Requirements Validation: Execution of UML Models with CPN Tools

Requirements validation is a critical task in any engineering project. The confrontation of stakeholders with static requirements models is not enough, since stakeholders with non-computer science education are not able to discover all the inter-dependencies between the elicited requirements. Even with simple unified modelling language (UML) requirements models, it is not easy for the development team to get confidence on the stakeholders’ requirements validation. This paper describes an approach, based on the construction of executable interactive prototypes, to support the validation of workflow requirements, where the system to be built must explicitly support the interaction between people within a pervasive cooperative workflow execution. A case study from a real project is used to illustrate the proposed approach.

[1]  Franz J. Rammig Distributed and Parallel Embedded Systems , 1999 .

[2]  David Garlan,et al.  A programming system for children that is designed for usability , 2002 .

[3]  Gerrit C. van der Veer,et al.  Breaking Down Usability , 1999, INTERACT.

[4]  Isabel M. Ramos,et al.  Specification of Requirements Models , 2005 .

[5]  João M. Fernandes,et al.  Heterogeneous Information Systems Integration: Organizations and Methodologies , 2002, PROFES.

[6]  Lars Michael Kristensen,et al.  The practitioner’s guide to coloured Petri nets , 1998, International Journal on Software Tools for Technology Transfer.

[7]  Claes Wohlin,et al.  Engineering and Managing Software Requirements , 2005 .

[8]  Jawed I. A. Siddiqi,et al.  Requirements validation based on the visualisation of executable formal specifications , 1998, Proceedings. The Twenty-Second Annual International Computer Software and Applications Conference (Compsac '98) (Cat. No.98CB 36241).

[9]  Ying Liang,et al.  From use cases to classes: a way of building object model with UML , 2003, Inf. Softw. Technol..

[10]  Achim Rettberg,et al.  From Specification to Embedded Systems Application [International Embedded Systems Symposium, IESS 2005, Manaus, Brazil, August 2005] , 2005, IESS.

[11]  Wendy E. Mackay,et al.  CPN/Tools: A Post-WIMP Interface for Editing and Simulating Coloured Petri Nets , 2001, ICATPN.

[12]  Harald C. Gall,et al.  Visual requirements validation: case study in a CORBA-supported environment , 2002, Proceedings IEEE Joint International Conference on Requirements Engineering.

[13]  João M. Fernandes,et al.  Integration of Embedded Software with Corporate Information Systems , 2005, IESS.

[14]  Wil M. P. van der Aalst,et al.  Business Process Management Demystified: A Tutorial on Models, Systems and Standards for Workflow Management , 2003, Lectures on Concurrency and Petri Nets.

[15]  Manfred Broy,et al.  From MSCs to Statecharts , 1998, DIPES.

[16]  Didar Zowghi,et al.  Requirements Elicitation: A Survey of Techniques, Approaches, and Tools , 2005 .

[17]  Bojan Cukic,et al.  Virtual environment modeling for requirements validation of high consequence systems , 2001, Proceedings Fifth IEEE International Symposium on Requirements Engineering.

[18]  Andrew Gemino,et al.  Empirical comparisons of animation and narration in requirements validation , 2004, Requirements Engineering.

[19]  J. Whittle,et al.  From scenarios to code: An air traffic control case study , 2003, 25th International Conference on Software Engineering, 2003. Proceedings..

[20]  Sebastián Uchitel,et al.  Fluent-based animation: exploiting the relation between goals and scenarios for requirements validation , 2004, Proceedings. 12th IEEE International Requirements Engineering Conference, 2004..

[21]  Martin B. Curry,et al.  Exploring the effects of icon characteristics on user performance: the role of icon concreteness, complexity, and distinctiveness. , 2000, Journal of experimental psychology. Applied.

[22]  João M. Fernandes,et al.  Transformation of UML models for service-oriented software architectures , 2005, 12th IEEE International Conference and Workshops on the Engineering of Computer-Based Systems (ECBS'05).

[23]  Standard Glossary of Software Engineering Terminology , 1990 .

[24]  Nat Pryce,et al.  SceneBeans : A Component-Based Animation Framework for Java , .

[25]  Oscar de Bruijn,et al.  The effects of visual information on users' mental models: an evaluation of pathfinder analysis as a measure of icon usability. , 2001 .