EFRASYS

An Evaluation Framework for Service-Oriented Requirements Engineering

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'EFRASYS aims to create new methodological frameworks for evaluating software development methods and techniques within the new discipline of Service-oriented Requirements Engineering (SoRE). The project will involve the following multidisciplinary research: (i) New and novel SoRE methods and techniques will be analyzed with the purpose of understanding their nature, assumptions, and principal associated features. (ii) Empirical software engineering methods will be applied to SoRE, through revision of existing empirical research techniques to identify potential uses and value, and production of a set of guidelines to combine empirical research techniques, for example simulation-based experiments, to suit the nature of services-oriented computing. (iii) Software measurement will be involved through definition of quantitative and qualitatively measurable attributes from service customer and provider perspectives. (iv) Theoretical disciplines such as ontology and cognitive psychology will be incorporated into the understanding of SoRE methods to complement the evaluation framework. EFRASYS will be developed within the IS Research Group of the University of Twente under the supervision of two prestigious researchers in their respective areas, namely Requirements Engineering and Sofware Measurement. The high quality of the host institution and supervisors as well as the complementary training and experience that will be provided, will allow her to attain career goals as senior researcher, professor and business consultant. EFRASYS is relevant to the Marie Curie Work Programme because it will allow the fellow to develop new research competences including the new service orientation computing paradigm, improve existing research competences at an advanced level in empirical software engineering and measurement and in related disciplines, and hone skills in lecturing, leadership, and industry-research collaboration.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

A large part of the software development market is focused on the delivery of services. Scientists have developed important tools to assess the applicability of software to various service sectors, addressing a critical need.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Engineering, in a broad sense, is the application of scientific and mathematical principles to the design and manufacture of practical systems. The emerging field of service-oriented requirements engineering (SoRE), in its logical extension, is the specification, analysis and validation (engineering) of services to be provided by software.

In general, the services refer to the wealth of web services available to software developers in a shift from commercial off-the-shelf software. However, choosing the best service to fit the user requirements from the many available is a challenging task. Evaluating SoRE methods for specific applications is currently lacking. Scientists initiated the EU-funded EFRASYS project to fill this gap, strengthen the effectiveness of SoRE methods and broaden their application domain.

The EFRASYS empirical evaluation framework developed within the context of the project combines theoretical (ontology- and cognitive psychology-based) and empirical (e.g. simulation-based) approaches. Groundwork also covered the analysis of novel SoRE methods, and the definition of quantitative and qualitative measures from both customer and provider perspectives. The resulting three-part framework will evaluate the suitability of an approach, changes in measures (quality attributes) due to paradigm changes and guidelines. The guidelines will cover the design and report of observational and experimental studies. Application to the home care domain enabled validation of the principles and further work will investigate applications in other areas.

EFRASYS has provided an important framework to evaluate the effectiveness and suitability of application of various SoRE methods to service-oriented sectors such as home care. Given the increasing popularity of service-oriented software, the framework has the potential to become an essential tool in the software developers' repertoire. Successful implementation will place the EU at the forefront of an exciting new race.