of anchoring-and-adjustment, i.e. the obsolete requirements anchored a much larger software. However, further studies are needed in order to accurately predict this effect. © 2021, The Author(s).
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| 9. |
- Habibullah, Khan Mohammad, et al.
(författare)
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Non-functional requirements for machine learning: understanding current use and challenges among practitioners
- 2023
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Ingår i: Requirements Engineering. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0947-3602 .- 1432-010X. ; 28, s. 283-316
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Systems that rely on Machine Learning (ML systems) have differing demands on quality—known as non-functional requirements (NFRs)—from traditional systems. NFRs for ML systems may differ in their definition, measurement, scope, and comparative importance. Despite the importance of NFRs in ensuring the quality ML systems, our understanding of all of these aspects is lacking compared to our understanding of NFRs in traditional domains. We have conducted interviews and a survey to understand how NFRs for ML systems are perceived among practitioners from both industry and academia. We have identified the degree of importance that practitioners place on different NFRs, including cases where practitioners are in agreement or have differences of opinion. We explore how NFRs are defined and measured over different aspects of a ML system (i.e., model, data, or whole system). We also identify challenges associated with NFR definition and measurement. Finally, we explore differences in perspective between practitioners in industry, academia, or a blended context. This knowledge illustrates how NFRs for ML systems are treated in current practice, and helps to guide future RE for ML efforts.
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| 10. |
- Habibullah, Khan Mohammad, et al.
(författare)
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Requirements and software engineering for automotive perception systems: an interview study
- 2024
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Ingår i: REQUIREMENTS ENGINEERING. - 0947-3602 .- 1432-010X.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Driving automation systems, including autonomous driving and advanced driver assistance, are an important safety-critical domain. Such systems often incorporate perception systems that use machine learning to analyze the vehicle environment. We explore new or differing topics and challenges experienced by practitioners in this domain, which relate to requirements engineering (RE), quality, and systems and software engineering. We have conducted a semi-structured interview study with 19 participants across five companies and performed thematic analysis of the transcriptions. Practitioners have difficulty specifying upfront requirements and often rely on scenarios and operational design domains (ODDs) as RE artifacts. RE challenges relate to ODD detection and ODD exit detection, realistic scenarios, edge case specification, breaking down requirements, traceability, creating specifications for data and annotations, and quantifying quality requirements. Practitioners consider performance, reliability, robustness, user comfort, and-most importantly-safety as important quality attributes. Quality is assessed using statistical analysis of key metrics, and quality assurance is complicated by the addition of ML, simulation realism, and evolving standards. Systems are developed using a mix of methods, but these methods may not be sufficient for the needs of ML. Data quality methods must be a part of development methods. ML also requires a data-intensive verification and validation process, introducing data, analysis, and simulation challenges. Our findings contribute to understanding RE, safety engineering, and development methodologies for perception systems. This understanding and the collected challenges can drive future research for driving automation and other ML systems.
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