Context. The requirements analysis phase, as the very beginning of software development process, has been identified as a quite important phase in the software development lifecycle. Software Requirement Specification (SRS) is the output of requirements analysis phase, whose quality factors play an important role in the evaluation work. Readability is a quite important SRS quality factor, but there are few available automated approaches for readability measurement, because of the tight dependency on readers' perceptions. Low readability of SRS documents has a serious impact on the whole process of software development. Therefore, it's extremely urgent to propose effective automated approaches for SRS documents readability measurement. Using traditional readability indexes to analyze readability of SRS documents automatically is a potentially feasible approach. However, the effectiveness of this approach is not systematically evaluated before. Objectives. In this study, firstly, we aim to understand the readability of texts and investigate approaches to score texts readability manually. Then investigate existing automated readability approaches for texts with their working theories. Next, evaluate the effectiveness of measuring the readability of SRS documents by using these automated readability approaches. Finally, rank these automated approaches by their effectiveness. Methods. In order to find out the way how human score the readability of texts manually and investigate existing automated readability approaches for texts, systematic literature review is chosen as the research methodology. Experiment is chosen to explore the effectiveness of automated readability approaches. Results. We find 67 articles after performing systematic literature review. According to systematic literature review, human judging the readability of texts through reading is the most common way of scoring texts readability manually. Additionally, we find four available automated readability assessments tools and seven available automated readability assessments formulas. After executing the experiment, we find the actual value of effectiveness of all selected approaches are not high and Coh-Metrix presents the highest actual value of effectiveness of automated readability approach among the selected approaches. Conclusions. Coh-Metrix is the most effective automated readability approach, but the feasibility in directly applying Coh-Metrix in SRS documents readability assessments cannot be permitted. Since the actual value of evaluated effectiveness is not high enough. In addition, all selected approaches are based on metrics of readability measures, but no semantic factors are blended in readability assessments. Hence studying more on human perception quantifying and adding semantic analysis in SRS documents readability assessment could be two research directions in future.

Submitted by Lara Oliveira (lara@ufersa.edu.br) on 2018-03-20T20:55:57Z No. of bitstreams: 1 JoséRSF_DISSERT.pdf: 953765 bytes, checksum: cfa6e9ab2efbc54639a0e33a50b01261 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Vanessa Christiane (referencia@ufersa.edu.br) on 2018-06-18T17:00:58Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 JoséRSF_DISSERT.pdf: 953765 bytes, checksum: cfa6e9ab2efbc54639a0e33a50b01261 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Vanessa Christiane (referencia@ufersa.edu.br) on 2018-06-18T17:01:05Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 JoséRSF_DISSERT.pdf: 953765 bytes, checksum: cfa6e9ab2efbc54639a0e33a50b01261 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-06-18T17:01:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 JoséRSF_DISSERT.pdf: 953765 bytes, checksum: cfa6e9ab2efbc54639a0e33a50b01261 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-08-25 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Software systems are constantly changing during their evolution. These changes are directly linked with the management of their product requirements. When requirements are well managed, they evolve more accurately and development costs are reduced, which includes avoiding unnecessary changes to evolving code. It is known that much of the changes demanded during the evolution of the code is associated with the scope of its elements. However, there are no studies investigating whether variations in the scope of requirements are correlated with variations in the scope of code compositions. The main purpose of this master’s thesis is to provide means to requirements engineers to monitor variation in the scope of software requirements and to correlate them with the scope of evolving code elements, which has a proven negative impact on the number of changes demanded in evolving code artifacts. In this context, a metric was formulated to quantify the scope of requirements and based on it a plug-in, called MeRS, was developed. MeRS provides means to automate this quantification. Using MeRS, an exploratory study was conducted to correlate the scopes at the requirements and code levels. To do so, we analyze the evolution of the requirements and code, focusing on the scope of two applications in evolution: NotePad and Mobile Media. The results showed that the requirements scope values are correlate with the scope of the code / Sistemas de software estão em constantes mudanças durante sua evolução, essas mudanças estão diretamente ligadas com a gestão de requisitos de seus produtos. Quando requisitos são bem gerenciados, eles evoluem de forma mais precisa e os custos de desenvolvimento são reduzidos, isso inclui evitar mudanças desnecessárias no código em evolução. Sabe-se que boa parte das mudanças demandadas durante a evolução do código está associada ao escopo dos seus elementos. Porém, não há estudos que investiguem se variações no escopo dos requisitos estão correlacionadas com variações no escopo das composições de código.Oobjetivo principal desta dissertação de mestrado é prover aos engenheiros de requisitos meios de monitorar a variação do escopo dos requisitos de software e correlacioná-los com o escopo dos elementos de código em evolução, o qual possui impacto negativo comprovado sobre o número de mudanças demandadas em artefatos de código em evolução. Neste contexto, foi formulado uma métrica para quantificar o escopo de requisitos e com base nela foi desenvolvido um plug-in, denominado MeRS, que fornece meios para automatizar esta quantificação. Por meio do MeRS foi conduzido um estudo exploratório com o objetivo de correlacionar os escopos nos níveis de requisitos e código. Para tanto, analisamos a evolução dos requisitos e código, com foco em escopo, de duas aplicações em evolução: NotePad e Mobile Media. Os resultados mostraram que os valores do escopo dos requisitos estão correlacionados com o escopo do código / 2018-03-20

