Formal specification of software systems has been very promising. Critics against the end results of formal methods, that is, producing quality software products, is certainly rare. Instead, reasons have been formulated to justify why the adoption of the technique in industry remains limited. Some of the reasons are: • Steap learning curve; formal techniques are said to be hard to use. • Lack of a step-by-step construction mechanism and poor guidance. • Difficulty to integrate the technique into the existing software processes. Z is, arguably, one of the successful formal specification techniques that was extended to Object-Z to accommodate object-orientation. The Z notation is based on first-order logic and a strongly typed fragment of Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory. Some attempts have been made to couple Z with semi-formal notations such as UML. However, the case of coupling Object-Z (and also Z) and the Use Case Maps (UCMs) notation is still to be explored. A Use Case Map (UCM) is a scenario-based visual notation facilitating the requirements definition of complex systems. A UCM may be generated either from a set of informal requirements, or from use cases normally expressed in natural language. UCMs have the potential to bring more clarity into the functional description of a system. It may furthermore eliminate possible errors in the user requirements. But UCMs are not suitable to reason formally about system behaviour. In this dissertation, we aim to demonstrate that a UCM can be transformed into Z and Object-Z, by providing a transformation framework. Through a case study, the impact of using UCM as an intermediate step in the process of producing a Z and Object-Z specification is explored. The aim is to improve on the constructivity of Z and Object-Z, provide more guidance, and address the issue of integrating them into the existing Software Requirements engineering process. / Computer Science / M. Sc. (Computer Science)

在重視集體智慧、重視服務、且需要因應環境快速變遷的年代，傳統的系統開發方法論雖然有其不可磨滅的價值，但已經顯露出其不足之處。為了順應時代的潮流，方法論必須指引企業去聆聽大眾的心聲，以期確保系統提供優質的服務，方法論也必須指引資訊人員運用有異於以往的手法與步驟，與其他部門和大眾共同合作，來持續不斷地維護系統，使得系統得以注入新的生命力而不斷演進。 為了提出一套不斷吸納使用者的新需求來規劃系統演進的功能需求分析方法論，本研究以哲學詮釋學為基礎，並佐以軟體工程相關文獻，將持續吸納新需求來促進系統演進的抽象概念，化為具體可執行的步驟。本需求分析方法論是針對使用者提議的需求進行初步分析與確認，可分為兩個主要部分：需求形成流程、與衝突處理流程。需求形成流程是分析使用者所提出之功能性需求的主要方式，其中包含了提出新需求、分析新需求在商業活動與科技層次的影響、估計新需求的成本效益來決定是否實作、排序實作的優先權、並且了解新功能的釋出時間的期望。而衝突解決流程是為了解決各方人馬的歧見所造成的爭端，衝突解決的方式包含了自行協商、第三方中間人介入協調、以及高層決策小組的裁決。 為了讓企業外界的大眾提議新需求，本研究發展了一套以部落格為基礎的新需求提議工具，讓網友可在部落格上提出自己對新功能的想法。此外，為了協助企業判斷新需求是否會觸發衝突解決流程，本研究根據哲學詮釋學，將使用案例（Use cases）加以延伸修改，提出一套後設模型，並輔以知識本體，據此來提出一套規則，讓本工具能自動偵測新需求與系統既有設計之間是否有所抵觸，而規則亦可進一步應用在新需求間的衝突上。 為了初步瞭解本研究所提之方法論與工具的優缺點，本研究與中時電子報和民視購物網合作，來試用此方法論與工具。透過試用之後的訪談得知，本方法論與工具有其價值，而也獲得了不少寶貴的試用意見。最後，本研究根據試用的諸多意見，對方法論與工具的改善上，提出了具體的改良作法與方向。 / Nowadays, companies have to respect collective knowledge and improve service quality for adapt their rapidly changing environment. Traditional systems development methodologies may be still valuable but have shortcomings. To accommodate customer-driven trend, new methodologies must guide enterprises to listen to customers for ensuring high-quality system services. New methodologies also have to guide developers to carry out cross-department and customer-centered collaboration in new ways for maintaining systems cyclically. This research proposes a user requirements analysis methodology according on philosophical hermeneutics and software engineering literature. The proposed methodology includes requirements formation and conflict resolution. Requirements formation process involves new user requirement proposition, commercial and technical impact analysis, cost benefit estimation, coding prioritization, and new version release scheduling. Conflict resolution process involves negotiation, mediation, and arbitration. Besides the proposed methodology, this research also develops a blog-based tool for collecting user requirements on Internet. This research extends and modifies use cases diagram and use philosophical hermeneutics as a foundation to propose a meta-model. This research also proposes a set of rules for conflict detection. Base on the proposed meta-model, ontologies, and the proposed rules, the blog-based tool can automatically detect conflicts between new requirements and existing design. These proposed rules also can apply to detect conflicts among new requirements. An online newspaper company and an online shopping mall try to use this methodology and the blog-based tool. In the interviews, they confirm this methodology’s and tool’s values and give several suggestions for improving the methodology and the tool. Finally, this research discusses the improvements and future research directions according to these suggestions.

