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WE VALUE YOUR PRIVACY We and our partners store and/or access information on a device, such as cookies and process personal data, such as unique identifiers and standard information sent by a device for personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, and audience insights, as well as to develop and improve products.With your permission we and our partners may use precise geolocation data and identification through device scanning. You may click to consent to our and our partners’ processing as described above. Alternatively you may click to refuse to consent or access more detailed information and change your preferences before consenting.Please note that some processing of your personal data may not require your consent, but you have a right to object to such processing. Your preferences will apply to a group of websites. You can change your preferences at any time by returning to this site or visit our privacy policy. AGREE DISAGREE MORE OPTIONS * Home * Computer Science and Engineering * Software Engineering ArticlePDF Available VARIABILITY IN SOFTWARE SYSTEMS—A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW * March 2014 * IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering 40(3):282-306 DOI:10.1109/TSE.2013.56 Authors: Matthias Galster Matthias Galster * This person is not on ResearchGate, or hasn't claimed this research yet. Danny Weyns * KU Leuven Dan Tofan Bartosz Michalik Show all 5 authorsHide Download full-text PDFRead full-text Download full-text PDF Read full-text Download citation Copy link Link copied Read full-text Download citation Copy link Link copied Citations (189) References (58) Figures (7) ABSTRACT AND FIGURES Context: Variability (i.e., the ability of software systems or artifacts to be adjusted for different contexts) became a key property of many systems. Objective: We analyze existing research on variability in software systems. We investigate variability handling in major software engineering phases (e.g., requirements engineering, architecting). Method: We performed a systematic literature review. A manual search covered 13 premium software engineering journals and 18 premium conferences, resulting in 15,430 papers searched and 196 papers considered for analysis. To improve reliability and to increase reproducibility, we complemented the manual search with a targeted automated search. Results: Software quality attributes have not received much attention in the context of variability. Variability is studied in all software engineering phases, but testing is underrepresented. Data to motivate the applicability of current approaches are often insufficient; research designs are vaguely described. Conclusions: Based on our findings we propose dimensions of variability in software engineering. This empirically grounded classification provides a step towards a unifying, integrated perspective of variability in software systems, spanning across disparate or loosely coupled research themes in the software engineering community. Finally, we provide recommendations to bridge the gap between research and practice and point to opportunities for future research. Systematic literature review process (adapted from [10]). … Process to develop review protocol (adapted from [29]). … Searched Conferences … Frequency analysis of quality scores for each question. … +2 Studies with Highest Evidence Level … Figures - uploaded by Danny Weyns Author content All figure content in this area was uploaded by Danny Weyns Content may be subject to copyright. Discover the world's research * 20+ million members * 135+ million publications * 700k+ research projects Join for free Public Full-text 1 Content uploaded by Danny Weyns Author content All content in this area was uploaded by Danny Weyns on Apr 02, 2014 Content may be subject to copyright. A preview of the PDF is not available CITATIONS (189) REFERENCES (58) ... This method guarantees objectivity, fairness, and repeatability. Figure 1 illustrates each step of the methodology adopted for this review, in which the number of corresponding articles retrieved or retained is illustrated at the end of each step [17,18]. In addition, the research followed Kitchenham's SLR methodology guidelines for capturing the required scholarly materials-planning, conducting, and reporting [14]-to avoid the possibility of bias. ... ... The papers that appeared in the resulting pool of publications may or may not be helpful in answering the research questions mentioned above. As a result, most existing literature methodologies, such as [18,20], use a set of exclusion criteria to ensure that only relevant publications are retained. The published paper must be a peer-reviewed journal or conference paper, and the proceedings must be included and studied until May 2021 for the SLR. ... ... There are many SLRs, as recommended in [21,22], that depend on quality criteria to determine the quality of primary studies (for more details and another example, see [18,20]). A common practice is to define the quality criteria as a set of questions. ... The Use of Swarms of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Mitigating Area Coverage Challenges of Forest-Fire-Extinguishing Activities: A Systematic Literature Review Article