We report on a study of procurement processes in a large organization. The purpose of the study w... more We report on a study of procurement processes in a large organization. The purpose of the study was to identify problems in the organization's procurement processes and to suggest improvement actions. Procurement processes determine the characteristics of software processes. Procurement processes are themselves complex and amenable to process technology. Cost and scheduling benefits can be realised if procurement and contracting organizations integrate their respective processes.
Abstract Networked organisations promote distributed and dynamic working arrangements. One of the... more Abstract Networked organisations promote distributed and dynamic working arrangements. One of the largest problems they face is the reconfiguration of their personnel, a problem compounded by changing roles and commitments. This problem is especially rife when systems and software are engineered both in and for such organisations.
Objective This paper describes a new, simple and practical method for assessing our confidence in... more Objective This paper describes a new, simple and practical method for assessing our confidence in a set of requirements. Method We identified four confidence factors and used a goal oriented framework with a simple ordinal scale to develop a method for assessing confidence. We illustrate the method and show how it has been applied to a real systems development project.
Abstract Our objective is to provide automated support for assisting designers in fixing inconsis... more Abstract Our objective is to provide automated support for assisting designers in fixing inconsistencies in UML models. We have previously developed techniques for efficiently detecting inconsistencies in such models and identifying where changes need to occur in order to fix problems detected by these means.
Abstract We present a new approach to assessing requirements stability as a contribution to the b... more Abstract We present a new approach to assessing requirements stability as a contribution to the building of more stable long lifetime systems. A goal-based model is used to analyze the requirements in a number of possible future worlds described by scenarios of the possible future environment of the system.
Abstract In ICSE'08 we demonstrated the Java UML Lightweight Enumerator (JULE) tool, which suppor... more Abstract In ICSE'08 we demonstrated the Java UML Lightweight Enumerator (JULE) tool, which supports compliance test generation from modeling standards specifications. When employed in our framework for software tool certification, JULE provides a powerful technology to enumerate a set of test cases that exhaustively test a modeling tool. JULE avoids combinatorial explosion by generating test cases only up to non-isomorphism.
Abstract Requirements elicitation is the software engineering activity in which stakeholder needs... more Abstract Requirements elicitation is the software engineering activity in which stakeholder needs are understood. It involves identifying and prioritizing requirements-a process difficult to scale to large software projects with many stakeholders. This paper proposes StakeRare, a novel method that uses social networks and collaborative filtering to identify and prioritize requirements in large software projects.
Abstract This report documents the program and the outcomes of Dagstuhl Seminar 12091``Principles... more Abstract This report documents the program and the outcomes of Dagstuhl Seminar 12091``Principles of Provenance''. The term``provenance''refers to information about the origin, context, derivation, ownership or history of some artifact. In both art and science, provenance information is crucial for establishing the value of a real-world artifact, guaranteeing for example that the artifact is an original work produced by an important artist, or that a stated scientific conclusion is reproducible.
Abstract Requirements engineering for multiple customers, each of whom have competing and often c... more Abstract Requirements engineering for multiple customers, each of whom have competing and often conflicting priorities, raises issues of negotiation, mediation and conflict resolution. This paper uses a multi-objective optimisation approach to support investigation of the trade-offs in various notions of fairness between multiple customers. Results are presented to validate the approach using two real-world data sets and also using data sets created specifically to stress test the approach.
Abstract This paper uses a multi-objective optimisation approach to support investigation of the ... more Abstract This paper uses a multi-objective optimisation approach to support investigation of the trade-offs in various notions of fairness between multiple customers. Results are presented to validate the approach using two real-world data sets and also using data sets created specifically to stress test the approach. Simple graphical techniques are used to visualize the solution space.
The selection process is a crucial activity of the development of COTS-based systems. A key step ... more The selection process is a crucial activity of the development of COTS-based systems. A key step of the evaluation of COTS components carried out during selection is the matching between user requirements and COTS features. We propose a goal-based approach to guide the matching process, using quality models for leveraging goals and COTS features. The different mismatch situations that may arise are reasoned by means of exploratory scenarios. We demonstrate the approach with the mail server case study.
Abstract The underlying model of distributed systems is that of loosely coupled components runnin... more Abstract The underlying model of distributed systems is that of loosely coupled components running in parallel and communicating by message passing. Description, construction and evolution of these systems is facilitated by separating the system structure, as a set of components and their interconnections, from the functional description of individual component behaviour. The Conic environment for distributed programming supports this model.
Abstract The emerging trends for e-business engineering revolve around specialisation and coopera... more Abstract The emerging trends for e-business engineering revolve around specialisation and cooperation. Successful companies focus on their core competencies and rely on a network of business partners for the support services required to compose a comprehensive offer for their customers. Modularity is crucial for a flexible e-business infrastructure, but related requirements seldom reflect on the design and operational models of business information systems.
