Taxonomy Of Requirements Research Articles

Metadata functional requirements for genomic data practice and curation

Introduction. The rapid accumulation of genomic data and their widespread reuse in clinical and scientific practice demands more effective description and organization of genomic information, which poses new challenges in developing metadata schemas. Based on a previously developed taxonomy of metadata requirements, this paper reports the results from a survey that addresses these new challenges. Method. The survey gathered empirical data from 156 genomics scientists to identify context-sensitive metadata functional models for genome curation. The study further investigated the metadata elements from four well-known genomic metadata schemes against the functional requirements for genome metadata. Analysis. The survey data were employed the statistical package STATA, to produce descriptive statistics, factor analysis, Fisher’s exact test, and related reports. Results. Analysis of the empirical results revealed that genomics scientists recognize specific sets of criteria for metadata needs in the genome-curation context. Twenty one metadata requirements were reduced to five factor constructs. The ranking of these constructs in decreasing order is: portability, reusability, manipulability, sufficiency, interoperability, extensibility, and modularity. The Fisher exact test results revealed that the genomic community required rich context and technical related metadata elements to facilitate data exchanges and experimental operations in genome curation. Conclusion. The findings indicated that genomics scientists developed metadata to meet the needs in genome curation activities related to data wrangling, integrations across platforms and databases, and data reuse. Architectural layout as flat file needs extra administrative metadata to support data sharing and documentation. The resulting metadata requirement model can serve as valuable resources to genome scientists, data curators and administrators for designing metadata schema and developing data-curation policies.

The Study on Security in Internet of Things (IoT)

The Internet of Things, or IoT, has received a lot of attention lately since it has drastically altered human existence. In a wide range of applications, including smart buildings, smart health, smart transportation, and more, the Internet of Things facilitates the sharing of information or data. Sensitive information that may be disclosed is interchangeable among billions of interconnected objects. Thus, maintaining user privacy and bolstering IoT security present a significant issue. This paper aims to provide an in-depth analysis of IoT security. A taxonomy of security requirements depending on the objectives of the attacks is proposed after a number of IoT security threats are studied. In addition, current security solutions are categorised and characterised according to their use cases. In the end, open research directions and security issues are talked about. Keyword: Internet of Things (IOT), Wireless Sensor, Security, Privacy, Issues Networks.

Field BIM and mobile BIM technologies: a requirements taxonomy and its interactions with construction management functions

Purpose This study aims to develop a taxonomy of requirements for mobile BIM technologies (MBT), clarify the relating terms and concepts, and identify the interactions between MBT features and the construction management functions on sites. Design/methodology/approach A positivist approach with elements of interpretivism is adopted to allow to capture what is perceived as “reality” in relation to individuals’ interpretation and experience in the use and implementation of MBT. This is achieved by using a mixed qualitative-quantitative approach that can capture the various understandings of MBT. The research methods included a longitudinal case study over 12 months, two project workshops, expert interviews and an industry survey that together helped to investigate MBT at project, enterprise and industry levels. Findings The MBT requirements taxonomy included requirements relating to both project and organisation. Project requirements addressed MBT functionalities for sites and information management, while organisation requirements focused on the integration of MBT solutions with the enterprise from information technology, legal and security perspectives. A detailed matrix showing the interactions between five key MBT features and seven construction management functions was also developed. Research limitations/implications The two constructs developed by this study can help researchers to structure their investigation of key uses of MBT applications and their benefits. It can be used by researchers aiming to investigate integrated approaches to the digitalisation of construction sites, such as those enabled by Digital Twins. The interaction matrix can aid researchers in evaluating the intersections between the MBT functionalities and the site construction management functions (e.g. theoretical analysis of interactions from Lean Construction, benefit evaluation perspective). More broadly, the two constructs can support research and practice investigating the development of data-driven approaches on construction sites. Practical implications The developed MBT taxonomy can guide construction organisations in selecting suitable MBT for Field BIM for their projects. It can also act as a baseline against which varying MBT solutions can be compared. Originality/value Constructs such as taxonomies for MBTs; an understanding of MBT capabilities and use within the industry; and a lack of delineation between related terms, such as Mobile BIM, Field BIM, Site BIM, Cloud BIM and Mobile Apps, were lacking in the literature. This study contributed to addressing this gap.

