Table of contents:
TABLE OF CONTENTS 2LIST OF FIGURES 7LIST OF TABLES 9ABSTRACT 10DECLARATION 11COPYRIGHT
STATEMENT 12ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 13ABBREVIATIONS 141 INTRODUCTION 151.1 RESEARCH AIM, OBJECTIVES
AND ASSUMPTIONS 151.2 RESEARCH CHALLENGES 161.3 INTENDED RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS 181.4 RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY 191.5 THESIS STRUCTURE 202 QUALITY REQUIREMENTS: DEFINITIONS, CLASSIFICATIONS
AND TREATMENTS 222.1 INTRODUCTION 222.2 QUALITY REQUIREMENTS CLASSIFICATION MODELS 232.2.1 ISO
25000 and ISO/IEC 9126 Standard Model 232.2.2 McCall’s Quality Model 262.2.3 Boehm’s
Quality Model 292.2.4 Sommerville’s Quality Model 312.2.5 Dromey’s Quality Model 332.2.6 FURPS/FURPS+
Model 342.2.7 Roman’s Quality Taxonomy 342.2.8 Quality Model for Business Process
Outsourcing (BPO) 352.2.9 SERVQUAL Model for Web Application 372.3 QUALITY REQUIREMENTS
DEFINITIONS USED IN THIS THESIS 372.4 QR CHALLENGING FEATURES 392.4.1 Intangible and
Functionally Dependent 402.4.2 Subjective Requirements 402.4.3 Relative and Application-Specific
Requirements 402.4.4 Interconnected and Interrelated Requirements 402.4.5 Complex
Requirements 412.4.6 Cross-disciplinary Requirements 412.4.7 NFRs Evaluation 412.5 ISSUES
WITH QUALITY CLASSIFICATION MODELS 422.6 SUMMARY 433 REQUIREMENT MODELLING FRAMEWORK 443.1 INTRODUCTION 443.2 REQUIREMENTS
ENGINEERING AND REQUIREMENTS ENGINEERING PROCESSES 443.2.1 Requirements Modelling,
Specification and Management 463.2.2 Requirements Elicitation 483.2.3 Requirements
Analysis and Negotiation 493.2.4 Requirements Verification and Validation 503.2.5 Requirement
Development Throughout the Requirement Process 513.3 GOAL-ORIENTED REQUIREMENTS MODELLING 523.3.1 The
NFR Framework 533.3.2 i* Framework 563.3.3 KAOS 593.4 OTHER REQUIREMENTS MODELLING
APPROACHES 603.4.1 Object-oriented Requirements Modelling 603.4.2 Business Process
Requirements Modelling 613.5 ISSUES RELATED TO QR MODELLING IN EXISTING REQUIREMENT
MODELLING APPROACHES 623.6 SUMMARY 644 INTEGRATED MODELLING APPROACHES FOR SOFTWARE
SYSTEMS 654.1 INTRODUCTION 654.2 ZACHMAN FRAMEWORK FOR ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE 654.3 CURTIS’S
MODELLING PERSPECTIVES FOR SOFTWARE PROCESS 684.4 INTEGRATIVE APPROACH TO MULTI-PERSPECTIVES
BUSINESS PROCESS MODELLING 694.5 RELEVANCE OF MULTI-PERSPECTIVES MODELLING FRAMEWORK
TO QR MODELLING 704.6 SUMMARY 735 QRMF: QUALITY REQUIREMENTS MODELLING FRAMEWORK 745.1 INTRODUCTION 745.2 QRMF
OVERVIEW 745.3 QUALITY REQUIREMENTS CONCEPTS 765.3.1 Quality Requirements Concerns 775.3.2 Quality
Requirements Description 785.3.3 Quality Requirement Description Schema 835.4 QRMF
REPRESENTATIONAL SCHEMA STRUCTURE 845.4.1 Row One: Strategic Level 865.4.2 Row Two:
Tactical Level 875.4.3 Row Three: Operational Level 875.4.4 Column One: Goal View 885.4.5 Column
Two: Agent View 885.4.6 Column Three: Structure View 895.4.7 Column Four: Function
View 895.4.8 Column Five: Architecture View 895.4.9 Column Six: Behaviour View 905.5 THE
FRAMEWORK CELLS – REPRESENTING DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES OF QR 905.5.1 Strategic Goal,
Cell (1,1) 915.5.2 Strategic Agent, Cell (1,2) 935.5.3 Strategic Structure, Cell (1,3) 935.5.4 Strategic
Function, Cell (1,4) 935.5.5 Strategic Architecture, Cell (1,5) 935.5.6 Strategic
Behaviour, Cell (1,6) 945.5.7 Tactical Goal, Cell (2,1) 945.5.8 Tactical Agent, Cell
(2,2) 955.5.9 Tactical Structure, Cell (2,3) 955.5.10 Tactical Function, Cell (2,4) 955.5.11 Tactical
Architecture, Cell (2,5) 965.5.12 Tactical Behaviour, Cell (2,6) 965.5.13 Operational
Goal, Cell (3,1) 975.5.14 Operational Agent, Cell (3,2) 975.5.15 Operational Structure,
Cell (3,3) 975.5.16 Operational Function, Cell (3,4) 985.5.17 Operational Architecture,
Cell (3,5) 985.5.18 Operational Behaviour, Cell (3,6) 995.6 THE QRMF CONTRIBUTIONS
