The Next Release Problem Revisited: A New Avenue for Goal Models

During the software development process, the decision maker (DM) must master many variables inherent in this process. Software releases represent the order in which a set of requirements is implemented and delivered to the customer. Structuring and enumerating a set of releases with prioritized requirements represents a challenging task because the requirements contain their characteristics, such as technical precedence, the cost required for implementation, the importance that one or more customers add to the requirement, among other factors. To facilitate this work of selection and prioritization of releases, the decision maker may adopt some support tools. One field of study already known to solve this type of problem is the Search-Based Software Engineering (SBSE) that uses metaheuristics as a means to find reasonable solutions taking into account a set of well-defined objectives and constraints. In this paper, we seek to increase the possibilities of solving the Next Release Problem using the methods available in Verbal Decision Analysis (VDA). We generate a problem and submit it so that the VDA and SBSE methods try to resolve it. To validate this research, we compared the results obtained through VDA and compared with the SBSE results. We present and discuss the results in the respective sections.

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An Approach for E-Service Design using Enterprise Models

International Journal of Information System Modeling and Design ◽

10.4018/jismd.2011010101 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 1-23 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Martin Henkel ◽

Paul Johannesson ◽

Erik Perjons

Keyword(s):

Value Creation ◽

Business Models ◽

Business Communication ◽

Swedish Health Care ◽

New Business ◽

Flexible Networks ◽

Enterprise Models ◽

Service Oriented ◽

New Business Models ◽

Goal Models

Organisations demand new business models for value creation and innovation that require collaboration with customers and vendors in agile and flexible networks. To realise such networks, organisations are embracing service oriented models and architectures using e-services for business communication. A major issue for a service oriented organisation is to design and offer e-services that are adapted to the needs, wants, and requirements of customers and vendors. This is a challenging task as different customer groups and vendors will have different requirements, which may vary over time, resulting in a large number of e-services. In this paper, the authors suggest enterprise models as being adequate instruments for design and maintenance of e-services. More specifically; an approach for designing e-services based on value and goal models, which will ensure that the constructed e-services will satisfy the needs and wants of customers. A project from the Swedish health care sector is used to demonstrate and evaluate the proposed approach.

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