This diploma thesis defines the issue of software requirements engineering and the implementation of software requirement into IS/ICT projects. One of the aims is to highlight the importance of systematic requirements management to successful IS/ICT projects. The theoretical part of thesis includes requirements definition, requirements typology and qualitative parameters of good requirement and actors, that are involved into the process of requirements management. The practical part of this thesis defines the process of requirements management general accepted methodologies of as it is specified in the internationally recognizable methodologies. Author's own contribution is the definition of a methodological process for managing requirements specifications, based on rigorous methodologies and extended to reflect author's practical experience. Methodological approach is tailored to the needs of smaller software companies and small to medium scale IS / ICT projects, and, if necessary, is further extendable. Another practical benefit of this thesis is the recommended methodology for change management requirements. Proposal process is based on the ITIL set of best practices; sub-threads are adapted to be able to meet the change management requirements and the broader business environment infrastructure. This methodology emphasizes an individual approach to the requirement. There is a recommendation of appropriate software tools for development and management requirements support divided into partial ITIL processes.

<p>An interest has been established in the identification, documentation and classifi- cation of the environmental assumptions that are missing from the original PACE- MAKER System Specification. This thesis addresses the presented challenge and documents the procedure used to identify, classify, and document these missing en- vironmental assumptions.</p> <p>In summary, this thesis answers the following questions: <ol> <li></p> <p>What can be done in order to improve the original PACEMAKER System</p> <p>Specification with respect to environmental assumptions? </li> <li></p> <p>Why is it beneficial, in terms of enhancing software quality, to include the doc- umentation of environmental assumptions – which sometimes are (wrongfully) perceived as being collateral and optional – as part of the software requirements document? </li> <li></p> <p>How should such environmental assumptions be documented? </li> </ol></p> <p>More specifically, this thesis • Presents an abstract model for the PACEMAKER system. • Identifies system boundaries and interfaces in the PACEMAKER model. • Identifies environmental assumptions for the PACEMAKER system.</p> <p>• Presents a classification system for the environmental assumptions identified for the PACEMAKER system based on the proposed model.</p> <p>• Proposes a process for identifying environmental assumptions.</p> <p>Furthermore, the research findings presented in this thesis are not limited to the PACEMAKER system. The documentation convention proposed in this thesis is meant to be generalized and can be extended to address similar documentation needs posed by all kinds of software systems. Additionally, the process of environmental assumptions elicitation described in this thesis provides a useful reference for con- ducting similar assumption identification projects. Lastly, the classification system presented in this thesis for the environmental assumptions exhibits one facet of a grander conceptual system – one that incorporates multiple ‘views’ of the same set of assumptions, with each view being distinguished by a unique set of classification criteria.</p> / Master of Applied Science (MASc)