Full-text available * May 2022 * Ihab Alsammak * Moamin A Mahmoud * Hazleen Aris * Mohammed Mahdi The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), colloquially known as drones, has grown rapidly over the past two decades and continues to expand at a rapid pace. This has resulted in the production of many research papers addressing the use of UAVs in a variety of applications, such as forest firefighting. The main purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of UAV-based forest-fire-extinguishing activity (FFEA) operations. To achieve this goal, a systematic literature review was conducted to answer a specific set of questions, which were carefully formulated to address the results of research conducted between 2008 and 2021. This study aims to (i) expand our understanding of the development of UAVs and their current contributions to the FFEA; (ii) identify particularly novel or unique applications and characteristics of UAV-based fire-extinguishing systems; (iii) provide guidance for exploring and revising further ideas in this field by identifying under-researched topics and other areas in which more contributions are needed; and (iv) explore the feasibility of using UAV swarms to enable autonomous firefighting in the forest without human intervention. Of the 1353 articles systematically searched across five databases (Google Scholar, ACM Digital Library, Science Direct, Scopus, and IEEE Explore), 51 highly relevant articles were found to meet the inclusion criteria; therefore, they were analyzed and discussed. The results identified several gaps in this field of study among them the complexity of coordination in multi-robotic systems, the lack of evaluation and implementation of fire extinguishing systems, the inability of handling multiple spot fires, and poor management of time and resources. Finally, based on the conducted review, this paper provides significant research directions that require further investigations by researchers in this field including, the deployment of UAV-based Swarm Robotics, further study on the characteristics of the fire extinguishing systems; design more effective area coverage; and the propose of a self-firefighting model that enables individuals to decide on the course of events efficiently and locally for better utilization and management of time and resources. View Show abstract ... So, we included this type of tools in our analysis, too. Other researchers compared tools for SPLE or SCM (Pietsch et al. 2020;Pereira et al. 2015;Bashroush et al. 2017;Ruparelia 2010;Galster et al. 2014). In contrast to the conceptual model, these works focus on classifying and comparing the identified tools instead of unifying their concepts and relations. ... A conceptual model for unifying variability in space and time: Rationale, validation, and illustrative applications Article Full-text available * Sep 2022 * EMPIR SOFTW ENG With the increasing demand for customized systems and rapidly evolving technology, software engineering faces many challenges. A particular challenge is the development and maintenance of systems that are highly variable both in space (concurrent variations of the system at one point in time) and time (sequential variations of the system, due to its evolution). Recent research aims to address this challenge by managing variability in space and time simultaneously. However, this research originates from two different areas, software product line engineering and software configuration management, resulting in non-uniform terminologies and a varying understanding of concepts. These problems hamper the communication and understanding of involved concepts, as well as the development of techniques that unify variability in space and time. To tackle these problems, we performed an iterative, expert-driven analysis of existing tools from both research areas to derive a conceptual model that integrates and unifies concepts of both dimensions of variability. In this article, we first explain the construction process and present the resulting conceptual model. We validate the model and discuss its coverage and granularity with respect to established concepts of variability in space and time. Furthermore, we perform a formal concept analysis to discuss the commonalities and differences among the tools we considered. Finally, we show illustrative applications to explain how the conceptual model can be used in practice to derive conforming tools. The conceptual model unifies concepts and relations used in software product line engineering and software configuration management, provides a unified terminology and common ground for researchers and developers for comparing their works, clarifies communication, and prevents redundant developments. View Show abstract ... FTA studies may combine several complementary methods to achieve their goal. On the other hand, a systematic review is a methodology used to analyze many different studies ensuring rigor and repeatability [7]. Systematic reviews provide an evidence-based paradigm [8] to collect the available empirical evidence that fits pre-defined eligibility criteria to answer a specific question. ... Analyzing Industry 4.0 trends through the Technology Roadmapping Method Article Full-text available * Jan 2022 * Leonardo El-Warrak * Mariano