RC-ASEF: An open-source tool-supported requirements elicitation framework for context-aware systems development

Abstract

In terms of software engineering, context-aware systems (C-AS) have notably different development needs than those of traditional computing. Yet, there are no established methodologies that uniformly support the development life-cycle of these systems. A key goal of this research is to improve the current state-of-the-art with respect to engineering techniques for the life-cycle of a C-AS. Within the scope of this higher order goal, this paper addresses the lower level order goal of a holistic framework for gathering requirements which is specialised to the creation of C-AS. The framework follows an end-user, stakeholder-centred vision, which guides the analysis of stakeholders towards the discovery of specific stakeholder profiles and their particular needs, preferences, and limitations. It allows the operationalisation of the high level objectives of the system into requirements, which are more tangible and related to the implementation of the system. An evaluation procedure is supported, based on heuristics and rules from the NFR framework and REUBI. All the diagrams introduced for this framework have been developed as part of an open-source tool based on Modelio, which is intended to be developed in the future as part of a framework that covers all the stages of the development process. The proposal is illustrated through the analysis of an application for a European funded project.