Authors:
Wataru Inoue
1
;
Shinpei Hayashi
1
;
Haruhiko Kaiya
2
and
Motoshi Saeki
1
Affiliations:
1
Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan
;
2
Kanagawa University, Japan
Keyword(s):
Goal-Oriented Requirements Engineering, Concern, Multi-Dimensional Space.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Requirements Elicitation and Specification
;
Software Engineering
;
Software Engineering Methods and Techniques
Abstract:
In this paper, we propose a multi-dimensional extension of goal graphs in goal-oriented requirements engineering
in order to support the understanding the relations between goals, i.e., goal refinements. Goals specify
multiple concerns such as functions, strategies, and non-functions, and they are refined into sub goals from
mixed views of these concerns. This intermixture of concerns in goals makes it difficult for a requirements
analyst to understand and maintain goal graphs. In our approach, a goal graph is put in a multi-dimensional
space, a concern corresponds to a coordinate axis in this space, and goals are refined into sub goals referring
to the coordinates. Thus, the meaning of a goal refinement is explicitly provided by means of the coordinates
used for the refinement. By tracing and focusing on the coordinates of goals, requirements analysts can understand
goal refinements and modify unsuitable ones. We have developed a supporting tool and made an
exploratory experiment to
evaluate the usefulness of our approach.
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