abstract: Gathering and managing software requirements, known as Requirement Engineering (RE), is a significant and basic step during the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). Any error or defect during the RE step will propagate to further steps of SDLC and resolving it will be more costly than any defect in other steps. In order to produce better quality software, the requirements have to be free of any defects. Verification and Validation (V&V;) of requirements are performed to improve their quality, by performing the V&V; process on the Software Requirement Specification (SRS) document. V&V; of the software requirements focused to a specific domain helps in improving quality. A large database of software requirements from software projects of different domains is created. Software requirements from commercial applications are focus of this project; other domains embedded, mobile, E-commerce, etc. can be the focus of future efforts. The V&V; is done to inspect the requirements and improve the quality. Inspections are done to detect defects in the requirements and three approaches for inspection of software requirements are discussed; ad-hoc techniques, checklists, and scenario-based techniques. A more systematic domain-specific technique is presented for performing V&V; of requirements. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.C.St. Computing Studies 2012

A inovação é fator crucial para o crescimento da economia de uma nação e pode ser vista como o resultado bem articulado das necessidades do consumidor frente a possibilidades de novas tecnologias, novos produtos e novos serviços. A eficácia no entendimento das necessidades dos usuários é considerada um dos principais pilares nos estudos em inovação, principalmente no entendimento das necessidades e requisitos nas fases iniciais do processo de desenvolvimento de novos produtos. No entanto, como consequência da falta de informação direta sobre suas reais necessidades, as informações dos usuários são reduzidas a requisitos generalistas, atendendo essencialmente a aspectos normativos, representados em manuais de referência e diretrizes de design, desconectados do contexto cultural, ambiental e de trabalho. Assim, tem-se como objetivo principal desta tese uma proposta de avaliação de requisitos funcionais e emocionais do produto, sob a perspectiva do usuário. Foram abordados métodos qualitativos (como entrevistas, grupo focado e estudo de caso), bem como métodos quantitativos (como análise multivariada de dados). Esta pesquisa apresenta cinco artigos relacionados ao tema. Ressalta-se como principais resultados: (i) uma revisão de conceitos que apresentam como a percepção do usuário contribui para a inovação no contexto de desenvolvimento de produto; (ii) uma classificação de métodos de avaliação de requisitos de acordo com os requisitos do usuário; (iii) um modelo conceitual de integração dos métodos QFD (Desdobramento da Função Qualidade) e Engenharia Kansei, relacionados aos requisitos funcionais e emocionais respectivamente, aplicado ao caso de um produto da indústria de higiene e beleza; (iv) proposta e validação de um instrumento de coleta de dados, para avaliação da sessão de hemodiálise, sob a perspectiva do paciente, considerando os requisitos de usabilidade, emocionais e econômicos; (v) avaliação da sessão de hemodiálise, a partir da percepção dos pacientes, considerando o atendimento a requisitos de usabilidade, emocionais e econômicos. Como principal conclusão, a tese apresenta uma avaliação de produtos em seu contexto de uso de acordo com as funções prática e estética avaliadas de forma combinada, numa perspectiva multidimensional. Desta forma é possível extrapolar diretrizes de melhorias em produtos e prover inovação em projetos futuros. / Innovation is a crucial factor for growth of the economy of a nation and can be seen as the result of well-articulated consumer needs front the possibilities of new technologies, new products and new services. The effectiveness in understanding the users’ needs is considered one of the main pillars in the studies about innovation, especially in understanding the needs and requirements in the early stages of the new products development process. However, as a result of the lack of direct information about their real needs, the information of users are reduced to generalists requirements, essentially serving normative aspects, represented in reference manuals and design guidelines, disconnected from the cultural context, and environmental work. Therefore, the main objective of this thesis is a proposal for evaluation of functional and emotional requirements of the product, under the user's perspective. Qualitative methods were addressed (such as interviews, focus group and case study) and quantitative methods (such as multivariate data analysis). This research presents five articles related to the topic. It is emphasized as main results: (i) a review of concepts which show how the perception of the user contributes to innovation in product development context; (ii) a classification of requirements assessment methods according to users’ requirements; (iii) a conceptual model for integration of QFD (Quality Function Deployment) and Kansei Engineering methods, that is related to functional and emotional requirements respectively, was applied to the case of a product from hygiene and beauty industry; (iv) proposal and validation of a data collection instrument for evaluation of hemodialysis session, under the patient's perspective, considering the usability, emotional and economic requirements; (v) evaluation of the hemodialysis session, from the patients’ perception, considering attending to usability, emotional and economic requirements. As main conclusion, the thesis presents a product evaluation in its context of use, according to the aesthetic and practical functions which was evaluated in combination, in a multidimensional perspective. Thus it is possible to extrapolate guidelines for improvements in products and provide innovation in future projects.

