Requirement s Engineering in & f or Net worked Organisat ions - PDF document

Requirement s Engineering in & f or Net worked Organisat ions Olly Got el Dept . Comput er Science Cit y Universit y London olly@soi.cit y.ac.uk ht t p:/ / www.soi.cit y.ac.uk/ homes/ olly Overview... Charact erist ics of net worked organisat ions • Requirement s engineering challenges • My posit ion: • ♦ Role of • Requirement s t raceabilit y • Cont ribut ion st ruct ures • Ot her t hings (?) A f ew point s • Page 1

What is a Net worked Organisat ion? Organisat ion: “ A body, syst em or societ y wit h a • working (orderly) st ruct ure” - OED Director of Field Service Director of Field Service Director of Field Service Jerry Jerry Wysocki Wysocki Jerry Wysocki Field Dispatch Field Dispatch National Field National Field Field Dispatch Manager Manager Administrator Administrator National Field National Field Engineering National Field Engineering Manager National Field Engineering Administrator Beth Radisson Beth Radisson Diane Settlers Diane Settlers Beth Radisson Diane Settlers National Dispatch National Dispatch Customer Service Customer Service Eastern Region Eastern Region Central Region Central Region Western Region Western Region Eastern Region Manager Manager Central Region Manager Manager Western Region Manager Manager Manager Manager Manager Jeff Radcliff Jeff Radcliff Fred Jones Fred Jones Bob Czwakiel Bob Czwakiel Jeff Radcliff Fred Jones Bob Czwakiel What is a Net worked Organisat ion? Net wor k: “ A complex (int ersect ing, meshed or • chained) arrangement of int erconnect ed persons, operat ions, et c” - OED Page 2

What is a Net worked Organisat ion? Net worked organisat ion: A working arrangement in which • members are dist ribut ed but (st rive t o?) work t oget her t o achieve it s goals Types of Dist ribut ion in Net worked Organisat ions... Physical dist ribut ion • Page 3

Types of Dist ribut ion in Net worked Organisat ions... • Physical dist ribut ion Concept ual dist ribut ion • I don’t agree! The Realit y... Syst ems & sof t ware increasingly being developed: To f it in a net worked organisat ion • By a net worked organisat ion • Page 4

More Specif ically... Many (overlapping) net worked organisat ions Custom Developer Turnkey organisat ion Organisat ion in which syst em is Shrink- wrap t o f it ... Ot her organisat ions wit h a st ake in t he syst em ... Net worked Developers... Requirements Requirements document v1 document vn Links to down-stream project artifacts Links to end-user organisation Page 5

Net worked End-Users... Development & evolution Requirements document System/software Mediated by developers Sources of requirements = target end users & customers Requirement s Engineering Some Challenges... Dispersed inf ormat ion & viewpoint s: • ♦ Coverage, int egrat ion & checking ♦ I nconsist ency & conf lict ♦ Management Page 6

Requirement s Engineering Some Challenges... Dispersed inf ormat ion & viewpoint s: • ♦ Coverage, int egrat ion & checking ♦ I nconsist ency & conf lict ♦ Management Dynamic reconf igurat ion of personnel: • ♦ Part / f lexi home workers & hot desks ♦ Shif t ing roles, relat ions & commit ment s ♦ St af f t urnover & memory loss Key Problems - My Posit ion... Even more rif e in such net worked organisat ions are problems wit h: Get t ing reqt s • x I SO Evolving reqt s • 9000 Changing reqt s • Emerging reqt s • Will lead t o ever-det eriorat ing qualit y • • Pot ent ial communicat ion, co- ordinat ion & cont rol night mares... Page 7

A Solut ion - My Posit ion... To t he rescue: Requirement s t raceabilit y? • Cont ribut ion st ruct ures? • Ot her t hings by & by... like web st uf f • Requirement s Traceabilit y... “ RT ref ers t o t he abilit y t o describe & f ollow inf ormat ion about t he lif e of a requirement in bot h a f orwards & backwards direct ion” (i.e. f rom it s origins, t hrough it s development & specif icat ion, t o it s subsequent deployment & use, & t hrough all periods of on-going ref inement & it erat ion in any of t hese phases) Page 8

Cont ribut ion St ruct ures... “ CS ref ers t o t he overall syst em of people involved in t he product ion & evolut ion of requirement s” (t he richness wit h which t his can be described depends upon: (1) how well t he link bet ween people and requirement s art if act s is def ined; & (ii) how well t he dif f erent t ypes of art if act - based relat ion are t aken int o account ) CS f or RT... Remit • Responsibilit y • Ramif icat ions • Roles & relat ions • ? RS ... A disciplined way t o record & examine st akeholders ... Augment s document ed inf ormat ion Page 9

Rescue Services (Part 1)... I nf rast ruct ure f or development & maint enance • ♦ Baseline management & drive ♦ Change management & not if icat ion Cont ingency planning & preparedness • ♦ Who’s in & who’s out ? ♦ Anchors f or communicat ion • Negot iat ion & decisions • Augment s inf o & org memory Rescue Services (Part 2)... Process improvement • ♦ How RE is “really” done (et hno out !) ♦ I nf orm dist rib/ collab met hods & t ools Organisat ional re-engineering • ♦ St akeholder orgs & how int ert wined ♦ CF models & realit y t o inf orm modelling Page 10

RT & CS on t he WWW.. Web servers f or inf ormat ion reposit ories • Diverse plat f orms & t echnologies • Dist ribut ed archit ect ures • WANs out , int ranet in • St andard in indust ry • Obvious really • ♦ Got t o provide f or RT & CS in t his set t ing I n Essence (Concept ually)... Art if act Person Person Updat e Updat e Query Updat e Link Query Art if act Link Dat abase Art if act P arse Link Art if act Web is nat ural mechanism t o implement it • Page 11

Dat abase Web Visions... Sybase, Oracle, DB2, et c... Ot her client s - Point er s t o ar t if act s (URLs) - I nf o about ar t if act s, people, ar t -based rels Server & cont rib rels • Web delivery Download applet (org crit ical f or speed, mechanism scale & dist rib/ collab Market Share Market Share mechanism) 80 • J ava I F 60 40 20 0 1st Qtr 1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 2nd Qtr Query Market Share Market Share 80 60 Result 40 20 J ava applet 0 1st Qtr 1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 2nd Qtr - Cr eat e/ edit ar t if act s - Mar kup Upload t o regist er Client ar t if act s cont ent & met a inf o (r icher sems) - Parse mar kup et c... EG: Page 12

EG: A Few Point s... Hasn’t RE always been carried out in & • f or net worked organisat ions? ♦ Do unit ary ones exist ? Old probs? Don’t organisat ional st ruct ures • inf luence how RE is done? ♦ Underst and f irst ? New approaches? What is most pervasive? • ♦ Anchor t o people or roles? I mplicat ions f or web-based RE? • ♦ Heaps of j unk? Best f or? Real dist rib? Page 13

That ’s All Folks... Pr epar e f or bat t le............. • Page 14