Social Software-Technologien finden immer stärker Einzug in den Intranets der Unternehmen. Insbesondere der Einsatz von Enterprise Wikis hat sich durchgesetzt. In diesem Paper wird untersucht, auf welche Art und Weise Enterprise Wikis eingesetzt werden können. Hierfür wird mittels der Grounded Theory-Methodik eine Untersuchung des Enterprise Wikis „TeamWeb“ der T-Systems Multimedia Solutions GmbH durchgeführt. Auf Basis einer Analyse der TeamWeb-Spaces wird eine Einsatzszenarien-Typologie konstruiert, welche die Typen „Bereichspräsentation und -kommunikation“, „Nachschlagen und Lernen“, „Projekt- und Bereichsorganisation“ und „Kollaborative Konzeption“ unterscheidet. Im Anschluss wurde die der Nutzung zugrundeliegende Motivation mit Hilfe von semi-strukturierten Gesprächen mit den Wiki-Nutzern weiterführend untersucht. Hierbei wurde festgestellt, dass die Nutzungsmotive ausschließlich egoistischer Natur sind. Diese Erkenntnis wird im Paper zu einer allgemeinen Theorie zur Nutzungsmotivation in Enterprise Wikis ausgebaut.

Formal specification of software systems has been very promising. Critics against the end results of formal methods, that is, producing quality software products, is certainly rare. Instead, reasons have been formulated to justify why the adoption of the technique in industry remains limited. Some of the reasons are: • Steap learning curve; formal techniques are said to be hard to use. • Lack of a step-by-step construction mechanism and poor guidance. • Difficulty to integrate the technique into the existing software processes. Z is, arguably, one of the successful formal specification techniques that was extended to Object-Z to accommodate object-orientation. The Z notation is based on first-order logic and a strongly typed fragment of Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory. Some attempts have been made to couple Z with semi-formal notations such as UML. However, the case of coupling Object-Z (and also Z) and the Use Case Maps (UCMs) notation is still to be explored. A Use Case Map (UCM) is a scenario-based visual notation facilitating the requirements definition of complex systems. A UCM may be generated either from a set of informal requirements, or from use cases normally expressed in natural language. UCMs have the potential to bring more clarity into the functional description of a system. It may furthermore eliminate possible errors in the user requirements. But UCMs are not suitable to reason formally about system behaviour. In this dissertation, we aim to demonstrate that a UCM can be transformed into Z and Object-Z, by providing a transformation framework. Through a case study, the impact of using UCM as an intermediate step in the process of producing a Z and Object-Z specification is explored. The aim is to improve on the constructivity of Z and Object-Z, provide more guidance, and address the issue of integrating them into the existing Software Requirements engineering process. / Computer Science / M. Sc. (Computer Science) / D. Phil. (Computer Science)

