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PurposeThis article proposes a strategy to make the testing step easier, generating user acceptance tests (UATs) in an automatic way from requirements artifacts.Design/methodology/approachThis strategy is based on two modeling frameworks: scenarios and task/method paradigm. Scenarios are a requirement artifact used to describe business processes and requirements, and task/method paradigm is a modeling paradigm coming from the artificial intelligence field. The proposed strategy is composed of four steps. In the first step, scenarios are described through a semantic wiki website. Then scenarios are automatically translated into a task/method model (step two). In the third step, the task/method model obtained in step two is executed in order to produce and store all possible achievements of tasks and thus scenarios. The stored achievements are saved in a data structure called execution tree (ET). Finally, from this ET (step four), the UATs are generated.FindingsThe feasibility of this strategy is shown through a case study coming from the agriculture production systems field.Originality/valueGenerally, test design approaches deal with a small number of variables describing one specific situation where a decision table or workflow is used to design tests. The proposed approach can deal with many variables because the authors rely on scenarios that can be composed in order to obtain a tree with all the testing paths that can arise from their description.

The design of data warehouses (DWs) is based on both their data sources and users’ requirements. The more closely the DW multidimensional schema reflects the stakeholders’ needs, the more effectively they will make use of the DW content for their OLAP analyses. Thus, considerable attention has been given in the literature to DW requirements analysis, including requirements elicitation, specification and validation. Unfortunately, traditional approaches are based on complex formalisms that cannot be used with decision makers who have no previous experience with DWs and OLAP. This forces a sharp separation between elicitation and specification. To cope with this problem, we propose a new requirements analysis process where pivot tables, a well-known representation for multidimensional data often used by decision makers, are enhanced to be used both for elicitation and as a specification formalism. A pivot table is a two-dimensional spreadsheet that supports the analyses of multidimensional data by nesting several dimensions on the x- or y-axis and displaying data on multiple pages. The requirements analysis process we propose is iterative and relies on both unstructured and structured interviews; particular attention is given to enable the design of irregular multidimensional schemata, which are often present in real-world DWs but can hardly be understood by unskilled users. Finally, we validate our proposal using a real case study in the biodiversity domain., Laboratorio de Investigación y Formación en Informática Avanzada

Knowledge has long been recognised as a valuable asset to individuals, organisations and economy, subsequently knowledge management (KM) has been a well-established area of research. Existing research has developed various classification schemes for knowledge, and a great number of KM process and lifecycle models have been proposed over the last few decades. In particular, knowledge transfer and sharing has received great attention. However, majority of existing work has focused on knowledge sharing within the same organisation or community where people have a shared sense of identity, values and some common practice, hence knowledge process and learning is within relatively homogeneous groups. There is inadequate research to address the issue of knowledge boundaries and approaches to knowledge mobilisation spanning across knowledge boundaries. The knowledge boundaries can erect significant barriers to knowledge sharing and flowing especially in value chain context where there are a great number of players from different domains, with varied level of knowledge, having different and possibly conflicting interests - participating in knowledge sharing activities. This paper will explore how such knowledge boundaries can be identified and how knowledge gaps among different value chain players can be closed by using appropriate boundary-crossing mechanisms. A multi-perspective knowledge mobilisation framework is proposed. Example applications of the knowledge mobilisation framework in agri-food value chain will be illustrated, based on the most recent developments from an EU collaborative project, RUC-APS (standing for Risk and Uncertain Conditions in Agriculture Production Systems), which is funded by European Commission’s Horizon 2020 RISE programme., Laboratorio de Investigación y Formación en Informática Avanzada

With the aim of pushing innovation through information and communication technology in the agri-business field, working closely with farmers is essential. It is especially important to systematically capture their knowledge in order to analyze, propose and design innovation artifacts (in terms of software applications). In this article, we use Scenarios to capture the knowledge of the experts that is elicited in early meetings previous to the definition of requirements. At those early stages, there are many uncertainties, and we are particularly interested in decision support. Thus, we propose an extension of the Scenarios for dealing with uncertainties. Scenarios are described in natural language, and it is very important to have an unbiased vocabulary. We complement Scenarios with a specific glossary, the Language Extended Lexicon that is also extended to decision support. According to V-model life cycle, every stage has a testing related stage. Thus, we also propose a set of rules to derive tests from the Scenarios. Summing up, we propose (i) an extension to Scenarios and the Language Extended Lexicon templates, (ii) a set of rules to derive tests, and (iii) an application to support the proposed technique. We have applied the proposed approach in a couple of case studies and we are confident that the results are promising. Nevertheless, we need to perform a further exhaustive validation. Laboratorio de Investigación y Formación en Informática Avanzada

