The Requirements Engineering Specialist Group
of the British Computer Society

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About the RESG

Requirements engineering is the elicitation, definition, modelling, analysis, specification and validation of what is needed from a system. It draws on techniques from software engineering, knowledge acquisition, cognitive science and the social sciences. The Requirements Engineering Specialist Group (RESG) welcomes members from, and organises events for, practitioners, academics and students working in the field of requirements engineering. Meetings are held in a variety of locations in the UK, including London, Manchester, York and Edinburgh.

The RESG offers the opportunity for requirements engineering practitioners, researchers, educators and students to exchange experiences and new technologies through workshops, seminars and tutorials on all aspects of requirements engineering. These include, but are not restricted to:

- Requirements engineering case studies and experiences
- Requirements engineering standards
- Requirements engineering methods and environments
- Formal representation schemes and specification languages
- Descriptions of the requirements engineering process
- Requirements validation
- Requirements elicitation
- Requirements traceability
- Requirements metrics
- Requirements reuse
- Requirements prototyping
- Animation and execution of requirements
- Multiple viewpoints on requirements
- Non-functional requirements
- Acquisition of requirements through reverse engineering and re-engineering
- Domain modelling and analysis for requirements engineering
- Artificial intelligence techniques for requirements engineering
- Relevance of cognitive science and HCI for requirements engineering
- Requirements for the human-computer interface of computer systems
- Communication in grotop and co-operative work in requirements engineering
- Organisation modelling, including identification of stakeholders
- Political and cultural issues surrounding requirements engineering
- Philosophical and social underpinnings for requirements engineering

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RESG Executive Committee

Patron
Michael Jackson (Independent Consultant & Open University)

Committee Members

Chair
Peter Sawyer (Lancaster University)

Vice-Chair
Kathy Maitland (University of Central England)

Secretary
Lucia Rapanotti (Open University)

Treasurer
Neil Maiden (City University)

Membership
Yijun Yu (Open University)

Publicity
William Heaven (Imperial College London)

Industrial Liaisons
Alistair Mavin (Praxis Critical Systems & Rolls Royce)
Suzanne Roberston (The Atlantic Systems Guild Ltd)

Newsletter Editor
Ian Alexander (Scenario Plus Ltd)

Newsletter Reporters
Ljerka Beus-Dukic (University of Westminster)
Stephen Nolan (Charteris Plc)

Regional Officer
Steve Armstrong (Open University)

Student Officer
Dalal Alrajeh (Imperial College London)

Immediate Past Chair
Bashar Nuseibeh (Open University)

Outgoing Secretary
David Bush (NATS)

Emmanuel Letier (University College London)
Sara Jones (City University)


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Patron's Message

Variety in Requirements Engineering

By BCS RESG Patron, Michael Jackson

Many widely used approaches to requirements engineering are apparently intended for universal application. Look, for example, at the books about UML and the Rational Unified process. They don't mention any restriction on applicability: apparently you can use UML and RUP for any software development whatsoever. It seems reasonable. After all, computers are general-purpose machines. You can use the same computer hardware for running an e-commerce website or as a private telephone switch for an office; to forecast the weather or manage a lending library; to run a video game or to control the braking of a motor car; to schedule meetings or to administer bank accounts. The computer is general-purpose, so you need a general-purpose method for developing the requirements for these systems and their software don't you?

No, you don't. You need a particular specialised method that is closely tuned to the particular kind of problem you are dealing with. Actually, you probably need several specialised methods, even if you are only dealing with one problem. Realistic problems are heterogeneous: they have to be broken down into a number of subproblems, and the subproblems won't be all of the same kind.

The problems will be different in various ways. They will be about different parts of the world: about the earth's atmosphere, about the Electronic Data Interchange message streams that arrive nightly at the bank, about motor car wheels and brakes, about books and library members. They will raise different concerns: a video game needs high-speed graphics, but weather forecasting needs high-speed calculation; an ABS system needs precise control engineering and maximum reliability, but a telephone switch needs robustness in the presence of errors arising from complex call-processing feature interactions; bank accounts need high security and cast-iron audit trails, but a meeting scheduler needs convenience above all. Their requirements must be developed in different social contexts: the meeting scheduler and lending library need negotiation and compromise among conflicting interests, but the braking system and weather forecasting surely don't; the e-commerce website involves other organisations such as fulfilment and credit card companies, but the telephone switch doesn't. The criterion for a successful system will be judged at different distances from the computer: the video game's success can be judged sitting in front of the screen, and the telephone switch by using the attached telephones; but the meeting scheduler and the lending library must be judged more remotely by their effects on the users' and members' activities, both when they are and when they are not interacting with the computer.

