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Methodologies to evolve formal specifications through refinement and retrenchment in an analysis - Revision cycle

Abstract:

The development of requirement specifications is done by accumulating knowledge about the desired systems in a progressive manner. This process can be supported by an analysis-revision cycle, in which the analysis phase checks the correctness of a given specification, and the revision phase modifies it, in case some problems are detected. To date, the analysis and revision activities have been typically considered in isolation, resulting in ineffective support to the stakeholders' work. In response to that, this article introduces methodologies to conduct an interactive and integrated approach, grounded on the formalization of two basic types of evolutions (refinements and retrenchments) over multi-valued specification and modeling formalisms. Evaluation results are included to show that this approach can indeed help the stakeholders identify and clarify requirements through different stages of development. © Springer-Verlag London Limited 2009.