Mathematical programming models are invaluable tools at decision making, assisting managers to uncover otherwise 12 unattainable means to optimize their processes. However, the value they provide is only as good as their capacity to 13 capture the process domain. This information can only be obtained from stakeholders, i.e., clients or users, who can 14 hardly communicate the requirements clearly and completely. Besides, existing conceptual models of mathematical 15 programming models are not standardized, nor is the process of deriving the mathematical programming model from 16 the concept model, which remains ad hoc. In this paper, we propose an agile methodology to construct mathematical 17 programming models based on two techniques from requirements engineering that have been proven effective at 18 requirements elicitation: the language extended lexicon (LEL) and scenarios. Using the pair of LEL + scenarios allows 19 to create a conceptual model that is clear and complete enough to derive a mathematical programming model that 20 effectively captures the business domain. We also define an ontology to describe the pair LEL + scenarios, which has 21 been implemented with a semantic mediawiki and allows the collaborative construction of the conceptual model and 22 the semi-automatic derivation of mathematical programming model elements. The process is applied and validated in 23 a known fresh tomato packing optimization problem. This proposal can be of high relevance for the development and 24 implementation of mathematical programming models for optimizing agriculture and supply chain management 25 related processes in order to fill the current gap between mathematical programming models in the theory and the 26 practice., Laboratorio de Investigación y Formación en Informática Avanzada

One of the most important aspects for the development of information systems is that they were interoperable, so many initiatives consider that ontologies as useful tools for their development, especially when the application is in complex and dynamic domains as the case of health. In this article, a systematic review (SR) of the existing literature related to ontologies used in the health sector is carried out, not only to interpret and synthesize the available studies but also to provide a framework as a basis for conducting new researches. Recent publications (2010- 2016) in which topics such as the use and impact of ontologies in the development of information systems are discussed, taking into account the organizational objectives and the involved stakeholders were considered. The number of published studies shows a growing interest by researchers because they consider ontologies artifacts that facilitate interoperability, understanding of information and communication structures.

En esta tesis se describe un análisis conceptual de la vinculación entre LEL, escenarios y tarjetas CRC, con el fin de determinar un conjunto de reglas que prescriban, en función de los cambios que se producen en el LEL y los escenarios, qué cambios deben sufrir los demás elementos. La tarea de determinar los cambios producidos en LEL y escenarios, seleccionar la regla adecuada y aplicarla, es una tarea ardua, propensa a errores y que se puede automatizar. Ramesh [Ramesh 1998] plantea la importancia de utilizar herramientas automatizadas para esta tarea. El Baseline Mentor Workbench administra LEL, escenarios, tarjetas CRC e implementa las reglas de Leonardi. Las reglas de forward traceability se implementarán en Baseline Mentor Workbench. El objetivo de esta tesis es desarrollar un modelo de rastreabilidad hacia adelante (forward traceability) en el marco de LEL, escenarios y tarjetas CRC. El mismo se implementará en Baseline Mentor Workbench., Facultad de Informática

The design of tests is a very important step in the software development process since it allows us to match the users’ expectations with the finished product. Considered as a cumbersome activity, efforts have been made to automatize and alleviate the burden of test generation, but it is still a largely neglected step. We propose taking advantage of existing requirement artifacts, like Scenarios that describe the dynamic of the domain in a very early stage of software development, to obtain tests from them. In particular, the approach proposed complement the Scenarios that are textually described with a glossary, the Language Extended Lexicon. Thus, a set of rules to derive tests from Scenarios is also proposed. The tests are then described using the Task/Method model. The main findings of this work consist of an extension of a previously presented set of rules. And a tool based on a media wiki platform that makes possible to record Scenarios and the Language Extended Lexicon and implement the rules to obtain the tests. The main originality of this work is the glossary which complements Scenarios, the semantic support to obtain tests and the tool to automatize the approach., Laboratorio de Investigación y Formación en Informática Avanzada