Nunes * Alan De Oliveira Lyra * Jano Moreira De Souza Future-oriented Technology Analysis (FTA) has been widely used in organizations to support the management decision-making process with emphasis on forecasting the timing, diffusion, and life cycle of technologies. The concept of Industry 4.0, understood as the connection between machines, systems, and assets to create intelligent networks that will help in productive control, introduces several technological innovations in the fields of automation, control, and information technology aimed at manufacturing processes. In this work, we use the Technology Roadmapping Method (TRM) to better understand the main issues on Industry 4.0 and the consequences and developments in future scenarios for the industrial sector. View Show abstract ... FTA studies may combine several complementary methods to achieve their goal. On the other hand, a systematic review is a methodology used to analyze many different studies ensuring rigor and repeatability [7]. Systematic reviews provide an evidence-based paradigm [8] to collect the available empirical evidence that fits pre-defined eligibility criteria to answer a specific question. ... Analyzing Industry 4.0 trends through the Technology Roadmapping Method Conference Paper Full-text available * Mar 2022 * Leonardo El-Warrak * Mariano Nunes * Alan De Oliveira Lyra * Jano Moreira De Souza Future-oriented Technology Analysis (FTA) has been widely used in organizations to support the management decision-making process with emphasis on forecasting the timing, diffusion, and life cycle of technologies. The concept of Industry 4.0, understood as the connection between machines, systems, and assets to create intelligent networks that will help in productive control, introduces several technological innovations in the fields of automation, control, and information technology aimed at manufacturing processes. In this work, we use the Technology Roadmapping Method (TRM) to better understand the main issues on Industry 4.0 and the consequences and developments in future scenarios for the industrial sector. View Show abstract ... There exist an extensive body of research and application of SPL principles that attests the benefits that SPLs provide (e.g. [6,13,15,23]). ... An Empirical Eye-Tracking Study of Feature Model Comprehension Preprint Full-text available * Mar 2022 * Elmira Rezaei Sepasi * Kambiz Nezami Balouchi * Julien Mercier * Roberto Erick Lopez-Herrejon Software Product Lines (SPLs) are families of related software systems which are distinguished by the set of features each system provides. Feature Models are the de facto standard for modelling the variability of SPLs because they describe the features, their relations, and all the combinations of features that constitute a SPL. Because of their key role, feature models are at the core of many tasks in SPL engineering. Our work presents an empirical study on the comprehension of feature models for the task of checking the validity of configurations. Our study explored the relation between the number of features and the number of cross-tree constraints with the accuracy of participants' answers to validity checking questions, and used eye fixations for analyzing the difficulty in interpreting fixated information and the amount of cognitive processing of the different parts of the feature model stimuli. We found that answer accuracy does not relate individually to the number of features or to the number of cross-tree constrains of a feature model, but both factors do show an interaction on accuracy. Additionally, our study identified differences in feature models with cross-tree constraints in both number of fixations and fixation time, but no differences in those models without cross-tree constraints. View Show abstract ... Variability in a software system enables mass production and customization, particularly in the context of diverse and evolving requirements [12,21]. To maximize these opportunities, one needs to analyze variability-intensive systems in a structured manner by considering variabilities and commonalities as important characteristics of such software systems. ... A Benchmark for Active Learning of Variability-Intensive Systems Preprint Full-text available * Mar 2022 * Shaghayegh Tavassoli * Carlos Diego Nascimento Damasceno * Mohammad Reza Mousavi * Ramtin Khosravi Behavioral models are the key enablers for behavioral analysis of Software Product Lines (SPL), including testing and model checking. Active model learning comes to the rescue when family behavioral models are non-existent or outdated. A key challenge on active model learning is to detect commonalities and variability efficiently and combine them into concise family models. Benchmarks and their associated metrics will play a key role in shaping the research agenda in this promising field and provide an effective means for comparing and identifying relative strengths and weaknesses in the forthcoming techniques. In this challenge, we seek benchmarks to evaluate the efficiency (e.g., learning time and memory footprint) and effectiveness (e.g., conciseness and accuracy of family models) of active model learning methods in the software product line context. These benchmark sets must contain the structural and behavioral