Literature Review

Towards a semantic requirements specification

Literature Review

The success of software can be measured from the extent to which it meets its intended purpose. For instance, according to Nuseiben and Easterbrook [7] software requirements engineering (RE) can be broadly termed as the process aimed to discover their intended purpose, through identification of the stakeholders and their needs followed by their subsequent documentation in a form that can be easily analysed, communicated, and subsequently implemented. By ensuring that all these elements are appropriately managed, the process of software development becomes a successful and interesting task.

Chakraborty et al. [2] and Kandt [4] notes that prior to any software development process, the need to put more emphasis on the technical practices and the Software Development Life Cycle steps in order to ensure efficiency. These sentiments are also echoed by Paetsch, Eberlein and Maurer [8] and Hofmann and Lehner [3], who reiterates on the importance of software requirements engineering methods analysis prior to the actual process of software development as an important factor for successful software development projects. There is also the need to work with customers in the process of system requirements discovery in order to avoid unwarranted costs and schedule overruns [1].

Furthermore, there is a need for formal model-based approaches in software requirements engineering in order to ensure that there is connection between various types of elements that contribute to the design [6, 9]. Selberg and Mark [9] further reiterate that interconnectedness of all elements involved in software requirements engineering and design should always be ensured while at the same time maintaining a particular model or approach in order to achieve successful output. The need for this interconnectedness is attributable to the fact that there is dependency between various elements involved meaning no particular element can work in isolation (6, 9].

Moreover, Lohmann et al. [5] note that linked data, semantic interoperability, and a shared conceptual foundation are significantly important prerequisites in the development of software, especially those characterized by a significant numbers of stakeholders, spatial dispersion, and development tools heterogeneity. This is mainly caused by the fact that, whenever stakeholders are many and development tools are heterogeneous, diversity sets in implying the need for appropriate management of this situation mostly using semantic interoperability, shared conceptual foundation and linked data for a successful process of software development [5].

Related works

There are several related works that are closely related to this topic and they include “Using Domain Ontology as Domain Knowledge for Requirements Elicitation” authored by Haruhiko Kaiya and Motoshi Saeki (2006) which describe domain knowledge as a crucial factor for high quality requirements elicitation success. The ORE (Ontology based Requirements Elicitation) method of requirements elicitation is the one proposed by authors of this work where a domain ontology plays a role on semantic domain thereby using a semantic function to give requirements statements meanings. The second related work is “Towards a Multiple Ontology Framework for Requirements Elicitation and Reuse” authored by Li Zong-yong, Wand Zhi-xue, Yang Ying-ying, Wu Yue, and Liu Ying (2007) and it reiterates that correct and unambiguous elicitation of system requirements, approach based methods must be the way to be used by researchers study and develop ontologies. In this work, the authors also assert that adoption of the single ontology schema is essential since it utilizes a global ontology in describing static knowledge regarding to all domains.

Moreover, the third related work is “Towards Semantic based Requirements Engineering” authored by Thomas Riechert, Kim Lauenroth, Jens Lehmann, and Sören Auer (2007) where the authors note that establishment of common terminologies as well as scenarios, requirements and goals expressed using the established terminologies should be the first step when a software development project involves different stakeholders. The authors also reported emergence of various standards for terminologies creation and use within the Semantic Web initiative, expressed in the shape of taxonomies, semantic networks and ontologies. The fourth related work is “Ontology-based Reasoning in Requirements Elicitation” authored by Atsushi Ohnishi and Dang Viet Dzung (2009) where an ontology-based reasoning method is introduced by authors for requirements elicitation. The authors of this works assert that an ontology structure should be started containing knowledge of relations among them and functional requirements.

References

[1] Bahill, Terry, Bo Bentz and Frank Dean, “Discovering System Requirements”. Sandia Report, SAND96-1620; UC-706, 1996.

[2] Chakraborty, Abhijit, Mrinal Kanti Baowaly, Ashraful Arefin and Ali Newaz Bahar, “The Role of Requirement Engineering in Software Development Life Cycle”. Journal of Emerging Trends in Computing and Information Sciences, 3(5): 2012, pp. 723-729.

[3] Hofmann, Hubert and Franz Lehner, “Requirements Engineering as a Success Factor in Software Projects”. IEEE Software, 2001.

[4] Kandt, Ronald Kirk, “Software Requirements Engineering: Practices and Techniques”. SQI Report R-3; JPL Document D-24994, 2003.

[5] Lohmann, Steffen, Phillip Heim, Soren Auer, Sebastian Dietzold, and Thomas Riechert, “Semantifying Requirements Engineering- The SoftWiki Approach”. Proceedings of I-SEMANTICS ’08; Graz, Austria, September 3-5, 2008.

[6] Mayank, Vimal, Kositsyna Natalya and Austin Mark, “Requirements Engineering and the Semantic Web: Part II. Representation, Management and Validation of Requirements and System-Level Architectures,” ISR Technical Report 2004-14, 2004.

[7] Nuseiben, Bashar and Steve Easterbrook, “Requirements Engineering: A Roadmap”, 2001.

[8] Paetsch, Frauke, Armin Eberlein, and Frank Maurer, “Requirements Engineering and Agile Software Development”, Proceedings of the Twelfth IEEE International Workshops on Enabling Technologies: Infrastructure for Collaborative Enterprises (WETICE’03); 1080-1383/03, 2003.

[9] Selberg, Sam and Austin Mark, “Requirements Engineering and the Semantic Web,” ISR Technical Report 2003-20, 2003.