SENSE: A Flow-Down Semantics-Based Requirements Engineering Framework

The processes involved in requirements engineering are some of the most, if not the most, important steps in systems development. The need for well-defined requirements remains a critical issue for the development of any system. Describing the structure and behavior of a system could be proven vague, leading to uncertainties, restrictions, or improper functioning of the system that would be hard to fix later. In this context, this article proposes SENSE, a framework based on standardized expressions of natural language with well-defined semantics, called boilerplates, that support a flow-down procedure for requirement management. This framework integrates sets of boilerplates and proposes the most appropriate of them, depending, among other considerations, on the type of requirement and the developing system, while providing validity and completeness verification checks using the minimum consistent set of formalities and languages. SENSE is a consistent and easily understood framework that allows engineers to use formal languages and semantics rather than the traditional natural languages and machine learning techniques, optimizing the requirement development. The main aim of SENSE is to provide a complete process of the production and standardization of the requirements by using semantics, ontologies, and appropriate NLP techniques. Furthermore, SENSE performs the necessary verifications by using SPARQL (SPIN) queries to support requirement management.

Requirement management in a life cycle perspective based on ISO 19650-1 and CoClass as the new classification system in Sweden

PurposeEach building project demands an integrated method for information and requirement management in its life cycle. The main purpose of this paper is to explore the major obstacles in integrated life cycle information management and recognize the potentials of CoClass as the new Swedish digital classification system to tackle them throughout asset life cycle.Design/methodology/approachThe industry viewpoint toward the current status of asset information management considering ISO 19650-1 principles and the existing obstacles and the industry practitioners' ideas regarding CoClass capabilities and applicability were captured and analyzed. A total of 13 semistructured interviews were conducted with the AECO industry professionals to have an understanding of information requirement management. Then the results were analyzed qualitatively, using the NVivo 12 software. Different attributes of a component (heating panel) in a meeting room according to CoClass and data deviations throughout the asset life cycle were elaborated.FindingsThis study reveals some obstacles in information management process in seven categories in relation to: (1) the need to employ information exchange platforms as common data environments (CDEs) by all actors from early stages; (2) the communication issues caused by lack of utilizing common languages; (3) the costly and time-consuming implementation process; (4) the misunderstandings in terms of data communication between service providers and owners; (5) the definition and fulfillment of information requirements as well as keeping track of data deviations throughout asset life cycle; (6) the information update difficulty; and (7) the need for training practitioners dealing with new systems such as CoClass.Originality/valueThe research explores the major obstacles in information requirement management concerning the practical implementation of the new Swedish classification system, CoClass, supporting the asset life cycle.

Research of requirement management features in the field of project management in a full-cycle engineering company

Introduction. Organizational development and practice of the project management system implementation is of particular interest to engineering companies that implement complex and multi-stage design and construction projects having a complex structure, a large number of stakeholders and a high degree of result individualization. In this case, a situation often arises when processes are formalized, which means that a certain list of regulatory documents are developed in which project contributors, their activities, authority and responsibility, a sequence of actions to be performed, templates of project documents, etc. are defined, but in practice these requirements are not fulfilled or not fulfilled in full. The research problem is that approaches to the formation of a project management system do not offer a universal mechanism applied to monitor the compliance with project management requirements established by inhouse regulatory documents. As a result, project contributors resist such requirements in some companies. The subject of the study is the development of a tool designated for the monitoring of compliance with regulatory documents in the field of project management in a full-cycle engineering company. Materials and methods. The method of process modeling and reengineering, statistical analysis, and the requirements management methodology were applied. Results. Features of project management in engineering companies are outlined. Research results obtained in terms of adapting the requirement management methodology and engineering project quality are analyzed. The target scheme that applies to project management quality control and project audit processes was performed. The toolkit for the project management quality control was developed and a list of indicators was formulated. The analysis of statistics on cases of failure to comply with project management quality indicators and underlying reasons is conducted. Conclusions. The project management quality control toolkit, proposed in the article, allows to analyze the compliance of project contributors with the requirements applied to project management processes formalized in a company and to increase the efficiency of various types of projects.