A inovação é fator crucial para o crescimento da economia de uma nação e pode ser vista como o resultado bem articulado das necessidades do consumidor frente a possibilidades de novas tecnologias, novos produtos e novos serviços. A eficácia no entendimento das necessidades dos usuários é considerada um dos principais pilares nos estudos em inovação, principalmente no entendimento das necessidades e requisitos nas fases iniciais do processo de desenvolvimento de novos produtos. No entanto, como consequência da falta de informação direta sobre suas reais necessidades, as informações dos usuários são reduzidas a requisitos generalistas, atendendo essencialmente a aspectos normativos, representados em manuais de referência e diretrizes de design, desconectados do contexto cultural, ambiental e de trabalho. Assim, tem-se como objetivo principal desta tese uma proposta de avaliação de requisitos funcionais e emocionais do produto, sob a perspectiva do usuário. Foram abordados métodos qualitativos (como entrevistas, grupo focado e estudo de caso), bem como métodos quantitativos (como análise multivariada de dados). Esta pesquisa apresenta cinco artigos relacionados ao tema. Ressalta-se como principais resultados: (i) uma revisão de conceitos que apresentam como a percepção do usuário contribui para a inovação no contexto de desenvolvimento de produto; (ii) uma classificação de métodos de avaliação de requisitos de acordo com os requisitos do usuário; (iii) um modelo conceitual de integração dos métodos QFD (Desdobramento da Função Qualidade) e Engenharia Kansei, relacionados aos requisitos funcionais e emocionais respectivamente, aplicado ao caso de um produto da indústria de higiene e beleza; (iv) proposta e validação de um instrumento de coleta de dados, para avaliação da sessão de hemodiálise, sob a perspectiva do paciente, considerando os requisitos de usabilidade, emocionais e econômicos; (v) avaliação da sessão de hemodiálise, a partir da percepção dos pacientes, considerando o atendimento a requisitos de usabilidade, emocionais e econômicos. Como principal conclusão, a tese apresenta uma avaliação de produtos em seu contexto de uso de acordo com as funções prática e estética avaliadas de forma combinada, numa perspectiva multidimensional. Desta forma é possível extrapolar diretrizes de melhorias em produtos e prover inovação em projetos futuros. / Innovation is a crucial factor for growth of the economy of a nation and can be seen as the result of well-articulated consumer needs front the possibilities of new technologies, new products and new services. The effectiveness in understanding the users’ needs is considered one of the main pillars in the studies about innovation, especially in understanding the needs and requirements in the early stages of the new products development process. However, as a result of the lack of direct information about their real needs, the information of users are reduced to generalists requirements, essentially serving normative aspects, represented in reference manuals and design guidelines, disconnected from the cultural context, and environmental work. Therefore, the main objective of this thesis is a proposal for evaluation of functional and emotional requirements of the product, under the user's perspective. Qualitative methods were addressed (such as interviews, focus group and case study) and quantitative methods (such as multivariate data analysis). This research presents five articles related to the topic. It is emphasized as main results: (i) a review of concepts which show how the perception of the user contributes to innovation in product development context; (ii) a classification of requirements assessment methods according to users’ requirements; (iii) a conceptual model for integration of QFD (Quality Function Deployment) and Kansei Engineering methods, that is related to functional and emotional requirements respectively, was applied to the case of a product from hygiene and beauty industry; (iv) proposal and validation of a data collection instrument for evaluation of hemodialysis session, under the patient's perspective, considering the usability, emotional and economic requirements; (v) evaluation of the hemodialysis session, from the patients’ perception, considering attending to usability, emotional and economic requirements. As main conclusion, the thesis presents a product evaluation in its context of use, according to the aesthetic and practical functions which was evaluated in combination, in a multidimensional perspective. Thus it is possible to extrapolate guidelines for improvements in products and provide innovation in future projects.