ABSTRACT The European Grid of Solar Observations (EGSO) is a project to develop a virtual observa... more ABSTRACT The European Grid of Solar Observations (EGSO) is a project to develop a virtual observatory for the solar physics community. Like all such projects, a vital component is a schema that adequately describes the data in the distributed data sets. Here, we discuss the schema in general terms, and present a draft example of a portion of a possible XML schema. Keywords: virtual observatories, XML schema, distributed archives, solar data description
The development of most large and complex systems necessarily involves many people—each with thei... more The development of most large and complex systems necessarily involves many people—each with their own perspectives on the system defined by their knowledge, responsibilities, and commitments. To address this we have advocated distributed development of specifications from multiple perspectives. However, this leads to problems of identifying and handling inconsistencies between such perspectives. Maintaining absolute consistency is not always possible.
EOOWS (European workshop on Object Orientation and Web Services) brought together the academic an... more EOOWS (European workshop on Object Orientation and Web Services) brought together the academic and the industrial perspective on Web Services. Specific results presented by the workshop participants and the broad experience of the invited speakers provided the base for a lively discussion on the challenges and potentials of service-oriented computing in relation to object-oriented technologies and methodologies.
Despite the growing literature on this topic almost no independent critical analysis or evaluatio... more Despite the growing literature on this topic almost no independent critical analysis or evaluation has been available. This paper attempts to fill that gap. In particular we will be reflecting on experience with the Marvel environment from Columbia University. Marvel is the paradigm case of the software process modelling approach to building software development environments. In this paper we examine Marvel's strengths and limitations and look in detail at a small example of its use.
There is an urgent need to provide a sound generic framework for method and tool integration, whe... more There is an urgent need to provide a sound generic framework for method and tool integration, where many differing notations are used, software development is distributed and management support for the software development process is provided. This paper argues that there is much to be learnt from proven practical techniques for software construction, particularly those that support distributed software integration, heterogeneity and software management.
Abstract Software engineering has made significant contributions toengineering-in-the-large'. The... more Abstract Software engineering has made significant contributions toengineering-in-the-large'. The nature of the software process has been researched, and computer-based tools and environments have been built to support this process. Other more established engineering disciplines, such as instrument design, have developed professional practices, mature mathematical frameworks for system modelling and accepted quality standards lacking in software engineering.
We report on a study of procurement processes in a large organization. The purpose of the study w... more We report on a study of procurement processes in a large organization. The purpose of the study was to identify problems in the organization's procurement processes and to suggest improvement actions. Procurement processes determine the characteristics of software processes. Procurement processes are themselves complex and amenable to process technology. Cost and scheduling benefits can be realised if procurement and contracting organizations integrate their respective processes.
Abstract Networked organisations promote distributed and dynamic working arrangements. One of the... more Abstract Networked organisations promote distributed and dynamic working arrangements. One of the largest problems they face is the reconfiguration of their personnel, a problem compounded by changing roles and commitments. This problem is especially rife when systems and software are engineered both in and for such organisations.
Objective This paper describes a new, simple and practical method for assessing our confidence in... more Objective This paper describes a new, simple and practical method for assessing our confidence in a set of requirements. Method We identified four confidence factors and used a goal oriented framework with a simple ordinal scale to develop a method for assessing confidence. We illustrate the method and show how it has been applied to a real systems development project.
Abstract Our objective is to provide automated support for assisting designers in fixing inconsis... more Abstract Our objective is to provide automated support for assisting designers in fixing inconsistencies in UML models. We have previously developed techniques for efficiently detecting inconsistencies in such models and identifying where changes need to occur in order to fix problems detected by these means.
Abstract We present a new approach to assessing requirements stability as a contribution to the b... more Abstract We present a new approach to assessing requirements stability as a contribution to the building of more stable long lifetime systems. A goal-based model is used to analyze the requirements in a number of possible future worlds described by scenarios of the possible future environment of the system.
Abstract In ICSE'08 we demonstrated the Java UML Lightweight Enumerator (JULE) tool, which suppor... more Abstract In ICSE'08 we demonstrated the Java UML Lightweight Enumerator (JULE) tool, which supports compliance test generation from modeling standards specifications. When employed in our framework for software tool certification, JULE provides a powerful technology to enumerate a set of test cases that exhaustively test a modeling tool. JULE avoids combinatorial explosion by generating test cases only up to non-isomorphism.
Abstract Requirements elicitation is the software engineering activity in which stakeholder needs... more Abstract Requirements elicitation is the software engineering activity in which stakeholder needs are understood. It involves identifying and prioritizing requirements-a process difficult to scale to large software projects with many stakeholders. This paper proposes StakeRare, a novel method that uses social networks and collaborative filtering to identify and prioritize requirements in large software projects.