A Survey on Requirements of Future Intelligent Networks: Solutions and Future Research Directions

The context of this study examines the requirements of Future Intelligent Networks (FIN), solutions, and current research directions through a survey technique. The background of this study is hinged on the applications of Machine Learning (ML) in the networking field. Through careful analysis of literature and real-world reports, we noted that ML has significantly expedited decision-making processes, enhanced intelligent automation, and helped resolve complex problems economically in different fields of life. Various researchers have also envisioned future networks incorporating intelligent functions and operations with ML. Several efforts have been made to automate individual functions and operations in the networking domain; however, most of the existing ML models proposed in the literature lack several vital requirements. Hence, this study aims to present a comprehensive summary of the requirements of FIN and propose a taxonomy of different network functionalities that needs to be equipped with ML techniques. The core objectives of this study are to provide a taxonomy of requirements envisioned for end-to-end FIN, relevant ML techniques, and their analysis to find research gaps, open issues, and future research directions. The real benefit of ML applications in any domain can only be ensured if intelligent capabilities cover all of its components. We observed that future generations of networks are heterogeneous, multi-vendor, and multidimensional, and ML can provide optimal results only if intelligent capabilities are used on a holistic scale. Realizing intelligence on a holistic scale is only possible if the ML algorithms can solve heterogeneous problems in a multi-vendor and multidimensional environment. ML models must be reliable and efficient, support, and possess the capability to learn and share the knowledge across the network layers and administrative domains to solve issues. First, this study ascertains the requirements of the FIN and proposes their taxonomy through reviews on envisioned ideas by various researchers and articles gathered from reputed conferences and standard developing organizations using keyword queries. Second, we have reviewed existing studies on ML applications focusing on coverage, heterogeneity, distributed architecture, and cross-domain knowledge learning and sharing. Our study observed that in the past, ML applications were focused mainly on an individual/isolated level only, and aspects of global and deep holistic learning with cross-layer/cross-domain knowledge sharing with agile ML operations are not explored at large. We recommend that the issues mentioned previously be addressed with improved ML architecture and agile operations and propose an ML pipeline based architecture for FIN. The significant contribution of this study is the impetus for researchers to seek ML models suitable for a modular, distributed, multi-domain, and multi-layer environment and provide decision making on a global or holistic rather than an individual function level.

Factors Influencing the Acceptance of Online Mobile Auctions using User-Centered Agile Software Development: An Early Technology Acceptance Model

e-Commerce is booming everywhere, and Saudi Arabia is no exception. However, the adoption and prevalence of online mobile auctions (aka m-auction) remain unsatisfying in Saudi Arabia and the MENA region. This paper uncovers the enabling factors and hindering barriers against the use of mobile auctions by online consumers. To this end, a multiphase mixed methods design is applied to acquire an in-depth understanding of online mobile bidding or auctioning attitudes and practices of the Saudi auctioneers and bidders. Initially, an interactive mobile auction app was developed by applying the principles of user-centered agile software development (UCASD) methodology, which incorporated several design iterations based on feedback from 454 real users. The mobile auction requirements were collected using a mix of research methods, including a survey, focus groups, prototyping, and user testing. The UCASD methodology positively influenced the early evidence-based adoption and use of mobile auctions in the Saudi market. Subsequently, three consecutive focus groups were conducted with another 22 participants to induce further insights regarding the antecedents impacting the intention to embrace online auctions using mobile phones. A taxonomy of requirements coupled with thematic analysis of the discussions gave rise to 13 influential factors of mobile auctions, namely risk, quality of products, trust, ubiquity, usefulness, access to valuable products, ease of use, age, social influence, monetary costs, enjoyment, past experience, and facilitating conditions. Our inductive approach resulted in an early technology acceptance model of mobile auctions. We conclude by reflecting on the challenges observed to suggest some practical guidelines to pave the way for other researchers in this promising area to carry out experimental studies to ameliorate the proposed model.

