Elicitating and formalising requirements for C.I.M. information systems

Abstract

It is now widely recognised that methods are needed for coveting the whole lifecycle of Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) applications. In this paper, we deal with the requirements engineering phase of this lifeeycle. A formal language is introduced for capturing real-time requirements expressed on CIM applications. The resulting speeitication is structured as a society of 'agents', each of them being charactefised by (i) its responsibility with respect to changes happening in the system and (ii) the perception of the behaviour of other agents. On top of illustrating the use of the language on a small case-study, we also suggest some methodological guidance in the elaboration of requirements for large CIM applications. KEYWORDS: O-O requirements engineenng, agents, actions, formal language, CIM applications, elaboration of the requirements document.* The input stock can neverbe empty. * A rivet cannot stay indefinitely in the input stock.

Critical review of existing BPR methodologies

“…ALBERT[3] (Dubois et al, 1993;Dubois et al, 1994;Dubois et al, 1992) is a formal requirements specification language that favours the object oriented paradigm. The language is based on an informal framework called ERAE using an appropriate temporal logic with the addition of three new extensions:…”

A Formal Requirements Engineering Framework for CIM Infrastructures Reengineering

“…The Albert n specification language is a fonnal requirements specification language. Its design started around 1992 and the validation of the language constructs has been done through its use in the context of non-trivial systems like Computer Integrated Manufacturing (Dubois et al, 1993) or telecommunication systems . Like other fonnallanguages proposed for requirements engineering, Albef'tn is characterized by its expressiveness and its fonnality.…”

Dynamic modelling with events

“…Recent development tools for advanced applications -mainly Extended Relational or Object-Oriented Database Management Systems [1] -introduce new concepts relevant for complex object management. In parallel, conceptual approaches [3,5,9,10,13,14,15,19] strive to meet the needs of both traditional and advanced applications. Some of them give pride of place to behaviour representation and resort, to OODB models for the structural modelling, while forgetting their typically imI,lementable feature.…”

“…coding, which is paradoxical for conceptual approaches). From a dynamic viewpoint, conceptual approaches are based on new concepts and mechanisms or make use of temporal logic [5,6]. Since they aim to specify applica.tion behaviour, the problems which are studied are nearly similar to those of concurrent system design and software engineering.…”