Abstract This report documents the program and the outcomes of Dagstuhl Seminar 12091``Principles... more Abstract This report documents the program and the outcomes of Dagstuhl Seminar 12091``Principles of Provenance''. The term``provenance''refers to information about the origin, context, derivation, ownership or history of some artifact. In both art and science, provenance information is crucial for establishing the value of a real-world artifact, guaranteeing for example that the artifact is an original work produced by an important artist, or that a stated scientific conclusion is reproducible.
Abstract Requirements engineering for multiple customers, each of whom have competing and often c... more Abstract Requirements engineering for multiple customers, each of whom have competing and often conflicting priorities, raises issues of negotiation, mediation and conflict resolution. This paper uses a multi-objective optimisation approach to support investigation of the trade-offs in various notions of fairness between multiple customers. Results are presented to validate the approach using two real-world data sets and also using data sets created specifically to stress test the approach.
Abstract This paper uses a multi-objective optimisation approach to support investigation of the ... more Abstract This paper uses a multi-objective optimisation approach to support investigation of the trade-offs in various notions of fairness between multiple customers. Results are presented to validate the approach using two real-world data sets and also using data sets created specifically to stress test the approach. Simple graphical techniques are used to visualize the solution space.
The selection process is a crucial activity of the development of COTS-based systems. A key step ... more The selection process is a crucial activity of the development of COTS-based systems. A key step of the evaluation of COTS components carried out during selection is the matching between user requirements and COTS features. We propose a goal-based approach to guide the matching process, using quality models for leveraging goals and COTS features. The different mismatch situations that may arise are reasoned by means of exploratory scenarios. We demonstrate the approach with the mail server case study.
Abstract The underlying model of distributed systems is that of loosely coupled components runnin... more Abstract The underlying model of distributed systems is that of loosely coupled components running in parallel and communicating by message passing. Description, construction and evolution of these systems is facilitated by separating the system structure, as a set of components and their interconnections, from the functional description of individual component behaviour. The Conic environment for distributed programming supports this model.
Abstract The emerging trends for e-business engineering revolve around specialisation and coopera... more Abstract The emerging trends for e-business engineering revolve around specialisation and cooperation. Successful companies focus on their core competencies and rely on a network of business partners for the support services required to compose a comprehensive offer for their customers. Modularity is crucial for a flexible e-business infrastructure, but related requirements seldom reflect on the design and operational models of business information systems.
ABSTRACT The European Grid of Solar Observations (EGSO) is a project to develop a virtual observa... more ABSTRACT The European Grid of Solar Observations (EGSO) is a project to develop a virtual observatory for the solar physics community. Like all such projects, a vital component is a schema that adequately describes the data in the distributed data sets. Here, we discuss the schema in general terms, and present a draft example of a portion of a possible XML schema. Keywords: virtual observatories, XML schema, distributed archives, solar data description
The development of most large and complex systems necessarily involves many people—each with thei... more The development of most large and complex systems necessarily involves many people—each with their own perspectives on the system defined by their knowledge, responsibilities, and commitments. To address this we have advocated distributed development of specifications from multiple perspectives. However, this leads to problems of identifying and handling inconsistencies between such perspectives. Maintaining absolute consistency is not always possible.
EOOWS (European workshop on Object Orientation and Web Services) brought together the academic an... more EOOWS (European workshop on Object Orientation and Web Services) brought together the academic and the industrial perspective on Web Services. Specific results presented by the workshop participants and the broad experience of the invited speakers provided the base for a lively discussion on the challenges and potentials of service-oriented computing in relation to object-oriented technologies and methodologies.
Despite the growing literature on this topic almost no independent critical analysis or evaluatio... more Despite the growing literature on this topic almost no independent critical analysis or evaluation has been available. This paper attempts to fill that gap. In particular we will be reflecting on experience with the Marvel environment from Columbia University. Marvel is the paradigm case of the software process modelling approach to building software development environments. In this paper we examine Marvel's strengths and limitations and look in detail at a small example of its use.
There is an urgent need to provide a sound generic framework for method and tool integration, whe... more There is an urgent need to provide a sound generic framework for method and tool integration, where many differing notations are used, software development is distributed and management support for the software development process is provided. This paper argues that there is much to be learnt from proven practical techniques for software construction, particularly those that support distributed software integration, heterogeneity and software management.
Abstract Software engineering has made significant contributions toengineering-in-the-large'. The... more Abstract Software engineering has made significant contributions toengineering-in-the-large'. The nature of the software process has been researched, and computer-based tools and environments have been built to support this process. Other more established engineering disciplines, such as instrument design, have developed professional practices, mature mathematical frameworks for system modelling and accepted quality standards lacking in software engineering.
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Papers by Anthony Finkelstein