MODELING OF THE SYSTEM OF MONITORING AND ANALYSIS OF INFORMATION OF ELECTRONIC MEDIA BY METHODS OF MODEL BASED SYSTEM ENGINEERING

When developing any information system, an extremely important stage of its life cycle is the design or modeling stage. Among the existing approaches to the design of information systems, such as, for example, the “classic” development of UML diagrams using a unified modeling language, the model-oriented systems engineering approach, focused on building models, is gaining popularity. Purpose of the study. Consider modeling a system for monitoring and analyzing electronic media information using the methods of model-oriented system engineering. Research methods and tools. It is proposed to use the toolkit of the system-oriented design methodology, focused on the creation and use of models of different degrees of detail at different stages of design. The application of models of hierarchical decomposition of entities is presented on the example of typical essential characteristics of artificial systems: requirements for the system, system functions, system components (subsystems), work on creating a system. A regular method for constructing and consistently expanding architectural models of products is described, on the basis of which models of hierarchical taxonomy of functional requirements for the system, key functions, and components of the system core are built. Based on hierarchical taxonomy models, a model for matching requirements and functions and a model for matching functions and system components are built. Results. The developed models clearly show the relationship of system components, requirements, functions and modules with each other. The approach used makes it possible to detail the presentation of the system based on its decomposition into subsystems and on the basis of taking into account the essential characteristics. All this makes it possible to streamline the sequence of stages of creating a system and decompose them into separate stages of work. Conclusion. The results obtained in the course of the conducted research make it possible to proceed to the next stage of the life cycle of the information system being developed – its software development.

PROFILE-ORIENTED ASSESSMENT OF SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS QUALITY: MODELS, METRICS, CASE STUDY

The article is devoted to profile-oriented approach to assessing the software requirements profile quality. The process of assessment is implemented in accordance with software requirements profile quality model for external quality of software requirements profile and internal quality of software requirements profile. For assessment of quality of each element of such model (characteristics and attributes of software requirements and their classification features; characteristics and attributes of software requirements profile and their classification features; structure of software requirements profile; semantics and syntax of software requirements) taxonomy of metrics and indicators are introduced, which is a part of software requirements profile quality assessment model. All metrics are divided into qualitative and quantitative groups. Additive convolution method is used to go from the multi-vector values of set of connected indicators or metrics to the single scalar value. Received values of metrics and indicators are visualized by radial-metrics diagrams. An example is discussed, which represents the assessment of external quality of software requirements profile for requirements profile from new standard “Requirements to computer security of NPP Instrumentation and Control Systems (NPP I&C)” developed by Ukrainian state regulatory body.

Blockchain and the Industrial Internet of Things

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the suitability of Blockchain technology for applications in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT). It provides a taxonomy of system requirements for such applications and maps these requirements against the Blockchain’s technological idiosyncrasies.Design/methodology/approachA requirement taxonomy is built in an iterative process based on a descriptive literature review. In total, 223 studies have been screened leading to a relevant sample of 48 publications that were analyzed in detail regarding posed system requirements. Subsequently, Blockchain’s capabilities are discussed for each requirement dimension.FindingsThe paper presents a taxonomy of six requirement dimensions. In the mapping process, areas of greater fit (e.g., reliability, nonrepudiation and adaptability) were identified. However, there are also several constraints (e.g., scalability, confidentiality and performance) that limit the use of Blockchain.Research limitations/implicationsDue to the limited amount of studies and the vibrant development of Blockchain technology, the results may benefit from practical evidence. Researchers are encouraged to validate the results in qualitative practitioner interviews. Focusing on literature-backed public Blockchain, idiosyncrasies of private implementations and specific distributed ledger technologies may be discussed in future studies.Practical implicationsThe paper includes use cases for Blockchain in manufacturing and IIOT applications. Potential caveats for practitioners are presented.Originality/valueThis paper addresses the need to understand to which degree Blockchain is a suitable technology in manufacturing, especially in context of the IIOT. It contributes a requirement taxonomy which serves as the foundation for a systematic fit assessment.

