Applying domain and design knowledge to requirements engineering

Abstract

This paper describes efforts to develop a transformation-based software environment which supports the acquisition and validation of software requirements specifications. These requirements may be stated informally at first, and then gradually formalized and elaborated. Support is provided for groups of requirements analysis working together, focusing on different analysis tasks and areas of concern. The environment assists in the validation of formalized requirements by translating them into natural language and graphical diagrams, and testing them against a running simulation of the system to be built. Requirements defined in terms of domain concepts are transformed into constraints on system components. The advantages of this approach are that specifications can be traced back to requirements and domain concepts, which in turn have been precisely defined.