A oferta de bens e serviços para atendimento da demanda dos consumidores atuais tem uma forte base na personalização, ou seja, na busca da satisfação individual dos clientes. Essa tem sido a forma que as empresas tem encontrado para se diferenciar. Para tanto, as organizações necessitam de modelos de negócios que permitam ajustar seus processos com as freqüentes necessidades de mudanças. A metodologia utilizada foi a observação de estudo de casos com projetos de Inovação Tecnológica, que possuem altos índices na característica de mudança dos requisitos. A proposta deste trabalho é permitir que essa volatilidade seja identificada na fase de eliciação de requisitos, com base nas intenções de cada envolvido no processo de engenharia de requisitos, e que tais solicitações possam ser melhor compreendidas através da prototipação baseada nas perspectivas dos participantes: de negócio, operacional, de design e gerencial. Como resultado foi definido o volaRE, que permite se conhecer a volatilidade de um requisito, com base nas características definidas do mesmo, ainda na fase de eliciação. / Current consumers have demanded a special attention in the production and distribution of goods and services which have turned organizations to mass customization, looking for an individual satisfaction of their customers. This has been the form that companies have found to differentiate themselves. Therefore, the integration of business and productive processes must be adaptable to the frequent changes in the company\'s environment. The used methodology was the observation of cases study with of Technological Innovation projects, which have high rates of requirements changes. The proposal of this work is that this volatility could be identified in the requirements elicitation phase, based on the intent of each involved in the process of requirements engineering, and that such requests can be better understood through perspectives prototyping based of those participants: business, operational, design and management. As result volaRE was defined, that lets to know the requirement\'s volatility, based on defined characteristics, yet at elicitation phase.

A inovação é fator crucial para o crescimento da economia de uma nação e pode ser vista como o resultado bem articulado das necessidades do consumidor frente a possibilidades de novas tecnologias, novos produtos e novos serviços. A eficácia no entendimento das necessidades dos usuários é considerada um dos principais pilares nos estudos em inovação, principalmente no entendimento das necessidades e requisitos nas fases iniciais do processo de desenvolvimento de novos produtos. No entanto, como consequência da falta de informação direta sobre suas reais necessidades, as informações dos usuários são reduzidas a requisitos generalistas, atendendo essencialmente a aspectos normativos, representados em manuais de referência e diretrizes de design, desconectados do contexto cultural, ambiental e de trabalho. Assim, tem-se como objetivo principal desta tese uma proposta de avaliação de requisitos funcionais e emocionais do produto, sob a perspectiva do usuário. Foram abordados métodos qualitativos (como entrevistas, grupo focado e estudo de caso), bem como métodos quantitativos (como análise multivariada de dados). Esta pesquisa apresenta cinco artigos relacionados ao tema. Ressalta-se como principais resultados: (i) uma revisão de conceitos que apresentam como a percepção do usuário contribui para a inovação no contexto de desenvolvimento de produto; (ii) uma classificação de métodos de avaliação de requisitos de acordo com os requisitos do usuário; (iii) um modelo conceitual de integração dos métodos QFD (Desdobramento da Função Qualidade) e Engenharia Kansei, relacionados aos requisitos funcionais e emocionais respectivamente, aplicado ao caso de um produto da indústria de higiene e beleza; (iv) proposta e validação de um instrumento de coleta de dados, para avaliação da sessão de hemodiálise, sob a perspectiva do paciente, considerando os requisitos de usabilidade, emocionais e econômicos; (v) avaliação da sessão de hemodiálise, a partir da percepção dos pacientes, considerando o atendimento a requisitos de usabilidade, emocionais e econômicos. Como principal conclusão, a tese apresenta uma avaliação de produtos em seu contexto de uso de acordo com as funções prática e estética avaliadas de forma combinada, numa perspectiva multidimensional. Desta forma é possível extrapolar diretrizes de melhorias em produtos e prover inovação em projetos futuros. / Innovation is a crucial factor for growth of the economy of a nation and can be seen as the result of well-articulated consumer needs front the possibilities of new technologies, new products and new services. The effectiveness in understanding the users’ needs is considered one of the main pillars in the studies about innovation, especially in understanding the needs and requirements in the early stages of the new products development process. However, as a result of the lack of direct information about their real needs, the information of users are reduced to generalists requirements, essentially serving normative aspects, represented in reference manuals and design guidelines, disconnected from the cultural context, and environmental work. Therefore, the main objective of this thesis is a proposal for evaluation of functional and emotional requirements of the product, under the user's perspective. Qualitative methods were addressed (such as interviews, focus group and case study) and quantitative methods (such as multivariate data analysis). This research presents five articles related to the topic. It is emphasized as main results: (i) a review of concepts which show how the perception of the user contributes to innovation in product development context; (ii) a classification of requirements assessment methods according to users’ requirements; (iii) a conceptual model for integration of QFD (Quality Function Deployment) and Kansei Engineering methods, that is related to functional and emotional requirements respectively, was applied to the case of a product from hygiene and beauty industry; (iv) proposal and validation of a data collection instrument for evaluation of hemodialysis session, under the patient's perspective, considering the usability, emotional and economic requirements; (v) evaluation of the hemodialysis session, from the patients’ perception, considering attending to usability, emotional and economic requirements. As main conclusion, the thesis presents a product evaluation in its context of use, according to the aesthetic and practical functions which was evaluated in combination, in a multidimensional perspective. Thus it is possible to extrapolate guidelines for improvements in products and provide innovation in future projects.

