Automating System Test Case Classification and Prioritization for Use Case-Driven Testing in Product Lines

in Empirical Software Engineering (2020), 25(5), 37113769

Product Line Engineering (PLE) is a crucial practice in many software development environments where software systems are complex and developed for multiple customers with varying needs. At the same time ... [more ▼]

Product Line Engineering (PLE) is a crucial practice in many software development environments where software systems are complex and developed for multiple customers with varying needs. At the same time, many development processes are use case-driven and this strongly influences their requirements engineering and system testing practices. In this paper, we propose, apply, and assess an automated system test case classification and prioritization approach specifically targeting system testing in the context of use case-driven development of product families. Our approach provides: (i) automated support to classify, for a new product in a product family, relevant and valid system test cases associated with previous products, and (ii) automated prioritization of system test cases using multiple risk factors such as fault-proneness of requirements and requirements volatility in a product family. Our evaluation was performed in the context of an industrial product family in the automotive domain. Results provide empirical evidence that we propose a practical and beneficial way to classify and prioritize system test cases for industrial product lines. [less ▲]

Configuring use case models in product families

in Software and Systems Modeling (2018), 17(3), 939-971

In many domains such as automotive and avionics, the size and complexity of software systems is quickly increasing. At the same time, many stakeholders tend to be involved in the development of such ... [more ▼]

In many domains such as automotive and avionics, the size and complexity of software systems is quickly increasing. At the same time, many stakeholders tend to be involved in the development of such systems, which typically must also be configured for multiple customers with varying needs. Product Line Engineering (PLE) is therefore an inevitable practice for such systems. Furthermore, because in many areas requirements must be explicit and traceability to them is required by standards, use cases and domain models are common practice for requirements elicitation and analysis. In this paper, based on the above observations, we aim at supporting PLE in the context of use case-centric development. Therefore, we propose, apply, and assess a use case-driven configuration approach which interactively receives configuration decisions from the analysts to generate Product Specific (PS) use case and domain models. Our approach provides the following: (1) a use case-centric product line modeling method (PUM), (2) automated, interactive configuration support based on PUM, and (3) an automatic generation of PS use case and domain models from Product Line (PL) models and configuration decisions. The approach is supported by a tool relying on Natural Language Processing (NLP), and integrated with an industrial requirements management tool, i.e., IBM Doors. We successfully applied and evaluated our approach to an industrial case study in the automotive domain, thus showing evidence that the approach is practical and beneficial to capture variability at the appropriate level of granularity and to configure PS use case and domain models in industrial settings. [less ▲]

A Change Management Approach in Product Lines for Use Case-Driven Development and Testing

in 23rd International Working Conference on Requirements Engineering: Foundation for software Quality (REFSQ 2017) (2017, March)

In this paper, driven by industrial needs, we present a change management approach for product lines within the context of use case-driven development and testing. As part of the approach, we first ... [more ▼]

In this paper, driven by industrial needs, we present a change management approach for product lines within the context of use case-driven development and testing. As part of the approach, we first provide a modeling method to support variability modeling in Product Line (PL) use case diagrams, specifications, and domain models, intentionally avoiding any reliance on feature models and thus avoiding unnecessary modeling and traceability overhead. Then, we introduce a use case-driven configuration approach based on the proposed modelling method to automatically generate Product Specific (PS) use case and domain models from the PL models and configuration decisions. Building on this, we provide a change impact analysis approach for evolving configuration decisions in PL use case models. In addition, we plan to develop a change impact analysis approach for evolving PL use case models and an automated regression test selection technique for evolving configuration decisions and PL models. [less ▲]

PUMConf: A Tool to Configure Product Specific Use Case and Domain Models in a Product Line

in 24th ACM SIGSOFT International Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering (2016, November)

We present PUMConf, a tool for supporting configuration that currently focuses on requirements and enables effective product line management in the context of use case-driven development. By design, it ... [more ▼]

We present PUMConf, a tool for supporting configuration that currently focuses on requirements and enables effective product line management in the context of use case-driven development. By design, it relies exclusively on variability modeling for artifacts that are commonly used in such contexts (i.e., use case diagram, specifications and domain model). For given Product Line (PL) use case and domain models, PUMConf checks the consistency of the models, interactively receives configuration decisions from analysts, automatically checks decision consistency, and generates Product Specific (PS) use case and domain models from the PL models and decisions. It has been evaluated on an industrial case study in the automotive domain. [less ▲]

Applying Product Line Use Case Modeling in an Industrial Automotive Embedded System: Lessons Learned and a Refined Approach

in 2015 ACM/IEEE 18th International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems (MODELS), September 30 - October 2, 2015, Ottawa, ON, Canada (2015, October 03)

In this paper, we propose, apply, and assess Product line Use case modeling Method (PUM), an approach that supports modeling variability at different levels of granularity in use cases and domain models ... [more ▼]

In this paper, we propose, apply, and assess Product line Use case modeling Method (PUM), an approach that supports modeling variability at different levels of granularity in use cases and domain models. Our motivation is that, in many software development environments, use case modeling drives interactions among stakeholders and, therefore, use cases and domain models are common practice for requirements elicitation and analysis. In PUM, we integrate and adapt existing product line extensions for use cases and introduce some template extensions for use case specifications. Variability is captured in use case diagrams while it is reflected at a greater level of detail in use case specifications. Variability in domain concepts is captured in domain models. PUM is supported by a tool relying on Natural Language Processing (NLP). We successfully applied PUM to an industrial automotive embedded system and report lessons learned and results from structured interviews with experienced engineers. [less ▲]