AND FEATURES 995.7 SUMMARY 1006 THE QRMF META-MODEL 1026.1 INTRODUCTION 1026.2 QRMF
META-MODEL STRUCTURE 1026.2.1 The Meta-Meta Level 1036.2.2 The Meta-Level 1046.2.3 The
Domain Level 1046.2.4 The Instance level 1046.3 QRMF META-MODEL 1046.3.1 Goal package 1056.3.2 Agent
package 1056.3.3 Structure package 1066.3.4 Function package 1066.3.5 Architectural
package 1066.3.6 Behaviour package 1076.4 THE GOAL META-MODEL 1076.5 AGENT META-MODEL 1096.6 STRUCTURE
META-MODEL 1116.7 FUNCTION META-MODEL 1126.8 ARCHITECTURE META-MODEL 1146.9 BEHAVIOUR
META-MODEL 1166.10 SUMMARY 1187 THE QRMF MODELLING PROCESS 1207.1 OVERALL MODELLING
PROCESS FOR THE FRAMEWORK 1207.2 PHASE ONE: CAPTURE STRATEGIC REQUIREMENTS 1227.3 PHASE
TWO: CAPTURE TACTICAL REQUIREMENTS 1257.4 PHASE THREE: CAPTURE OPERATIONAL REQUIREMENTS 1327.5 SUMMARY 1418 CASE
STUDY: APPLYING THE QRMF TO A RADIOLOGY REPORTING SYSTEM 1438.1 CASE STUDY HYPOTHESIS
AND THE EVALUATION MEASURES 1438.2 BACKGROUND FOR THE PILOT STUDY 1448.3 CONSIDERATIONS
FOR THE CASE STUDY 1488.4 CONDUCTING THE CASE STUDY 1498.4.1 Phase One: Strategic
Level 1498.4.2 Phase Two: Tactical level 1548.4.3 Phase Three: Operational Level 1578.5 CASE
STUDY ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 1669 APPLICABILITY AND COMPARISON WITH RELATED WORKS 1689.1 INTRODUCTION 1689.2 EVALUATION
OF THE APPLICABILITY OF THE QRMF META-MODEL 1689.2.1 Applicability to Convey Generic
Concepts for Goal Modelling View 1699.2.2 Applicability to Convey Generic Concepts
for architecture Modelling View 1709.3 EVALUATION OF THE APPLICABILITY OF THE QRMF
MODELLING PROCESS 1719.3.1 Applicability of the Modelling Process to Adopting the
QRMF Via Object-Oriented Approach: 1729.3.2 Applicability of the Modelling Process
to the Adoption of the QRMF by the Process-Oriented Approach: 1759.3.3 Summary of
the Analysis 1779.4 EVALUATION OF QRMF AGAINST RELATED WORK 1799.4.1 Process-Oriented
Approaches to QR 1799.4.2 Extension of Requirements Models to Address QR 1829.5 SUMMARY 18510 CONCLUSION 18710.1 THESIS
CONTRIBUTIONS 18710.2 LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH 18910.3 FUTURE WORK 190REFERENCES 191APPENDIX
A 201APPENDIX B 204
Abstract:
In recent years, a considerable amount of research has been conducted in modelling
non-functional requirements (NFR) or Quality Requirements (QR). However, in comparison
with functional requirements (FR) modelling, QR models are still immature and have
not been widely adopted. The fundamental reason for this shortfall outlined in this
thesis is that the existing QR modelling approaches have not adequately considered
the challenging nature of QRs. In this thesis, this limitation is addressed through
integrating QR modelling with FR modelling in a multi-perspective modelling framework.
This framework, thus called QRMF (Quality Requirements Modelling Framework), is developed
offering a process-oriented approach to modelling QR from different views and at different
phases of requirement. These models are brought together in a descriptive representation
schema, which represents a logical structure to guide the construction of requirement
models comprehensively and with consistency. The research presented in the thesis
introduces a generic meta-meta model for QRMF to aid understanding the abstract concepts
and further guide the modelling process; it offers a reference blueprint to develop
a modelling tool applicable to the framework. QRMF is supported by a modelling process,
which guides requirement engineers to capture a set of complete, traceable and comprehensible
QR models for software system. The thesis presents a case study, which evaluates the
practicality and applicability of the QRMF. Finally, the framework is evaluated theoretically,
through comparing and contrasting related approaches found in the literature