variability models of at least one SPL. Each SPL in a benchmark must contain products that requires more than one round of model learning with respect to the basic active learning $L^{*}$ algorithm. Alternatively, tools supporting the synthesis of artificial benchmark models are also welcome. View Show abstract ... Most modern software-intensive systems, ranging from small-scale embedded systems to large-scale enterprise systems to ultra-large systems of systems, are variability-intensive (Hilliard 2010;Galster et al. 2013;Galster 2019). Software variability is commonly understood as the ability of a software system or software artifact to be efficiently extended, changed, customized, or configured for use in a particular context (Capilla et al. 2013). ... Identification and visualization of variability implementations in object-oriented variability-rich systems: a symmetry-based approach Article Full-text available * May 2022 * AUTOMAT SOFTW ENG * Xhevahire Tërnava * Johann Mortara * Philippe Collet * Daniel Le Berre Most modern object-oriented software systems are variability-rich, despite that they may not be developed as product lines. Their variability is implemented by several traditional techniques in combination, such as inheritance, overloading, or design patterns. As domain features or variation points with variants are not a by-product of these techniques, variability in code assets of such systems is implicit, and hardly documented, hampering qualities such as understandability and maintainability. In this article, we present an approach for automatic identification and visualization of variability implementation places, that is, variation points with variants, in variability-rich systems. To uniformly identify them, we propose to rely on the existing symmetries in the different software constructs and patterns. We then propose to visualize them according to their density. By means of our realized toolchain implementing the approach, symfinder, we report on a threefold evaluation, (i) on the identified potential variability in sixteen large open-source systems and symfinder ’s scalability, (ii) on measuring symfinder ’s precision and robustness when mapping identified variability to domain features, and (iii) on its usage by a software architect. Results show that symfinder can indeed help in identifying and comprehending the variability of the targeted systems. View Show abstract ... Obviously, when using models in run time mode, it is necessary to track changes in the CPS state. e main types of variability in structure, behavior, and context that may need to be monitored when using the model approach are shown in Figure 2. is variability classification can be conceded as adaptation of [30] to CPS and run time agility. Variability can manifest itself both in the structure and in the behavior of an OMS. ... Towards Building Cyberphysical Systems with Agile Architecture Article Full-text available * Feb 2022 * Alexander Vodyaho * Nataly Zhukova * Yulia Schichkina * Vladimir Chernokulsky The current stage of technology development is characterized by an increase in the complexity of the created anthropogenic systems, a constant expansion of the scope of information technologies, an increase in the intelligence level of the created systems, and the appearance of new paradigms for building information-oriented systems such as cyber-physical systems, the Internet of things, and cloud and fog systems. Modern information-oriented systems very often have dynamic structure, implement complex adaptive behavior, and can be considered as systems with agile architecture. The article discusses one of the possible approaches for building cyberphysical systems with agile architecture on fog platforms. The idea of the proposed approach is to accumulate knowledge about the current state of the observed cyberphysical systems in the form of knowledge graphs. As a model, it is proposed to use multilevel relatively finite state operating automaton at the upper level and knowledge graphs at the lower level. A distinctive feature of the developed approach is that models that describe the current state of the observed system can be built automatically. View Show abstract Requirements engineering for autonomous vehicles: a systematic literature review Conference Paper * Apr 2022 * Quelita A. D. S. Ribeiro * Moniky Ribeiro * Jaelson Castro View Efficient Production Process Variability Exploration Conference Paper * Feb 2022 * Kristof Meixner * Kevin Feichtinger * Rick Rabiser * Stefan Biffl View Show more Guidelines for performing Systematic Literature Reviews in Software Engineering Article Full-text available * Jan 2007 * Barbara Kitchenham * Stuart M. Charters The objective of this report is to propose comprehensive guidelines for systematic literature reviews appropriate for software engineering researchers, including PhD students. A systematic literature review is a means of evaluating and interpreting all available research relevant to a particular research question, topic area, or phenomenon of interest. Systematic reviews aim to present a fair evaluation of a research topic by using a trustworthy, rigorous, and auditable methodology. The guidelines presented in this report were derived from three existing guidelines used by medical