The high penetration of renewable energies (RE) in power systems is increasing the volatile production on the generation side and the presence of distributed energy resources (DER) over the territory. On the other hand, Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) are an aggregation of DER managed as a single entity to promote flexibility services to power systems. Therefore, VPPs are a valid approach to cope with the arising challenges in the power system related to RE penetration. This report defines the concept of a utility-scale VPP, as a tool to stabilize the grid and increase the flexibility capacity in power systems. For this purpose, the report places special emphasis in the use cases that can be developed with a utility-scale VPP. Nevertheless, implementing a utility-scale VPP is a complex procedure, as VPP solutions are highly customizable depending on the scope and the conditions of each project. For this reason, this report analyses the main factors that must be taken into account when implementing a VPP solution. The report concludes that the two most critical factors that define the viability of a VPP project are, first, the energy market design and regulatory framework and second, the technical requirements. These two must always align with the scope of the project and the use cases intended to be developed. Further, other minor factors, including a cost estimate for a VPP solution, are also considered in the report. / Den höga penetrationen av förnybara energier i kraftsystem ökar den flyktiga produktionen på produktionssidan och närvaron av distribuerade energiresurser över territoriet. Å andra sidan är virtuella kraftverk en sammanställning av distribuerade energiresurser som hanteras som en enda enhet för att främja flexibilitetstjänster till kraftsystem. Därför är virtuella kraftverk: er en giltig strategi för att hantera de uppkomna utmaningarna i kraftsystemet relaterat till förnybara energier genomslag. I denna rapport definieras konceptet med en virtuella kraftverk verktygsskala som ett verktyg för att stabilisera nätet och öka flexibilitetskapaciteten i kraftsystem. För detta ändamål lägger rapporten särskild tonvikt på användningsfall som kan utvecklas med en virtuella kraftverk-nytta. Trots det är implementering av en virtuella kraftverknyckelskala en komplex procedur, eftersom virtuella kraftverk-lösningar är mycket anpassningsbara beroende på omfattning och villkor för varje projekt. Av denna anledning analyserar denna rapport de viktigaste faktorerna som måste beaktas vid implementering av en VPP-lösning. Rapporten drar slutsatsen att de två mest kritiska faktorerna som definierar ett virtuella kraftverk projekts livskraft är, dels energimarknadens utformning och regelverk och för det andra de tekniska kraven. Dessa två måste alltid anpassa sig till projektets omfattning och användningsfall som är avsedda att utvecklas. Vidare beaktas även andra mindre faktorer, inklusive en kostnadsuppskattning för en virtuella kraftverk lösning, i rapporten.