A Goal-oriented Requirement Analysis Approach for the Selection of Data Mining Techniques for Non-Expert Users

The application of data mining techniques for obtaining knowledge has historically required the intervention of experts to obtain satisfactory results. This paper presents a solution proposal for the complex topic of identifying the requirements of non-expert users when trying to perform data mining techniques. The modeling language for objective-oriented requirements analysis i * (i star) has been used to facilitate the use of a taxonomy of requirements. As a result, it is intended that nonexpert users can represent their requirements without having relevant knowledge of data mining techniques. The application in a case study allows as proof of concept, validate the proposed model.

Monitoring self-adaptive applications within edge computing frameworks: A state-of-the-art review

Recently, a promising trend has evolved from previous centralized computation to decentralized edge computing in the proximity of end-users to provide cloud applications. To ensure the Quality of Service (QoS) of such applications and Quality of Experience (QoE) for the end-users, it is necessary to employ a comprehensive monitoring approach. Requirement analysis is a key software engineering task in the whole lifecycle of applications; however, the requirements for monitoring systems within edge computing scenarios are not yet fully established. The goal of the present survey study is therefore threefold: to identify the main challenges in the field of monitoring edge computing applications that are as yet not fully solved; to present a new taxonomy of monitoring requirements for adaptive applications orchestrated upon edge computing frameworks; and to discuss and compare the use of widely-used cloud monitoring technologies to assure the performance of these applications. Our analysis shows that none of existing widely-used cloud monitoring tools yet provides an integrated monitoring solution within edge computing frameworks. Moreover, some monitoring requirements have not been thoroughly met by any of them.

Computer-Aided Identification and Validation of Intervenability Requirements

Privacy as a software quality is becoming more important these days and should not be underestimated during the development of software that processes personal data. The privacy goal of intervenability, in contrast to unlinkability (including anonymity and pseudonymity), has so far received little attention in research. Intervenability aims for the empowerment of end-users by keeping their personal data and how it is processed by the software system under their control. Several surveys have pointed out that the lack of intervenability options is a central privacy concern of end-users. In this paper, we systematically assess the privacy goal of intervenability and set up a software requirements taxonomy that relates the identified intervenability requirements with a taxonomy of transparency requirements. Furthermore, we provide a tool-supported method to identify intervenability requirements from the functional requirements of a software system. This tool-supported method provides the means to elicit and validate intervenability requirements in a computer-aided way. Our combined taxonomy of intervenability and transparency requirements gives a detailed view on the privacy goal of intervenability and its relation to transparency. We validated the completeness of our taxonomy by comparing it to the relevant literature that we derived based on a systematic literature review. The proposed method for the identification of intervenability requirements shall support requirements engineers to elicit and document intervenability requirements in compliance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation.

Reducing Excess Requirements Through Orthogonal Categorizations During Problem Formulation: Results of a Factorial Experiment

Problem formulation lays at the heart of systems engineering. While an over-constrained solution space may yield no satisficing solution affordably, properly defined solution spaces may enable developing solutions with high levels of affordability. Therefore, effective requirement elicitation from stakeholder needs is key to achieve a proper definition of the problem to be solved. Categorizing requirements according to predefined taxonomies is an inherent part of this activity and they are as diverse as engineering industries are. Conventional approaches, which use a designer-perspective, a contractual perspective, or a combination of both, facilitate the generation of excess facilitate the generation of excess requirements during requirements elicitation due to promoted design biases and overlaps between the different categories. In order to mitigate those problems, orthogonal, system-centric categorization methods have been proposed as a potential solution. Yet, research has not measured the influence of any type of requirement taxonomy on the effectiveness in defining solution spaces of maximum size, i.e., without excess requirements with respect to a given set of stakeholder needs. In order to fill in this gap, this paper presents the results of a factorial experiment involving systems engineering practitioners that compares the effectiveness in eliciting less excess requirements of an orthogonal, system-centric categorization method versus traditional ones.