Requirement engineering is the most significant part of the software development life cycle. Until now great emphasis has been put on the maturity of the functional requirements. But with the passage of time it reveals that the success of software development does not only pertain to the functional requirements rather non-functional requirements should also be taken into consideration. Among the non-functional requirements usability, performance, safety and security are considered important. Further it reveals that there exist so many modeling and testing techniques for functional requirements but the area of non-functional requirements is still deprived off. This is mainly due to difficulty, diversity in nature and hard to express for being domain-specific. Hence emphasis is put to the development of these models or testing techniques. While developing these models or testing techniques it is found that all the four areas of usability, performance, safety and security are not only closely related but rather depend on one another up to some extent. This meant that they all should be tackled while keeping into consideration of the related from among them. For the purpose it seemed necessary to collect in one artefact all the available modeling and testing techniques related to the four core areas of non-functional requirements may be collected and compared. This work at first provides an understanding of the problem domain while describing aspects of the non-functional requirements. Then possibly the available related models or testing techniques are collected and discussed. Finally in the last they are compared with respect to diversified aspects.

Requirements engineering (RE) is the primary task (process) that is done when agreed upon to develop a software product. The success of the software product is gauged on its ability to meet the intended needs of the stakeholders. There is abundant literature emphasizing the significance of RE and its influence on the entire software project, apart from its importance as the first step for a successful development endeavor. There are several established methodologies that are acknowledged to support the RE process and assist in creating a reliable structure of creating software. Despite the availability of such techniques and solutions, it was observed that umpteen number of software product failures are attributed to unsatisfactory RE practices. In this thesis, we have conducted a study with six organizations to emphasize the gap between the state of the art and the state of the practice, and consequently identify the factors that hinder the industrial community to implement state of the art RE. As a result of this empirical research we have found that to a great extent, state of the art practices are unpopular, more specifically in small organizations. Interestingly the majority of the problems associated with RE are associated to non technical issues.

ABSTRACT Context: Requirements triage is a crucial activity in requirements engineering process for market-driven products. Triage deals with selection of appropriate requirements from large number of requirements for particular release plan. If triage is not performed initially, selection and management of a large number of requirements would be difficult in requirements engineering process. In market-driven product development triage is followed by estimation and prioritization of requirements to be selected for a particular release plan, also termed as requirements selection. Product development is done based on the set of requirements selected in requirements selection process. Objectives: The objective of the thesis is to find whether there is a need to improve existing requirements triage process or not, identify the challenges and shortcomings of the existing requirements triage and selection solutions and suggest improvements to address identified challenges and shortcomings. Methods: In order to identify existing requirements triage and selection solutions (method, model, tool, technique, process, and others), challenges addressed by existing requirements triage and selection solutions, and the shortcomings faced while implementing them, a systematic literature review has been done. A list of challenges and shortcomings, identified through the analysis of systematic literature review results, was used as an input to industrial survey to confirm most applicable (relevant) challenges and shortcomings and to identify possibilities to address those challenges and shortcomings. Results: A process framework for requirements triage has been proposed to address the challenges faced by practitioners during triage. The steps and solutions proposed within the framework also enable to alleviate the shortcomings of the existing requirements triage solutions. Conclusions: The results of the survey have been analyzed from different perspectives: size of organization, number of requirements handled per month and experience of professional doing triage. Therefore, the proposed process framework is usable and useful for both small-scale and large-scale organizations. The initial effort required to put framework process steps in place would be high, however, later the effort will reduce not only for requirements triage but also for later phases in requirements engineering. As a spin off effect the quality of triage decision is increased.

