an initial evaluation of requirements dependency types in change propagation analysis

ISCAS OpenIR

	an initial evaluation of requirements dependency types in change propagation analysis
	Li Juan; Zhu Liming; Jeffery Ross; Liu Yan; Zhang He; Wang Qing; Li Mingshu
	2012
会议名称	16th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering, EASE 2012
会议录名称	IET Seminar Digest
页码	62-71
会议日期	May 14, 2012 - May 15, 2012
会议地点	Ciudad Real, Spain
收录类别	EI
ISBN	9781849195416
部门归属	(1) Institute of Software Chinese Academy of Sciences China; (2) National ICT Australia Australia; (3) School of Computer Science and Engineering University of New South Wales Australia; (4) Pacific Northwest National Laboratory United States
摘要	Background: Change propagation analysis helps predict the parts of the software that may be affected if a change is made. Existing research on change propagation focuses on design and code level changes. However, as a software evolves, the requirements that drive these changes also have intricate dependencies. Understanding the effect of these requirement dependencies on change prorogation is useful but not trivial. More than twenty requirements dependency types have been identified in the literature, however there still lacks an evaluation of the applicability of these dependency types in requirements and change propagation analysis. Aim: We aim to investigate whether these dependency types are useful for change propagation analysis. Method: We conducted a case study in a real-world industry project. This case study evaluates two representative dependency models covering twenty five types of dependencies. Results: Our initial evaluation has found that five dependency types are particularly useful in change propagation analysis and practitioners with different backgrounds have various viewpoints on change propagation. Thus change impact analysis should involve a wide range of stakeholders including project managers, requirements engineers, designers and developers. Conclusions: Our case study provides insights into requirements dependencies and their effects on change propagation analysis for both research and practice.; Background: Change propagation analysis helps predict the parts of the software that may be affected if a change is made. Existing research on change propagation focuses on design and code level changes. However, as a software evolves, the requirements that drive these changes also have intricate dependencies. Understanding the effect of these requirement dependencies on change prorogation is useful but not trivial. More than twenty requirements dependency types have been identified in the literature, however there still lacks an evaluation of the applicability of these dependency types in requirements and change propagation analysis. Aim: We aim to investigate whether these dependency types are useful for change propagation analysis. Method: We conducted a case study in a real-world industry project. This case study evaluates two representative dependency models covering twenty five types of dependencies. Results: Our initial evaluation has found that five dependency types are particularly useful in change propagation analysis and practitioners with different backgrounds have various viewpoints on change propagation. Thus change impact analysis should involve a wide range of stakeholders including project managers, requirements engineers, designers and developers. Conclusions: Our case study provides insights into requirements dependencies and their effects on change propagation analysis for both research and practice.
关键词	Research
语种	英语
内容类型	会议论文
URI标识	http://ir.iscas.ac.cn/handle/311060/15800
专题	中国科学院软件研究所
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Li Juan,Zhu Liming,Jeffery Ross,et al. an initial evaluation of requirements dependency types in change propagation analysis[C],2012:62-71.