• PhD Thesis

    Now available online!

    A growing share of products expose sophisticated configurability to handle variations in requirements. Configurators usually rely on variability models, like feature models, to structure and constrain the available options. However, most feature-based configuration techniques are not suited to collaborative contexts. This manuscript describes techniques to control responsibilities, to schedule configuration tasks, and to resolve conflicts.

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  • Range Fixes

    ICSE12 paper accepted!

    To prevent configuration errors, highly configurable software often allows defining constraints over the available options. As these constraints can be complex, fixing a configuration that violates one or more constraints can be challenging. This paper proposes a novel concept, range fix, for software configuration. A range fix specifies the options to change and the range of values at these options.

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Tailoring Innovation in

Requirements Engineering

1

The core activities of requirements engineering are the elicitation, documentation, validation, and management of the needs expressed by subject matter experts. Fundamentally, requirements serve as a specification of the system to build, and a communication interface between subject matter experts and development teams. Requirements are usually documented with pseudo-formal modelling languages such as UML and BPMN.

Configuration/Customization

2

The demand for tailor-made products is soaring. To tailor products to the needs of their customers, B2B and B2C markets use sophisticated configurators. Configurators have been highly successful in various domains such operating systems, ERPs, and mass-customization, where they thread together mass production and custom manufacture. Today, configuration front ends enable direct interactions with customers, making configurators a cornerstone of customer relationship management.

Variability Modelling

3

Variability models, such as feature models, bridge the gap between requirements engineering and product configuration. They provide a compact representation of the variability, commonly expressed in terms of selectable options, of a system. They also contain constraints over the selection of these options. Their representation can be either diagrammatic or textual. Once designed, these models are used by configurators to graphically render the options, and help users build complete and valid configurations.

Visual Communication

4

Nowadays, we feel compelled to use technological media to interact with an audience. In doing so, we often dismiss the essence of communication: create understanding. When Apple advertises its new iPad, does it flood you with performance statistics? No, it aims for your sense of aesthetic and excellence. To promote its new line of business cars, Audi uses sensual images and attractive people to appeal to your desire for reliability, luxury, and power. Using potent images is a communication imperative to effective understanding. Visual communication is a craft that must be learned, and a prerequisite to persuasive speeches.