Urban air mobility has gained increased attention in recent years due to the emergence of novel technologies. Several use cases within different industries exist. These services can substitute existing services as well as offering entirely new ones. Previous research has focused on novel technologies and changes needed to be made in order for the technology to be established in the market. However, non-technological aspects are lacking, specifically concerning suitable business models. Thus, the role of business models, and changes related to these, required for a commercialization of urban air mobility services constitutes a research gap and are of interest for further exploration. To understand how actors are changing their business models to commercialize urban air mobility three different case studies were conducted on three projects focusing on use cases connected to urban air mobility. Interviews were used as the primary data gathering method, and in total 13 were conducted. The theoretical STOF framework, which delimits the business model into four domains, was used to identify potential changes. The main results indicate important future actors in a commercialization, the degree of change of these actors and potential challenges for them. Due to the uncertainty of the role business models play in a commercialization of urban air mobility services, this thesis will contribute to bridging this research gap. Concrete changes are identified, as well as specific business model areas in need of more attention. Furthermore, the thesis contributes to the literature concerning challenges related to urban air mobility services, as well as suggesting how they can be handled. Finally, the thesis evaluates and explains how the STOF framework can be extended to new industries. / Urban air mobility har fått ökad uppmärksamhet de senaste åren på grund av uppkomsten av nya teknologier. Flera användningsområden inom olika branscher existerar. Dessa tjänster kan ersätta befintliga tjänster samt erbjuda helt nya. Tidigare forskning har främst fokuserat på nya teknologier och förändringar som behöver göras för att tekniken ska etableras på marknaden. Emellertid saknas aspekter som inte är teknologiska, särskilt lämpliga affärsmodeller. Därmed är inte affärsmodellens roll samt nödvändiga förändringar relaterade till den för en kommersialisering av urban air mobility tillräckligt belysta och är därför intressant för vidare forskning. För att förstå hur aktörer ändrar sina affärsmodeller för att kommersialisera urban air mobility genomfördes tre olika fallstudier på tre projekt som fokuserar på användningsområden kopplade till urban air mobility. Den teoretiska STOF modellen, som avgränsar affärsmodellen i fyra områden, användes för att identifiera potentiella förändringar för de olika projektaktörernas affärsmodeller. De främsta resultaten indikerar vilka de viktiga framtida aktörerna i en kommersialisering är, graden av affärsmodellsförändring för dem, samt potentiella utmaningar. På grund av osäkerheten kring vilken roll affärsmodeller har vid kommersialisering av tjänster relaterade till urban air mobility bidrar denna avhandling till att ytterligare belysa detta forskningsområde. Konkret identifierar avhandlingen nödvändiga affärsmodellsförändringar för de olika aktörerna, samt specifika områden inom affärsmodellen som behöver mer uppmärksamhet. Dessutom bidrar avhandlingen till forskningslitteraturen om utmaningar relaterade till urban air mobility tjänster, samt föreslår hur de kan hanteras. Slutligen utvärderar och förklarar avhandlingen hur STOF modellen kan utökas till fler branscher än internetbaserade tjänster.

[pt] A análise de requisitos desempenha um papel fundamental no processo de desenvolvimento de software. Neste sentido, representações de cenários baseados em linguagem natural são muitas vezes utilizados para descrever especificações de requisitos de software (SRS). Cenários descritos usando linguagem natural podem ser ambíguos e, às vezes, imprecisos. Este problema é parcialmente devido ao fato de que os relacionamentos entre os cenários são raramente representados explicitamente. Como os cenários são utilizados como entrada para as actividades subsequentes do processo de desenvolvimento de software (SD), é muito importante facilitar a sua análise; especialmente para detectar defeitos devido a informações erradas ou falta de informação. Este trabalho propõe uma abordagem baseada em Redes de Petri e técnicas de Processamento de Linguagem Natural como uma forma eficaz para analisar os cenários adquiridos, e que toma descrições textuais de cenários (em conformidade com um metamodelo definido neste trabalho) como entrada e gera um relatório de análise como saída. Para facilitar a análise automática, os cenários são transformados em Redes de Petri (Lugar/Transição) equivalentes. Os cenários e suas Redes de Petri resultantes podem ser analisados automaticamente para avaliar algumas propriedades relacionadas à desambiguidade, completeza, consistência e corretude. Os defeitos identificados podem ser rastreados até os cenários, permitindo a sua revisão. Nós também discutimos como desambiguidade, completeza, consistência e corretude das SRSs baseadas em cenários podem ser decompostas em propriedades relacionadas, e definimos heurísticas para encontrar indicadores de defeitos que prejudicam estas propriedades. Avaliamos nosso trabalho, aplicando a nossa abordagem de análise em quatro estudos de caso. Essa avaliação compara os resultados obtidos pela nossa abordagem automatizada contra os resultados obtidos por um processo de inspeção e com trabalhos relacionados. / [en] Requirements analysis plays a key role in the software development process. Natural language-based scenario representations are often used for writing software requirements specifications (SRS). Scenarios written using natural language may be ambiguous, and, sometimes, inaccurate. This problem is partially due to the fact that relationships among scenarios are rarely represented explicitly. As scenarios are used as input to subsequent activities of the software development process (SD), it is very important to enable their analysis; especially to detect defects due to wrong information or missing information. This work proposes a Petri-Net and Natural Language Processing (NLP) based approach as an effective way to analyze the acquired scenarios, which takes textual description of scenarios (conform to a metamodel defined in this work) as input and generates an analysis report as output. To enable the automated analysis, scenarios are translated into equivalent Place/Transition Petri-Nets. Scenarios and their resulting Petri-Nets can be automatically analyzed to evaluate some properties related to unambiguity, completeness, consistency and correctness. The identified defects can be traced back to the scenarios, allowing their revision. We also discuss how unambiguity, completeness, consistency and correctness of scenario-based SRSs can be decomposed in related properties, and define heuristics for searching defect indicators that hurt these properties. We evaluate our work by applying our analysis approach to four case studies. The evaluation compares the results achieved by our tool-supported approach, with an inspection based approach and with related work.

