Software Architects’ Experiences of Quality Requirements: What We Know and What We Do Not Know?

Abstract

Context/motivation] Quality requirements (QRs) are a concern of both requirement engineering (RE) specialists and software architects (SAs). However, the majority of empirical studies on QRs take the RE analysts'/clients' perspectives, and only recently very few included the SAs' perspective. As a result, (i) relatively little is known about SAs' involvement in QRs engineering and their coping strategies, and (ii) whatever is known mostly comes from small and midsized projects. [Question/problem] The question in this exploratory study is how SAs cope with QRs in the context of large and contract-based software system delivery projects. [Principal ideas/results] We executed an exploratory case study with 20 SAs in the context of interest. The key results indicate the role SAs play in QRs engineering, the type of requirements communication processes SAs are involved in, the ways QRs are discovered, documented, quantified, validated and negotiated. Our most important findings are that in contract-based contexts: (1) the QRs are approached with the same due diligence as the functional requirements and the architecture design demand, (2) the SAs act proactively and embrace responsibilities over the QRs, (3) willingness to pay and affordability seem as important QRs prioritization criteria as cost and benefits do, and (4) QRs engineering is perceived as a social activity and not as much as a tool and method centric activity. [Contribution] The main contributions of the paper are (i) the explication of the QRs process from SAs' perspective, and (ii) the comparison of our findings with previously published results.

Views on quality requirements in academia and practice: commonalities, differences, and context-dependent grey areas

“…[5,24,27] E3 QRs are mainly elicited by architects. [4,28] [ 29,26] Specification S1 QRs are often not documented. [4,24] [ 28,26] S2 The documentation of QRs is not always precise.…”

Conception and Evaluation of Internet of Things Connecting to RFID Framework

“…This communication between a sensor and the Cloud is done by a virtual layer that implements the operation of the actual sensors. Such a layer gives rise to new architectures called sensor arrays (Sensor Cloud) or Cloud of virtual sensors [20]. With such an architecture it is possible to create services based on virtual sensors, that is to say geographically distributed sensor environments which can be used on demand by several users.…”

“…In passive mode, the user's terminal emulates a smart card and acquires energy from the reader's radiation (mobile phone, for example). In active mode, the terminal behaves like an electronic label reader (barcode, 2D labels) and has its own power source [20] (an onboard battery for example). NFC allows the user to exchange information with his environment, in particular in the field of transport, leisure, shopping, or reading information on billboards.…”

“…With the rise of the Internet of objects, sensors embedded on mobile devices make it possible to trace more and more data (temperature, pressure, GPS position, speed, luminosity, heart rate, etc.). This situation complicates more and more the task of analysts and data mining who are faced with the problem of proposing new solutions adapted to this steadily increasing volumetry, replacing the traditional searches that are based on General on statistical models, linear regression or health [20]. Also, it should be noted that the collection, formatting and transmission of data from sensors to Cloud platforms requires a lot of energy, which can be very constraining, so that we must now consider moving tasks Of processing to devices whose energy constraints are lower than those of the sensor (Smartphone, PDA, computer).…”

“…These languages, standards and protocols also aim to integrate the Internet of Things with Cloud Computing to give birth to the Cloud of Things [20], in order to create more intelligent applications, to make the data collected On objects that are more accessible and, above all, more relevant and meaningful.…”