UMA TAXONOMIA UNIFICADA PARA REQUISITOS NÃO FUNCIONAIS

The usefulness of a system is determined by its functionality and also by its characteristics such as security, reliability, usability, performance, among others. However, these non-functional characteristics typically receive little attention and are less understood that the functional ones and, in addition, the literature contains several classifications of requirements (RNF), making it more difficult the understanding of this type of requirement. This paper aims to propose a taxonomy for requirements (NFR) developed by unifying diverse taxonomies in the existing literature. The proposed taxonomy covers 90 RNF aspects, and can be used as a guideline during the elicitation of user requirements, a way of organizing the requirements, facilitating the verification and validation and even reuse of these requirements.

Battery electric vehicles – implications for the driver interface

The current study examines the human–machine interface of a battery electric vehicle (BEV) from a user-perspective, focussing on the evaluation of BEV-specific displays, the relevance of provided information and challenges for drivers due to the concept of electricity in a road vehicle. A sample of 40 users drove a BEV for 6 months. Data were gathered at three points of data collection. Participants perceived the BEV-specific displays as only moderately reliable and helpful for estimating the displayed parameters. This was even less the case after driving the BEV for 3 months. A taxonomy of user requirements was compiled revealing the need for improved and additional information, especially regarding energy consumption and efficiency. Drivers had difficulty understanding electrical units and the energy consumption of the BEV. On the background of general principles for display design, results provide implications how to display relevant information and how to facilitate drivers’ understanding of energy consumption in BEVs.Practitioner Summary: Battery electric vehicle (BEV) displays need to incorporate new information. A taxonomy of user requirements was compiled revealing the need for improved and additional information in the BEV interface. Furthermore, drivers had trouble understanding electrical units and energy consumption; therefore, appropriate assistance is required. Design principles which are specifically important in the BEV context are discussed.

Expansion and Practical Implementation of the MFC Cybersecurity Model via a Novel Security Requirements Taxonomy

In security risk management practices if we cannot measure, we can neither control nor improve. A challenging issue in the context of cyber security is to deal with the orthogonal classification of security requirements. A literature review has shown that there are different models of security requirements. Everyone examines some requirements and neglects others. In this paper, the authors intend to answer the question: what taxonomy of security requirements should we use in a security quantification process? It is thus imperative to build a standard, unified and hierarchical taxonomy which incorporates 13 security requirements and then refined in layer into 31 sub-factors referring to the variety of the proposed models based on previous works. The Mean Failure Cost model (MFC) is a recent, strong and structural risk management model. It is a cascade of linear models to quantify security threats in term of loss that results from system's vulnerabilities. It computes for each system's stakeholders his loss of operation ($/H) while taking account of its respective users, security requirements, system's components and the complete list of security threats. The proposed taxonomy is used to optimize quantification using the MFC metric by reducing the redundancy in estimating the security requirements values, and increasing accuracy in estimation. The authors applied the expansion of the MFC model to the context of e-learning platforms.

Developing a Novel Holistic Taxonomy of Security Requirements

Abstract Defining security requirements is of prime importance for all systems; we usually study the generic ones like confidentiality, integrity, availability, authentication, non-repudiation and privacy. It is thus imperative to evaluate all the possible extended requirements. A literature review has shown that there are various and different security requirements models, some of which are examined and others are neglected. Moreover, security lacks a unified taxonomy of security requirements. In this paper, we refer to the variety of security requirements models from the literature to drive an aggregate model and move away from the individualistic proposed taxonomy to a hierarchical and standard security requirement model. We define and propose a novel and holistic security requirement taxonomy at two levels of abstraction that incorporates 13 basic and standard requirements and then refined in layers into 31 security requirements sub-factors. These requirements are discussed in the open literature. Our taxonomy offers a good understanding of security constraints relevant to the system functions in the field of computer security. When it comes to decision making, it is recommended to establish which security measures should be relevant to the entire security requirements taxonomy.