[pt] Esta dissertação apresenta uma solução que permite a geração automática de exemplos de uso a partir da descrição textual de casos de uso. Os casos de uso descrevem especificações em um nível de formalização suficiente para a geração dos exemplos. Um exemplo gerado é um texto em linguagem natural que é o resultado da paráfrase de um possível comportamento do software, extraído de um caso de uso e aplicado a um contexto real, em que atores são convertidos em personagens fictícios e os atributos são valorados de acordo com as regras de negócios especificadas no caso de uso. O formato proposto para a construção de exemplos tem como objetivo permitir que clientes possam ler, entender e julgar se o comportamento que está sendo proposto é o desejado. Com isso é esperado que o próprio cliente possa validar as especificações e que, quando defeitos forem encontrados, a especificação possa logo ser corrigida e refletida de volta nos exemplos. Ao mesmo tempo a especificação formalizada na forma de um caso de uso auxiliará desenvolvedores a criar soluções mais próximas do correto por construção, quando comparado com especificações textuais convencionais. / [en] This master s dissertation presents a solution for the automatic generation of examples of use from the textual description of use cases. Use cases describe specifications in a sufficiently formal way that is enough to automatically generate usage examples. A generated example is a text in a natural language which is the paraphrase of one possible manner to use the software, extracted from the use case and applied to a real context where actors are converted into fictitious personas and attributes are valued according to the business rules specified in the use case. The proposed format to present the example aims to allow clients to read, to understand and to judge whether the expressed behavior is in fact what he wants. With this approach, it is expected that the customer himself can approve the specifications and when defects are found, so the specification can quickly be corrected and reflected in the examples. At the same time, the formalized specification in the form of a use case will help developers create solutions that are by construction closer to the correct one when compared to conventional textual specifications.

This thesis explores the opportunities and challenges of integrating recent Natural Language Processing (NLP) Artificial Intelligence (AI) advancements into IT project management and delivery (PM&D). Using a qualitative design through hermeneutic phenomenology strategy, the study employs a semi-systematic literature review and semi-structured interviews to delve into NLP AI's potential impacts in IT PM&D, from both theoretical and practical standpoints. The results revealed numerous opportunities for NLP AI application across Project Performance Domains, enhancing areas such as stakeholder engagement, team productivity, project planning, performance measurement, project work, delivery, and risk management. However, challenges were identified in areas including system integration, value definition, team and stakeholder-related issues, environmental considerations, and ethical concerns. In-house and third-party model usage also presented their unique set of challenges, emphasizing cost implications, data privacy and security, result quality, and dependence issues. The research concludes the immense potential of NLP AI in IT PM&D is tempered by these challenges, and calls for robust strategies, sound ethics, comprehensive training, new ROI evaluation frameworks, and responsible AI usage to effectively manage these issues. This thesis provides valuable insights to academics, practitioners, and decision-makers navigating the rapidly evolving landscape of NLP AI in IT PM&D.

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