Managing Natural Language Requirements in Large-Scale Software Development
(2005) In Reports on Communication Systems- Abstract
- An increasing number of market- and technology-driven software development companies face the challenge of managing several thousands of requirements written in natural language. The large number of requirements causes bottlenecks in the requirements management process and calls for increased efficiency in requirements engineering.
This thesis presents results from empirical investigations of using linguistic engineering techniques to alleviate three requirements management activities in large-scale software development: identification of duplicate requirements, linkage of related requirements, and consolidation of different sets of requirements. The activities rely on one common activity: finding requirements that are... (More) - An increasing number of market- and technology-driven software development companies face the challenge of managing several thousands of requirements written in natural language. The large number of requirements causes bottlenecks in the requirements management process and calls for increased efficiency in requirements engineering.
This thesis presents results from empirical investigations of using linguistic engineering techniques to alleviate three requirements management activities in large-scale software development: identification of duplicate requirements, linkage of related requirements, and consolidation of different sets of requirements. The activities rely on one common activity: finding requirements that are semantically similar, i.e., refer to the same underlying functionality.
Three case studies are presented, in which three different companies, comprising three different requirements management challenges, are investigated. Simulation is used to explore process bottlenecks and two different sets of industrial requirements are used for evaluating suggested solutions. A controlled experiment is also presented, evaluating a new open source support tool for semiautomatic identification of similar requirements.
The results show that, for the investigated activities, lexical similarity between requirements may be a sufficient approximation of their semantic similarity. It is also shown that automatic calculation of this similarity may support
the activities and give valuable timesavings. The results from the presented research point in one direction: that simple, robust, and costefficient linguistic engineering techniques can give effective support to requirements management activities. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Popular Abstract in Swedish
Allt fler marknads- och teknikdrivna programvarutvecklingsföretag ställs inför utmaningen att hantera tusentals krav som uttrycks i vanlig textuell form. Det stora antalet krav orsakar flaskhalsar i kravhanteringsprocessen vilket påkallar en mer effektiv kravhantering.
Denna avhandling presenterar resultaten från empiriska undersökningar av att använda språkvetenskapliga tekniker för att understödja tre kravhanteringsaktiviteter i storskalig programvaruutveckling: identifiering av dublettkrav, länkning av besläktade krav, samt konsolidering av olika kravmängder. Dessa aktiviteter har en gemensam grundläggande aktivitet: att hitta krav som är semantisk likartade, d.v.s. krav som... (More) - Popular Abstract in Swedish
Allt fler marknads- och teknikdrivna programvarutvecklingsföretag ställs inför utmaningen att hantera tusentals krav som uttrycks i vanlig textuell form. Det stora antalet krav orsakar flaskhalsar i kravhanteringsprocessen vilket påkallar en mer effektiv kravhantering.
Denna avhandling presenterar resultaten från empiriska undersökningar av att använda språkvetenskapliga tekniker för att understödja tre kravhanteringsaktiviteter i storskalig programvaruutveckling: identifiering av dublettkrav, länkning av besläktade krav, samt konsolidering av olika kravmängder. Dessa aktiviteter har en gemensam grundläggande aktivitet: att hitta krav som är semantisk likartade, d.v.s. krav som avser samma funktionalitet.
Tre fallstudier presenteras i vilka tre olika företag som använder sig av tre olika kravhanteringsprocesser undersöks. Simulering används för att utforska flakhalsar i processen och två olika kravuppsättningar från industrin används för att utvärdera föreslagna lösningar. Ett kontrollerat experiment används för utvärdering av ett nytt stödverktyg för semiautomatisk identifiering av krav som avser samma funktionalitet.
Resultaten visar att för de undersökta aktiviteterna så kan lexikalisk likhet mellan krav vara en tillräcklig god approximation av deras semantiska likhet. Det påvisas också att automatisk beräkning av denna likhet kan understödja aktiviteterna och spara värdefull tid. Resultaten av den presenterade forskningen pekar i en riktning: att enkla, robusta och kostnadseffektiva språklingvistiska tekniker kan ge effektivt stöd åt kravhanteringaktiviteter. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/544261
- author
- Natt och Dag, Johan LU
- supervisor
- opponent
-
- Dr Sawyer, Pete, Lancaster University, UK
- organization
- publishing date
- 2005
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- system, numerisk analys, Datalogi, control, requirements engineering, requirements management, linguistic engineering, natural language requirements, software engineering, software product development, Computer science, numerical analysis, systems, kontroll
- in
- Reports on Communication Systems
- pages
- 222 pages
- publisher
- Department of Communication Systems, Lund University
- defense location
- E:1406, E-building, Lund Institute of Technology
- defense date
- 2005-02-11 13:15:00
- ISSN
- 1101-3931
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 9c320848-635f-499a-ba7b-14b85141e489 (old id 544261)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 16:20:48
- date last changed
- 2021-04-29 09:44:07
@phdthesis{9c320848-635f-499a-ba7b-14b85141e489,
abstract = {{An increasing number of market- and technology-driven software development companies face the challenge of managing several thousands of requirements written in natural language. The large number of requirements causes bottlenecks in the requirements management process and calls for increased efficiency in requirements engineering.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
This thesis presents results from empirical investigations of using linguistic engineering techniques to alleviate three requirements management activities in large-scale software development: identification of duplicate requirements, linkage of related requirements, and consolidation of different sets of requirements. The activities rely on one common activity: finding requirements that are semantically similar, i.e., refer to the same underlying functionality.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
Three case studies are presented, in which three different companies, comprising three different requirements management challenges, are investigated. Simulation is used to explore process bottlenecks and two different sets of industrial requirements are used for evaluating suggested solutions. A controlled experiment is also presented, evaluating a new open source support tool for semiautomatic identification of similar requirements.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
The results show that, for the investigated activities, lexical similarity between requirements may be a sufficient approximation of their semantic similarity. It is also shown that automatic calculation of this similarity may support<br/><br>
<br/><br>
the activities and give valuable timesavings. The results from the presented research point in one direction: that simple, robust, and costefficient linguistic engineering techniques can give effective support to requirements management activities.}},
author = {{Natt och Dag, Johan}},
issn = {{1101-3931}},
keywords = {{system; numerisk analys; Datalogi; control; requirements engineering; requirements management; linguistic engineering; natural language requirements; software engineering; software product development; Computer science; numerical analysis; systems; kontroll}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Department of Communication Systems, Lund University}},
school = {{Lund University}},
series = {{Reports on Communication Systems}},
title = {{Managing Natural Language Requirements in Large-Scale Software Development}},
year = {{2005}},
}