For interactive systems, usage models are an important component of the requirements specification. In the spirit of agile methods and “just enough" written communication, well-understood user activities might be communicated by XP user stories and subsequent discussions. In cloudier areas, more details should be written to reduce the risk of misunderstanding. This paper describes nine techniqu...

The design of components for open and distributed systems is challenging the software community with its specific problems. One of the current approaches is based on a reflective model that uses standard, independent, composible meta-components (controllers) to coordinate components and modify their behavior according to the user requirements. This paper introduces a methodology for the develop...

The processes of eliciting user requirements and formalising these into specifications are critical for the success of highly interactive systems. These processes are still poorly understood, partly because current methods are usually ad hoc and lack any theoretical basis. A number of researchers have used Activity Theory (AT) to refine these processes and have met with some success. To date, t...

In this paper, we describe a case study of computer-supported collaborative learning in design using FM (FlashMeeting), a Web-based video-conferencing tool offered freely on OpenLearn. This 6-week experiment, involving Open University students and staff, aimed to explore the capabilities of FM software to support several phases of the design process including formulating a design brief, discove...

A formal specification is beyond the comprehension of the average software customer. As a result, the customer cannot provide useful feedback regarding its correctness and completeness. To address this problem, we suggest the formalism expert to work with the customer to create precise scenarios. A precise scenario describes an operation by its effects on the system state with only a few simple...

In the 52-page document, we describe our approach to the Software Requirements Specification of the IUfA's UUIS prototype. This includes the overall system description, functional requirements, non-functional requirements, use cases, the corresponding data dictionary for all entities involved, mock user interface (UI) design, and the overall projected cost estimate. The design specification of ...

The User Requirements Notation (URN) combines the Goaloriented Requirement Language (GRL) with the Use Case Map (UCM) scenario notation. Although tools exist in isolation for both views, they are currently not meant to work together, hence preventing one to exploit URN to its fullest extent. This paper presents jUCMNav, a new Eclipse-based tool that supports both UCM and GRL in an integrated wa...

Requirements specification has only recently been acknowledged as one of the most important phases in the overall software life cycle. Since the statement of a complete and consistent set of requirements involves user participation, our approach investigates how user oriented formalisms and techniques could be employed for the specification and capturing of requirements. We propose the use of r...

Developing requirements from a group of analysts and system users is a difficult task. In addition to the usual problems of individual requirements acquisition, group requirements acquisition entails conflict detection, resolution generation, and resolution choice. In essence, requirements must be negotiated. In this paper, we summarize our model for requirements negotiation and its automated s...

M a y / J u n e 2 0 0 0 I E E E S O F T W A R E 37 between the user-requirements specification and the software-requirements specification, mandating complete documentation of each according to various rules. Other cases emphasize this distinction less. For instance, some groups at Microsoft argue that the difficulty of keeping a technical specification consistent with the program is more troub...