researchers, two books produced by researchers with social science backgrounds and discussions with researchers from other disciplines who are involved in evidence-based practice. The guidelines have been adapted to reflect the specific problems of software engineering research. The guidelines cover three phases of a systematic literature review: planning the review, conducting the review and reporting the review. They provide a relatively high level description. They do not consider the impact of the research questions on the review procedures, nor do they specify in detail the mechanisms needed to perform meta-analysis. View Show abstract Quality Reference Model for SBA Book Full-text available * Jan 2008 * Andreas Gehlert * Andreas Metzger View Claims and supporting evidence for self-adaptive systems: A literature study Article Full-text available * Jun 2012 * Danny Weyns * M. Usman Iftikhar * Sam Malek * Jesper Andersson. Despite the vast body of work on self-adaption, no systematic study has been performed on the claims associated with self-adaptation and the evidence that exists for these claims. As such an insight is crucial for researchers and engineers, we performed a literature study of the research results from SEAMS since 2006 and the associated Dagstuhl seminar in 2008. The study shows that the primary claims of self-adaptation are improved flexibility, reliability, and performance of the system. On the other hand, the tradeoffs implied by self-adaptation have not received much attention. Evidence is obtained from basic examples, or simply lacking. Few systematic empirical studies have been performed, and no industrial evidence is reported. From the study, we offer the following recommendations to move the field forward: to improve evaluation, researchers should make their assessment methods, tools and data publicly available; to deal with poor discussion of limitations, conferences/workshops should require an explicit section on limitations in engineering papers; to improve poor treatment of tradeoffs, this aspect should be an explicit subject of reviews; and finally, to enhance industrial validation, the best academy-industry efforts could be formally recognized by the community. View Show abstract A Status Report on the Evaluation of Variability Management Approaches Technical Report Full-text available * Apr 2009 * Lianping Chen * Muhammad Ali Babar * Ciaran Cawley OBJECTIVE - The objective of this study is to review the status of evaluation of Variability Management (VM) approaches in Software Product Line Engineering (SPLE). METHOD - We have carried out a systematic review of studies of VM in SPLE reported in any publication venue and published before September 2007. RESULTS - 97 papers were selected according to our inclusion and exclusion criteria. The selected papers appeared in 56 publication venues and the dominance of well-known publication venues of SPLE is not very clear. Only a small portion of the identified approaches were evaluated using rigorous scientific methods. A detailed investigation of the studies employing empirical research methods revealed significant quality deficiencies in various quality assessment aspects. Even more disappointing finding is that the trends of scientific evaluation of VM approaches do not appear to be improving based on the analysis of the data extracted from the reviewed studied. CONCLUSIONS - The status of evaluation of VM approaches in SPLE is poor. Most of the approaches proposed are amenable to empirical evaluation, but the available evidence is sparse and the quality of the presented evidence is very low. The findings highlight the areas of improvement for rigorous evaluation of VM approaches. View Show abstract An Evaluation of Quality Checklist Proposals-A participant-observer case study Article Full-text available * Jan 2009 * Barbara Kitchenham * O. Pearl Brereton * David Budgen * Zhi Li Background: A recent set of guidelines for software engineering systematic literature reviews (SLRs) includes a list of quality criteria obtained from the literature. The guidelines suggest that the list can be used to construct a tailored set of questions to evaluate the quality of primary studies. Aim: This paper aims to evaluate whether the list of quality criteria help researchers construct tailored quality checklists. Method: We undertook a participant-observer case study to investigate the list of quality criteria. The "case" in this study was the planning stage of a systematic literature review on unit testing. Results: The checklists in our SLR guidelines do not provide sufficient help with the construction of a quality checklist for a specific SLR either for novices or for experienced researchers. However, the checklists are reasonably complete and lead to the use of a common terminology for quality questions selected for a specific systematic literature review. Conclusions: The guidelines document should be amended to include a much shorter generic checklist. Researchers might find it useful to adopt a team-based process for quality checklist construction and provide suggestions for answering quality checklist questions. View Show abstract Experiences conducting systematic reviews from novices' perspective Article Full-text available * Apr 2010 * Mehwish Riaz * Muhammad Sulayman * Norsaremah Salleh * Emilia Mendes Background: A systematic review (SR) is a sound methodology for collecting evidence on a research topic of interest and establishing the context of future research. Unlike ordinary or even expert literature reviews, SRs are systematic thus increasing the confidence in the findings from the previous published literature. SRs can be carried out by both experienced and novice researchers; however, while expert researchers" experiences with conducting SRs are important for improving the SR body of knowledge, we believe that novice researchers" experiences are equally important to establish what distinct problems they face while carrying out SRs. With a prior knowledge of these issues, novice researchers can better plan their SRs and seek guidance from expert researchers. Aim: The aim of this paper is therefore to report on experiences conducting SRs from the perspective of novice researchers. The paper reports first hand experiences of novices conducting SRs and compares them with the experiences of an expert as well as with the experiences reported in the previous literature. Method: An instrument was created and used to gather the experiences conducting SRs from three PhD students and their supervisor. The instrument covered all the SR steps; it was individually filled out by each of the participating subjects and its data was later on aggregated. Results: The results show that the problems faced by novices in terms of time taken to conduct the review; defining the research questions, inclusion/exclusion criteria, data extraction and data synthesis forms are not faced by expert researchers. Moreover, problems faced by novices related to defining quality criteria are different in nature than those faced by expert researchers. Conclusions: It has been observed that while numerous problems are faced by both novices and experts, many others are specific to novices, where several of these can be solved with the help of domain and SR experts. View Show abstract Handling Variability in Software Architecture: Problems and Implications Article Full-text available * Jun 2011 * Matthias Galster * Paris Avgeriou Variability helps manage differences and commonalities within and across software systems. As variability is reflected in and facilitated through the software architecture, it is important to understand the problems that architects face when carrying out their tasks. This would help us improve methods for architecting variability-intensive software systems. In this paper, we therefore present an exploratory study to identify problems that occur when performing variability-related tasks during software architecting. Our subjects were 27 graduate students. We identified eleven problems as experienced by the subjects of our study. The paper also presents implications of the findings for the software architecture field. In particular, we discuss implications for architecture description, methods and tools, and the training of architects. View Show abstract Variability in Web Services Chapter * Mar 2013 * Matthias Galster * Paris Avgeriou Service-based computing and associated development paradigms, including service-oriented architecture (SOA), web services, or the idea of “Software as a Service,” have gained significant attention in software engineering industry and research. The aim of this chapter is to provide an introduction to variability in service-based systems. Within this chapter, we use the term “service-based” for systems that are largely or entirely built from web services [4], with SOA as the primary architectural style. View Show abstract Variability in quality attributes of service-based software systems: A systematic literature review Article * Feb 2013 * INFORM SOFTWARE TECH * Sara Mahdavi Hezavehi * Matthias Galster * Paris Avgeriou ContextVariability is the ability of a software artifact (e.g., a system, component) to be adapted for a specific context, in a preplanned manner. Variability not only affects functionality, but also quality attributes (e.g., security, performance). Service-based software systems consider variability in functionality implicitly by dynamic service composition. However, variability in quality attributes of service-based systems seems insufficiently addressed in current design practices.Objective We aim at (a) assessing methods for handling variability in quality attributes of service-based systems, (b) collecting evidence about current research that suggests implications for practice, and (c) identifying open problems and areas for improvement.MethodA systematic literature review with an automated search was conducted. The review included studies published between the year 2000 and 2011. We identified 46 relevant studies.ResultsCurrent methods focus on a few quality attributes, in particular performance and availability. Also, most methods use formal techniques. Furthermore, current studies do not provide enough evidence for practitioners to adopt proposed approaches. So far, variability in quality attributes has mainly been studied in laboratory settings rather than in industrial environments.Conclusions The product line domain as the domain that traditionally deals with variability has only little impact on handling variability in quality attributes. The