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AN INITIAL ONTOLOGY FOR SYSTEM QUALITIES
Author(s) -
Boehm Barry,
Kukreja Nupul
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
insight
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2156-4868
pISSN - 2156-485X
DOI - 10.1002/inst.12160
Subject(s) - ontology , computer science , usability , set (abstract data type) , reliability (semiconductor) , process ontology , key (lock) , knowledge management , systems engineering , risk analysis (engineering) , process management , engineering , human–computer interaction , computer security , business , philosophy , power (physics) , physics , epistemology , domain knowledge , quantum mechanics , programming language
This paper presents an initial ontology for reasoning about a system's System Qualities (SQs), ilities, or non‐functional requirements (reliability, usability, affordability, and more). The need for such ontology is based primarily on two factors. One is the importance of getting the SQs sufficiently well defined such that the system's definition, development, and evolution result in a satisfactory balance of SQ values for the system's success‐critical stakeholders, given the frequent system shortfalls and overruns that occur when the system does not achieve this balance. The other is that current system acquisition and evolution guidance descriptions have numerous deficiencies and inconsistencies in their coverage of SQ considerations. This situation is becoming more serious as systems and their stakeholders become increasingly complex, dynamic, and diverse. This paper provides an elaboration of the needs, a set of initial SQ ontology elements and definitions, examples of their application to some key SQs and their relationships, and an identification of further research and development needed to make the ontology fully useful and evolvable.