CLEI Electronic Journal

Preface to the CIbSE 2016 Special Issue

Abstract: This special issue of the CLEI Electronic Journal consists of an invited paper on 25 years of Model-Driven Web Engineering as well as extended and revised versions of the Selected Papers presented at the XIX Ibero-American Conference on Software Engineering (CIbSE 2016).

Resumen: Este número especial de la revista CLEI electronic journal consiste en un paper invitado sobre los 25 años de Model-Driven Web Engineering, así como un conjunto de trabajos revisados y extendidos, seleccionados de la conferencia CIbSE 2016.

25 Years of Model-Driven Web Engineering. What we achieved, What is missing.

Abstract: Model-Driven Web Engineering (MDWE) approaches aim to improve the Web applications development process by focusing on modeling instead of coding, and deriving the running application by transformations from conceptual models to code. The emergence of the Interaction Flow Modeling Language (IFML) has been an important milestone in the evolution of Web modeling languages, indicating not only the maturity of the field but also a final convergence of languages. In this paper we explain the evolution of modeling and design approaches since the early years (the 90’s) detailing the forces which drove that evolution and discussing the strengths and weaknesses of some of those approaches. A brief presentation of IFML is accompanied with a thorough analysis of the most important achievements of the MDWE community as well as the problems and obstacles that hinder the dissemination of model-driven techniques in the Web engineering field.

Resumen: Los enfoques de Ingeniería Web Dirigida por Modelos (Model-Driven Web Engineering, MDWE) tienen como misión mejorar el proceso de desarrollo de aplicaciones Web enfocándose en las tareas de modelado en lugar de dedicar esfuerzo en la solución técnica, y derivar la aplicación final transformando los modelos conceptuales a código fuente. El surgimiento del estándar Interacción Flow Modeling Language (IFML) ha sido un hito en la evolución de los lenguajes de modelado Web, indicando no solo la madurez del campo así cómo también la convergencia de los lenguajes a un estándar. En este artículo presentamos la evolución de los enfoques de modelado y diseño desde los primeros años del campo de investigación (mediados de los 90) detallando los principales factores que dirigieron la evolución, y discutiendo las principales fortalezas y debilidades de algunos de los factores. Presentamos IFML acompañado con un análisis de los principales logros de la comunidad MDWE así como también los problemas y obstáculos que perjudican la diseminación de las técnicas dirigidas por modelos en el campo de la Ingeniería Web.

An extended systematic mapping study about the scalability of i* Models

Abstract i* models have been used for requirements specification in many domains, such as healthcare, telecommunication, and air traffic control. Managing the scalability and the complexity of such models is an important challenge in Requirements Engineering (RE). Scalability is also one of the most intractable issues in the design of visual notations in general: a well-known problem with visual representations is that they do not scale well. This issue has led us to investigate scalability in i* models and its variants by means of a systematic mapping study. This paper is an extended version of a previous paper on the scalability of i* including papers indicated by specialists. Moreover, we also discuss the challenges and open issues regarding scalability of i* models and its variants. A total of 126 papers were analyzed in order to understand: how the RE community perceives scalability; and which proposals have considered this topic. We found that scalability issues are indeed perceived as relevant and that further work is still required, even though many potential solutions have already been proposed. This study can be a starting point for researchers aiming to further advance the treatment of scalability in i* models.

A Holistic Quality Evaluation, Selection and Improvement Approach driven by Multilevel Goals and Strategies

Abstract: Organizations should establish business goals and check for their achievement in a systematic and disciplined way. In order to know if a business goal is achieved, it should be necessary to consider information need goals that also can require satisfying measurement and evaluation goals at operational level. Furthermore, if measurement and evaluation goals are not aligned with top-level business goals such as tactical or strategic level goals, the organization could waste its effort and resources. Usually, the different goals established in an organization are operationalized through projects. For a given project, strategies should be used in order to help in the goal achievement. A strategy defines a set of activities and methods to be followed for a specific goal purpose. Ultimately, to engineering all these issues in a systematic way, organizations should adopt a holistic evaluation approach supported by a set of integrated strategies. By means of a systematic literature review as research method, we have observed that very few approaches support integrated strategies and multilevel goals. To bridge this gap, we have developed a holistic quality multilevel and multipurpose evaluation approach that ties together multilevel goals, projects and integrated strategies. As contributions, this paper discusses an enhanced conceptual base (specified by ontologies) for linking business and information need goal concepts with project, strategy and nonfunctional requirements concepts. Then, it defines the step by step of our holistic quality evaluation approach, by listing the necessary activities to establish goals and projects at different organizational levels. Lastly, it specifies and illustrates evaluation scenarios for business/information need goal purposes such as understanding, improving, monitoring and controlling, comparing and selecting entities, which are supported by strategies and strategy patterns.

How to deal with Haplotype data: An Extension to the Conceptual Schema of the Human Genome

Abstract: The goal of this work is to describe the advantages of the application of Conceptual Modeling (CM) in complex domains, such as genomics. Nowadays, the study and comprehension of the human genome is a major challenge due to its high level of complexity. The constant evolution in the genomic domain contributes to the generation of ever larger amounts of new data, which means that if we do not manage it correctly data quality could be compromised (i.e., problems related with heterogeneity and inconsistent data). In this paper, we propose the use of a Conceptual Schema of the Human Genome (CSHG), designed to understand and improve our ontological commitment to the domain and also extend (enrich) this schema with the integration of a novel concept: Haplotypes. Our focus is on improving the understanding of the relationship between genotype and phenotype, since new findings show that this question is more complex than was originally thought. Here we present the first steps in our data management approach with haplotypes (variations, frequencies and populations) and discuss the database evolution to support this data. Each new version in our conceptual schema (CS) introduces changes to the underlying database structure that has essential and practical implications for better understanding and managing the relevant information. A solution based on conceptual models gives a clear definition of the domain with direct implications in the medical field (Precision Medicine), in which Genomic Information Systems (GeIS) play a very important role.

A Requirements Engineering Process Adapted to Global Software Development

Abstract Global software development is spreading increasingly within companies. Although it provides some competitive advantages, such as speeding up the software delivery, reducing cost, and taking advantage of more economic resources, this working model is a very complex one. Threats, such as geographic distance and cultural differences, may impact negatively on activities and artifacts of the software process. Untreated threats usually affect the quality of the requirements, propagating defects to subsequent development phases. Global software development threats were studied in a real major project, where no special treatment was put into practice to mitigate them. Analyzing the serious consequences on that project, a proposal was developed using a Lexicon model and Scenarios in order to mitigate threats to requirements in this distributed working mode. The proposal was applied in a new real project of similar characteristics, and the comparison of results from both projects gives promising perspectives in terms of requirements quality and process time improvements.