lack of tool support, the lack of practical research and evidence for the applicability of approaches to handle variability are obstacles for practitioners to adopt methods. Therefore, we suggest studies in industry (e.g., surveys) to collect data on how practitioners handle variability of quality attributes in service-based systems. For example, results of our study help formulate hypotheses and questions for such surveys. Based on needs in practice, new approaches can be proposed. View Show abstract The goal question metric approach Article * Jan 1994 * Victor R. Basili * Gianluigi Caldiera * Dieter Rombach As with any engineering discipline, software development requires a measurement mechanism for feedback and evaluation. Measurement is a mechanism for creating a corporate memory and an aid in answering a variety of questions associated with the enactment of any software process. It helps support project planning (e. g., How much will a new project cost?); it allows us to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the current processes and products (e. g., What is the frequency of certain types of errors?); it provides a rationale for adopting/refining techniques (e. g., What is the impact of the technique XX on the productivity of the projects?); it allows us to evaluate the quality of specific processes and products (e. g., What is the defect density in a specific system after deployment?). Measurement also helps, during the course of a project, to assess its progress, to take corrective action based on this assessment, and to evaluate the impact of such action. View Show abstract Show more Advertisement RECOMMENDED PUBLICATIONS Discover more about: Software Engineering Sponsored content ENERGY KEEP US GOING September 2017 Energy raises key scientific and social challenges. The University of Groningen has made energy one of its three main research themes and makes major contributions to the transition to sustainable production and consumption of energy. The Groningen Energy and Sustainability Programme, GESP, is... View post Sponsored content UNIVERSITY OF GRONINGEN IN 83RD PLACE ON THE RANKING LIST September 2017 The University of Groningen (UG) is ranked on the 83rd place on the Times Higher Education ranking list. Last year the UG was ranked on the 80th place. Together with the UG six other Dutch universities are in the top 100 of the THE ranking. 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View post Article A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW TO IDENTIFY AND CLASSIFY SOFTWARE REQUIREMENT ERRORS July 2009 · Information and Software Technology * Gursimran Walia * Jeff Carver Most software quality research has focused on identifying faults (i.e., information is incorrectly recorded in an artifact). Because software still exhibits incorrect behavior, a different approach is needed. This paper presents a systematic literature review to develop taxonomy of errors (i.e., the sources of faults) that may occur during the requirements phase of software lifecycle. This ... [Show full abstract] taxonomy is designed to aid developers during the requirement inspection process and to improve overall software quality. The review identified 149 papers from the software engineering, psychology and human cognition literature that provide information about the sources of requirements faults. A major result of this paper is a categorization of the sources of faults into a formal taxonomy that provides a starting point for future research into error-based approaches to improving software quality. Read more Article VARIABILITY IN QUALITY ATTRIBUTES OF SERVICE-BASED SOFTWARE SYSTEMS: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW February 2013 · Information and Software Technology * Sara Mahdavi Hezavehi * Matthias Galster * Paris Avgeriou ContextVariability is the ability of a software artifact (e.g., a system, component) to be adapted for a specific context, in a preplanned manner. Variability not only affects functionality, but also quality attributes (e.g., security, performance). Service-based software systems consider variability in functionality implicitly by dynamic service composition. However, variability in quality ... [Show full abstract] attributes of service-based systems seems insufficiently addressed in current design practices.Objective We aim at (a) assessing methods for handling variability in quality attributes of service-based systems, (b) collecting evidence about current research that suggests implications for practice, and (c) identifying open problems and areas for improvement.MethodA systematic literature review with an automated search was conducted. The review included studies published between the year 2000 and 2011. We identified 46 relevant studies.ResultsCurrent methods focus on a few quality attributes, in particular performance and availability. Also, most methods use formal techniques. Furthermore, current studies do not provide enough evidence for practitioners to adopt proposed approaches. So far, variability in quality attributes has mainly been studied in laboratory settings rather than in industrial environments.Conclusions The product line domain as the domain that traditionally deals with variability has only little impact on handling variability in quality