Abstract The information and communication technology (ICT) industry has expanded rapidly during the past decades and has changed in terms of frequent technology development, increase in product complexity, constant time-to-market pressures, heavy price erosion and the decrease in physical dimensions. Successful product development thus requires effective requirements engineering and acknowledging the different needs of internal and external stakeholders. A vital challenge for ICT companies is requirements for products typically changing during product development. In addition, requirements are not interpreted the same way in different parts of organisations. Today’s products being more complicated than ever, and customer segments more fragmented, requirements engineering and testing is currently a bottleneck for product development and production. In this dissertation, requirements engineering in ICT companies is studied from four complementary viewpoints – current challenges, manufacturing requirements, external requirements, and optimal acceptance limits in manufacturing. The dissertation is qualitative and inductive in nature and is based on interviewing experienced industrial managers. The study included also an element that can be seen as constructive. The researcher has analysed the obtained material and made conclusions. The main result of this dissertation can be summarised as requirements engineering having a coordinating role in complex ICT product development. In addition, this study highlights the potential of the design for excellence (DfX) concept for addressing a vast amount of requirements from numerous internal and external stakeholders. ICT companies should consider full integration of tools and databases related to requirements. Also, delaying decision-making in product development projects to a stage, where adequate amount of information is available, could help coping with changing requirements. Addressing the challenges of a large and complex organisation requires creating and documenting processes for a vast amount of issues. It may be sensible to consider the benefits of establishing a separate DfX management organisation for coordinating internal and external requirements. In addition, the managers in ICT companies should notice that in contrast to the conventional thinking, widening the manufacturing acceptance limits makes business sense in some cases.

The effect of dietary protein, protein and energy ratios, fish meal replacement by Soya bean meal and feeding frequency was investigated on the growth, feed efficiency and body composition, of juvenile dusky kob, Argyrosomus japonicus. The effect of dietary protein levels was investigated by comparing isocaloric diets containing 35, 40, 45 and 55% protein. Dietary protein inclusion level significantly affected specific growth rates, feed efficiency and body composition (in terms of fat deposition) and results show that a minimum of 45% and maximum of 52.3% dietary protein is optimal. The protein and energy requirements were investigated by comparing three protein levels (35,40 and 45%) with three lipid levels (6, 9 and 12%) in a 3x3 factorial design. A diet 45% protein and 9% lipid, with a P: E ratio of29 mglkJ and DE of 15.5 kJ/g resulted in an optimal specific growth rate (1.6± 0.2), feed efficiency (FCR= 1.7±0.44; PER= 1.36) and body composition for A. japonicus. To investigate the effect of partial fish meal replacement by Soya bean meal (SBM) in the diet, 20-50% of the protein from fish meal was substituted by protein from SBM, and were compared with a control diet containing only fish meal. No significant differences in the specific growth rates, feed efficiencies and the body composition were recorded for the fish fed the control diet and for fish fed the 20 and 30% SBM treatments. Results show that up to 30% of the protein from fish meal can be replaced with protein from SBM in the diet of this species. The effect of feeding frequency and gut evacuation time was investigated by comparing four feeding frequencies. Fish were fed to satiation either once, twice, three or four times a day. Feed intake was significantly affected by feeding frequency and fish fed 2, 3 and 4 meals a day ate significantly more food (p< 0.05) than the fish fed one meal a day. No significant differences (p> 0.05) in the specific growth rates, feed efficiencies and body composition were recorded for fish fed 2, 3 and 4 times a day. Feed intake was used to calculate an optimal daily ration and feeding two meals a day resulted in an optimal daily ration of 4% BW/day. A gut evacuation time of 7.25 hours indicates that fish fed twice a day probably had sufficient time to digest their food and evacuate their guts, resulting in the same daily feed intake as fish given 3 and 4 meals a day. Results conclude that under the present experimental conditions, a minimum daily ration of 4% BW/day, fed twice a day (in the morning and evening) is required for optimal growth (SGR= 1.33± 0.1), feed efficiency (FCR= 1.96± 0.4; PER= 1.44± 0.2) and body composition in juvenile dusky kob.