REAIMS Improvement Model

Introduction

The requirements engineering activity has often been identified as a key problem area in the development of complex systems. It is an activity that is difficult to define and organise since it sits at the interface of corporate decision making on the one side, based on corporate knowledge and experience, and system development on the other, based on the technical skills of experts. As such it has been poorly addressed by existing Systems Engineering and Quality Improvement techniques.

The REAIMS-Improvement Model

The REAIMS project has identified four key causes of errors in requirements engineering :

lack of memorisation of new experience emanating from similar systems developments,
incorrect reasoning, at the abstract level, about the requirements specification,
poorly structured information about requirements relative to the critical concerns of users, and
human factors problems in the process of co-operative work.

The REAIMS Improvement model has been developed to eliminate these sources of errors and improve the quality of the resulting specifications. This model is illustrated in the diagram below :

The focusing on this process model has driven the development of a family of techniques to support the Requirements Engineering (RE) activity :

Memorisation of Experience for Requirements Elaboration (MERE),
Formal Reasoning in Requirements Engineering (FRERE),
Process Evaluation for dependable cooperative work in Requirements Engineering (PERE), and
Process Engineering Techniques (PREview) based on the Viewpoints structuring approach.

How to apply

The REAIMS techniques are packaged as a set of modular guides. Good practice guides are also available covering the technical, process improvement, and safety issues in Requirements Engineering.

REAIMS package components

More information available from:

Stephen Shirlaw
Project Coordinator
GEC Alsthom
Phone: +44-181-236-9254
FAX: +44-181-207-6694
email: s.shirlaw@gasl.co.uk

Jean-Pierre Heckmann
Aerospatiale Avions
A/BTE/SY/SQIP
316, Route de Bayonne
F-31060CX Toulouse
France Phone: +33-6193 6012
FAX: +33-6193 8090
email: jean-pierre.heckmann@avions.aerospatiale.fr

Herbert Schippers
TÜV Informationstechnik GmbH
Im Teelbruch 122
D - 45219 Essen
Germany Phone: +49 201 825 5120
FAX: +49 201 825 5131
email: H.Schippers@tuvit.cubis.de

Prof Ian Sommerville
Computing Department
Lancaster University
Lancaster LA1 4YR
United Kingdom Phone: +44-1524-593795
FAX: +44-1524-593608
email: is@comp.lancs.ac.uk

Robin Bloomfield
Adelard
3, Coborn Road
London E3 2DA
United Kingdom Phone: +44-181 983 0217
FAX: +44-181 983 1845
email: reb@adelard.co.uk

Page last updated Thu, 18 December 1997. Please report problems to reaims-request@comp.lancs.ac.uk

	Stephen Shirlaw Project Coordinator GEC Alsthom	Phone: +44-181-236-9254 FAX: +44-181-207-6694 email: s.shirlaw@gasl.co.uk
	Jean-Pierre Heckmann Aerospatiale Avions A/BTE/SY/SQIP 316, Route de Bayonne F-31060CX Toulouse France	Phone: +33-6193 6012 FAX: +33-6193 8090 email: jean-pierre.heckmann@avions.aerospatiale.fr
	Herbert Schippers TÜV Informationstechnik GmbH Im Teelbruch 122 D - 45219 Essen Germany	Phone: +49 201 825 5120 FAX: +49 201 825 5131 email: H.Schippers@tuvit.cubis.de
	Prof Ian Sommerville Computing Department Lancaster University Lancaster LA1 4YR United Kingdom	Phone: +44-1524-593795 FAX: +44-1524-593608 email: is@comp.lancs.ac.uk
	Robin Bloomfield Adelard 3, Coborn Road London E3 2DA United Kingdom	Phone: +44-181 983 0217 FAX: +44-181 983 1845 email: reb@adelard.co.uk

REAIMS Improvement Model

Introduction

The REAIMS-Improvement Model

How to apply

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