Catálogo de publicaciones - libros

Traditional requirements engineering approaches suffer from the tyranny of the dominant decomposition, with functional requirements serving as the base decomposition and non-functional requirements cutting across them. In this paper, we propose a model that decomposes requirements in a uniform fashion regardless of their functional or non-functional nature. This makes it possible to project any particular set of requirements on a range of other requirements, hence supporting a multi-dimensional separation. The projections are achieved through composition rules employing informal, often concern-specific, actions and operators. The approach supports establishment of early trade-offs among crosscutting and overlapping requirements. This, in turn, facilitates negotiation and decision-making among stakeholders.

In this paper, we present in the first part our proposition for mapping specification and generation of transformation definition in the context of Model Driven Architecture (MDA). In the second part, we present the application of our proposition to Web Services platform. We propose a metamodel for mapping specification and its implementation as a plug-in for Eclipse. Once mappings are specified between two metamodels (e.g. UML and WSDL), transformation definitions are generated automatically using transformation languages such as Atlas Transformation Language (ATL). We have applied this tool to edit mappings between UML and Web Services. Then, we have used this mapping to generate ATL code to achieve transformations from UML into Web Services.

In data integration, a Merge operator takes as input a pair of schemas in some conceptual modelling language, together with a set of correspondences between their constructs, and produces as an output a single integrated schema. In this paper we present a new approach to implementing the Merge operator that improves upon previous work by considering a wider range of correspondences between schema constructs and defining a generic and formal framework for the generation of schema transformations. This is used as a basis for deriving transformations over high level models. The approach is demonstrated in this paper to generate transformations for ER and relational models.

The rise of the number and complexity of pervasive systems is a fact. Pervasive systems developers need advanced development methods in order to build better systems in an easy way. Software Factories and the Model Driven Architecture (MDA) are two important trends in the software engineering field. This paper applies the guidelines and strategies described by these proposals in order to build a methodological approach for pervasive systems development. Software Factories are based on the definition of software families supported by frameworks. Individual systems requirements are specified by means of domain specific languages. Following this strategy, our approach defines a framework and a domain specific language for pervasive systems. We use the MDA guidelines to support the development of our domain specific language and the automatic generation of the specific source code of a particular system. The approach presented in this paper raises the abstraction level in the development of pervasive systems and provides high reusable assets to reduce the effort in the development projects.

Current architecture assessment models focus on either architecture maturity or architecture alignment, considering the other as an explaining sub-variable. Based on an exploratory study, we conjecture that both alignment and maturity are equally important variables in properly assessing architecture organizations. Our hypothesis is that these variables conceptually differ, correlate, but do not explain one another. In this paper we describe our Multi-dimensional Assessment model for architecture Alignment and architecture Maturity ( MAAM ), which contains six main interrelated sub-variables that explain both alignment and maturity. We used existing models, literature from business and IS domains, and knowledge gained from previous research to identify the explaining variables. We constructed MAAM using structured modeling techniques. We are currently using a structured questionnaire method to construct an Internet survey with which we gather data to empirically validate our model. Our goal is to develop an architecture assessment process and supporting tool based on MAAM .

Designing business models is a complicated and error prone task. On the one hand, business models need to be intuitive and easy to understand. On the other hand, ambiguities may lead to different interpretations and false consensus. Moreover, to configure process-aware information systems (e.g., a workflow system), the business model needs to be transformed into an executable model. Event-driven Process Chains (EPCs), but also other informal languages, are intended as a language to support the transition from a business model to an executable model. Many researchers have assigned formal semantics to EPCs and are using these semantics for execution and verification. In this paper, we use a different tactic. We propose a two-step approach where first the informal model is reduced and then verified in an interactive manner. This approach acknowledges that some constructs are correct or incorrect no matter what interpretation is used and that the remaining constructs require human judgment to assess correctness. This paper presents a software tool that supports this two-step approach and thus allows for the verification of real-life EPCs as illustrated by two case studies.

This article develops an option pricing model to evaluate knowledge management (KM) activities from the following perspectives: knowledge creation, knowledge conversion, knowledge circulation, and knowledge carry out. This paper makes three important contributions: (1) it provides a formal theoretical grounding for the validity of the Black-Scholes model that might be employed to KM; (2) it proposes a measurement framework to enable leveraging knowledge assets effectively and efficiently; (3) it presents the first application of the Black-Scholes model that uses a real world business situation involving KM as its test bed. The results prove the option pricing model can be act as a measurement guideline to the whole KM activities.

The lack of a good understanding of customer needs within e-service initiatives caused severe financial losses in the Norwegian energy sector, resulting in the failure of e-service initiatives offering packages of independent services. One of the causes was a poor elicitation and understanding of the e-services at hand. In this paper, we propose an ontologically founded approach (1) to describe customer needs, and the necessary e-services that satisfy such needs, and (2) to bundle elementary e-services into needs-satisfying e-service bundles . The ontology as well as the associated reasoning mechanisms are codified in RDFS to enable software support for need elicitation and service bundling. A case study from the Norwegian energy sector is used to demonstrate how we put our theory into practice.

The push toward business process automation has generated the need for integrating different enterprise applications involved in such processes. The typical approach to integration and to process automation is based on the use of adapters and message brokers . The need for adapters in Web services mainly comes from two sources: one is the heterogeneity at the higher levels of the interoperability stack, and the other is the high number of clients, each of which can support different interfaces and protocols, thereby generating the need for providing multiple interfaces to the same service. In this paper, we characterize the problem of adaptation of web services by identifying and classifying different kinds of adaptation requirements. Then, we focus on business protocol adapters, and we classify the different ways in which two protocols may differ. Next, we propose a methodology for developing adapters in Web services, based on the use of mismatch patterns and service composition technologies.

The paper introduces an approach to the specification, the verification and the validation of B2B transactions. Based on the usage of a subset of formally defined UML diagrams complemented with business rules, we introduce two facilities offered by the supporting Efficient toolset, namely the checking of formal properties expected from the produced models as well as the animation tool allowing business experts to understand and ‘play’ with business transactions models before they are implemented. The overall approach is illustrated through the experiences gained in the performance of a real transactional Import/Export business case.