attributes. The lack of tool support, the lack of practical research and evidence for the applicability of approaches to handle variability are obstacles for practitioners to adopt methods. Therefore, we suggest studies in industry (e.g., surveys) to collect data on how practitioners handle variability of quality attributes in service-based systems. For example, results of our study help formulate hypotheses and questions for such surveys. Based on needs in practice, new approaches can be proposed. Read more Article AN INDUSTRIAL CASE STUDY ON VARIABILITY HANDLING IN LARGE ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE SYSTEMS April 2015 · Information and Software Technology * Matthias Galster * Paris Avgeriou Context Enterprise software systems (e.g., enterprise resource planning software) are often deployed in different contexts (e.g., different organizations or different business units or branches of one organization). However, even though organizations, business units or branches have the same or similar business goals, they may differ in how they achieve these goals. Thus, many enterprise software ... [Show full abstract] systems are subject to variability and adapted depending on the context in which they are used. Objective Our goal is to provide a snapshot of variability in large scale enterprise software systems. We aim at understanding the types of variability that occur in large industrial enterprise software systems. Furthermore, we aim at identifying how variability is handled in such systems. Method We performed an exploratory case study in two large software organizations, involving two large enterprise software systems. Data were collected through interviews and document analysis. Data were analyzed following a grounded theory approach. Results We identified seven types of variability (e.g., functionality, infrastructure) and eight mechanisms to handle variability (e.g., add-ons, code switches). Conclusions We provide generic types for classifying variability in enterprise software systems, and reusable mechanisms for handling such variability. Some variability types and handling mechanisms for enterprise software systems found in the real world extend existing concepts and theories. Others confirm findings from previous research literature on variability in software in general and are therefore not specific to enterprise software systems. Our findings also offer a theoretical foundation for describing variability handling in practice. Future work needs to provide more evaluations of the theoretical foundations, and refine variability handling mechanisms into more detailed practices. Read more Conference Paper Full-text available THE NOTION OF VARIABILITY IN SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE: RESULTS FROM A PRELIMINARY EXPLORATORY STUDY. January 2011 * Matthias Galster * Paris Avgeriou Context: In the software product line domain, the concept of variability is well recognized. However, variability in the context of software architecture still seems to be poorly understood. Objective: In this paper, we aim at contributing to the development of a basic understanding of the notion of variability in the software architecture domain, beyond the idea of product lines. Method: We ... [Show full abstract] perform a preliminary exploratory study which consists of two parts: an expert survey among 11 subjects, and a mini focus group with 4 participants. For both parts, we collect and analyze mostly qualitative data. Results: Our observations indicate that there seems to be no common understanding of "variability" in the context of software architecture. On the other hand, some challenges related to variability in software architecture are similar to challenges identified in the product line domain. Conclusions: Variability in software architecture might require more theoretical foundations in order to establish "variability" as an architectural key concept and first-class quality attribute. View full-text Article Full-text available HANDLING VARIABILITY IN SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE: PROBLEMS AND IMPLICATIONS June 2011 * Matthias Galster * Paris Avgeriou Variability helps manage differences and commonalities within and across software systems. As variability is reflected in and facilitated through the software architecture, it is important to understand the problems that architects face when carrying out their tasks. This would help us improve methods for architecting variability-intensive software systems. In this paper, we therefore present an ... [Show full abstract] exploratory study to identify problems that occur when performing variability-related tasks during software architecting. Our subjects were 27 graduate students. We identified eleven problems as experienced by the subjects of our study. The paper also presents implications of the findings for the software architecture field. In particular, we discuss implications for architecture description, methods and tools, and the training of architects. View full-text Interested in research on Software Engineering? Join ResearchGate to discover and stay up-to-date with the latest research from leading experts in Software Engineering and many other scientific topics. 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