In the face of this diversity it's absurd to expect one requirements engineering approach to work well for all applications. We need to develop and use many specialised methods. We must recognise several distinct branches of requirements engineering, just as there are several established branches of engineering. Car designers don't undertake to design computers; chemical engineers don't design tunnels. Why should a telephone switch requirements engineer expect to develop requirements for a lending library?

In RESG we can help to move towards the specialisation that is the absolute prerequisite of a mature discipline consistently producing high-quality products. We can focus our attention more on the problems and less on their solutions. We can look more critically at our projects, asking ourselves where they succeeded and where they failed, and diagnosing the causes in the suitability or unsuitability of the development methods we used. This way, we can create and maintain intellectual structures for learning from our experience. That is the indispensable foundation for all engineering disciplines worthy of the name.

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RESG nominated Professor Michael Jackson for the BCS Lovelace Award.

Extract from BCS News Release 25 November 1998

"The BCS will also award the first of its new Lovelace Medals which are presented to individuals who have made a major contribution to the advancement of Information Systems or which adds significantly to the understanding of the development of Information Systems. These will be awarded to Chris Burton and Michael Jackson.

Professor Michael Jackson is an outstanding software practitioner, teacher, and scholar, and has played an almost unique role in the development of Information Systems and academic research for over 25 years. Although he has spent his working life in the software development industry, successfully dealing with industrial problems and issues, he has also laid down some of the foundations for programming methodology. Moreover, he has translated these into practical techniques which are internationally recognised and accepted. His work on structured development of information systems has laid the foundations for many of the popular software development methods currently in use today. He has combined the best in rigorous academic research with the insight and practice of industrial experience."

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BCS RESG Website Disclaimer

1. The copyright in the material contained in this website belongs to the BCS RESG or the authors of articles and other material published on the website. You are permitted to view this website on your computer screen and print its contents on your printer without charge for your personal and non-commercial use only. Permission to use or reproduce any of this material in any other manner including but not limited to publication, reproduction, transmission or storage on any other website, must be obtained from the individual authors of the material or the RESG, the British Computer Society, 1 Sanford Street, Swindon, Wiltshire SN1 1HJ, accordingly.

2. RESG offers a facility for the publication of news articles, jobs, events and calls for papers for users involved within the Requirements Engineering community. Although the website is monitored and all articles are vetted/edited before being published, the RESG makes no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the accuracy, completeness, suitability or reliability of any information presented on the website. Any reliance you place on any such material is therefore strictly at your own risk. The RESG advises all users of its website to contact the stated primary source before acting topon any of the information provided.

3. The RESG will not be liable (save for death or personal injury resulting from its own negligence) for any false, inaccurate, inappropriate or incomplete information presented on the website, nor for any consequences arising from the use of any information that is or has been on the site.

4. The RESG committee reserves the right to refuse any news article submitted. Similarly, an article may be removed at any time, without notice and at the RESG committee sole discretion, if the article is no longer considered suitable for the site.

5. Although every effort is made to keep the website top and running smoothly, due to the nature of the Internet and the technology involved, the RESG take no responsibility for and will not be liable for the web site being temporarily unavailable due to technical issues (or otherwise) beyond its control or for any loss or damage suffered (save for death or personal injury resulting from its own negligence) as a result of the use of or access to, or inability to use or access this website whatsoever.

6. Certain links in this website will lead to websites which are not under the control of the RESG. When you activate any of these you will leave this website. The RESG has no control over and accepts no responsibility or liability in respect of material, products or services available on any website which is not under the control of the RESG.

7. The RESG is happy to permit links to this website. However, all such links must go to the RESG homepage www.resg.org.uk. In addition, the website from which the link is made must be appropriate, relevant in the context of the RESG and not detrimental to the RESG.

8. Unless otherwise specified, this website is directed solely at those who access this site from the United Kingdom. The RESG makes no representation that any service or product referred to in the material on this website is appropriate for use, or available, in any location. Those who choose to access this website from locations outside of the United Kingdom are responsible for compliance with local laws if and to the extent local laws are applicable.

9. These disclaimers and exclusions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English law.

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