A taxonomy for requirements engineering and software test alignment

Requirements Engineering and Software Testing are mature areas and have seen a lot of research. Nevertheless, their interactions have been sparsely explored beyond the concept of traceability. To fill this gap, we propose a definition of requirements engineering and software test (REST) alignment, a taxonomy that characterizes the methods linking the respective areas, and a process to assess alignment. The taxonomy can support researchers to identify new opportunities for investigation, as well as practitioners to compare alignment methods and evaluate alignment, or lack thereof. We constructed the REST taxonomy by analyzing alignment methods published in literature, iteratively validating the emerging dimensions. The resulting concept of an information dyad characterizes the exchange of information required for any alignment to take place. We demonstrate use of the taxonomy by applying it on five in-depth cases and illustrate angles of analysis on a set of thirteen alignment methods. In addition, we developed an assessment framework (REST-bench), applied it in an industrial assessment, and showed that it, with a low effort, can identify opportunities to improve REST alignment. Although we expect that the taxonomy can be further refined, we believe that the information dyad is a valid and useful construct to understand alignment.

Aligning Usability Requirements with the Accessibility Guidelines Focusing on the Visually-Impaired

The user interface should meet the expectations and needs of a variety of users. They should be accessible by any person, independently of their physical, perceptual-motor, social and cultural capabilities. The current research aims to show that the development of accessible Web applications goes beyond the design of sites in compliance with accessibility guidelines: usability issues should also be addressed. The interaction between visually-impaired persons and several sites was observed and the problems detected in this process, were analyzed. The analysis was based on a taxonomy of non-functional requirements related to usability. This taxonomy was aligned with the accessibility guidelines aiming to help professionals in the identification of accessibility and usability problems that may avoided or minimized during requirements planning, and thus, facilitate the interaction of visually-impaired users with the Internet and provide sites that offer content that is easy to understand and are easy to navigate.

From requirements to implementation of ad-hoc social Web applications: an empirical pattern-based approach

Social technologies are transforming the Web to a place where users actively contribute to content production and opinion making. At B2E level, enterprises look at social networking tools as possible means for improving their operations thanks to the unstructured interaction they foster among employees. This paper tackles the problem of defining a quick and pragmatic approach for specifying the requirements of ad-hoc social web applications and for going down to their implementation. The approach is motivated by the fact that in most cases the ad-hoc needs that the company foresees are just a peculiar subset of the large set of requirements that are addressed by current social platforms. The main contributions of this work include: the classification of the social interactions that can be observed in virtual communities in a comprehensive taxonomy of requirements (based on a broad analysis of the existing social networking platforms, considering both public and enterprise solutions); the definition of requirement specification as a selection process upon this taxonomy; and the mapping to design and implementation artifacts through automatic generation of design models and of running code. This is implemented through a set of pattern-based model transformations that transform the requirements (specified according to a goal-oriented methodology) to UML models and then to running Java code. A validation of the effectiveness of the approach is provided, in terms of percentage of hand-written code with respect to the parts that can be automatically obtained through the transformations.

Evaluating a Taxonomy for Mobility Requirements by a Controlled Experiment

Requirements taxonomies have been found useful in software requirements elicitation and specification, both for educational purposes and in practical usage, for instance, as checklists to ensure that important categories of requirements are not forgotten, and for guidance on how to write various types of requirements. While mobile information systems are becoming increasingly important, traditional requirements taxonomies do not have any category for mobility requirements. This paper reports on a controlled experiment where two groups of students both got the same excerpts of the well-known Volere requirements taxonomy, but for one treatment group the tutorial material was also extended with additional material on mobility requirements as a requirements category in its own right. Using the provided taxonomy material for guidance, the students were asked to write requirements for a system presented in a natural language case description; afterwards their output was analyzed to score the number and quality of requirements found by each student. The main finding was that the students using the extended taxonomy also found more requirements, but there was no significant difference in the quality of requirements between the two groups.