Early validation of engineering artifacts

Abstract

Valid engineering artifacts are a key success factor for reliable (software) systems. Validity in this sense means that the engineering artifacts are the right ones to completely and correctly describe system properties as desired by stakeholders, and that they are consistent among one another. It is widely acknowledged that the later the engineering artifacts and results are validated, the higher the effort for correcting any defects found will be, leading to serious budget overruns and- project delays. In this chapter, we identify major challenges of validation in early phases of the development process, including reducing the ambiguity of natural language, handling complex systems, and the need for a more structured and automated approach to validation. We introduce the requirements quality assessment framework (RQAF) as a structured approach for performing validation systematically. Furthermore, we describe a set of methodological building blocks that instantiate the RQAF and provide exemplary solutions for the stated challenges.