Date: Tue, 19 Oct 93 11:40:44 BST To: re-world@doc.ic.ac.uk From: acwf@doc.ic.ac.uk (Anthony Finkelstein) X-Sender: acwf@gummo.doc.ic.ac.uk Subject: REQUIREMENTS ENGINEERING NEWSLETTER (14) ****************REQUIREMENTS ENGINEERING NEWSLETTER******************** No. 14. Contents 1. Cooperative Information Systems CFP (Matthias Jarke) 2. The Clean Sheet of Paper (Joseph Goguen) 3. 6th Conf. on Advanced Information Systems Engineering (Sjaak Brinkkemper) ---ANNOUNCEMENTS & ABSTRACTS OF TECHNICAL REPORTS ARE PARTICULARLY WELCOME!--- Contributions to: re-list@doc.ic.ac.uk (will be moderated) Subscription or Removal to: re-request@doc.ic.ac.uk Back issues can be obtained via anonymous ftp from ftp-host: dse.doc.ic.ac.uk (IP number: 146.169.2.20). Directory: requirements. Files are called renl1, renl2, etc. If you cannot use ftp then you can get any back issues using email. Send email containing the following to ftpmail@doc.ic.ac.uk open dse.doc.ic.ac.uk cd requirements get quit ********************************************************************** Subject: Cooperative Information Systems From: Matthias Jarke CALL FOR PAPERS SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COOPERATIVE INFORMATION SYSTEMS (CoopIS-94) Formerly "Intelligent & Cooperative Information Systems (ICICIS)" May 17-20, 1994 Royal York Hotel, Toronto, Canada Supported by the Information Technology Research Centre of Ontario Sponsored by the University of Toronto In cooperation with ACM SIGOIS and ACM SIGMOD (pending approval) TSUNAMI - THE TIDAL WAVE IS HERE -------------------------------- Within most organizations, worldwide, mission critical information systems (ISs) already cooperate or are being converted to do so to meet basic business requirements. Due to the lack of appropriate concepts, techniques, and tools, this is being done using primitive means thereby creating problems that will dwarf those of current legacy information systems. This conference is devoted to addressing this tidal wave facing the information systems community. COOPERATIVE INFORMATION SYSTEMS: THE NEXT GENERATION AND THE CHALLENGE ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The paradigm for the next generation of ISs will involve large numbers of ISs distributed over large, complex computer/communication networks. This ranges from the vast and visionary Electronic Superhighway, to the large and complex billing system of a telephone company, an even to the small patient information system in a one-doctor office. Such ISs will manage or have access to large amounts of information and computing services. They will support individual or collaborative human work. Computation will be conducted concurrently over the network by software systems that range from conventional to advanced application systems including expert systems, and multiagent planning systems. Information and services will be available in many forms through legacy and new information repositories that support a host of information services. Communication among component systems will be done in a centralized or distributed fashion, using communication protocols that range from conventional ones to those based on distributed AI. We call such next generation ISs Cooperative Information Systems (CIS). Soon, the operation of a one-doctor office may critically depend on its ISs' ability to cooperate with foreign ISs not just for reimbursement (i.e., required by insurance organizations) but also for patients (e.g., exchanging information in medical crises). Demand for more efficient processes and use of all resources will come from economic and business conditions (e.g., competition, imperative for wider marketplaces, and cooperation and distribution in the production of goods and services) that have led to downsizing and re-engineering . IS technology, one of the largest costs of many organizations, can be the problem, or part of the solution. The demands are pervasive from vast organizations to very small. The requirements span conventional organizational and legal boundaries such as countries, companies (e.g., virtual companies), disciplines (e.g., concurrent engineering spanning a products entire life span). The CIS paradigm is evolving to meet these demands thus raising challenges for the supporting technologies. Unlike previous major computing advances based on single technologies, the CIS paradigm will evolve from the integration of many, currently disjoint technologies. Database Systems will contribute information management techniques, particularly for distributed or heterogeneous databases, as well as efficient implementation techniques for information bases. Artificial Intelligence will contribute knowledge representation and reasoning techniques, on the one hand, and distributed problem solving and planning techniques in a multiagent environment on the other. Operating Systems will contribute resource management techniques over large distributed computer/communications networks. Programming Languages will contribute languages and type/object systems for cooperative programming. Software/Knowledge/Information Engineering will contribute design and development environments/shells and methodologies for CIS development and evolution. Computer Communications will provide the necessary underlying communication and interconnection technology. Other relevant technologies include: Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Distributed Computing, Organizational Computing, and Interoperability. The challenge is to effectively combine these technologies and their contributions to meet CIS requirements. A significant challenge is to overcome the existing boundaries to achieve a common understanding of the relevant issues. CIS will become reality through research in concepts, methodologies, techniques, and tools for the efficient - and transparent - integration of computing resources that are accessible over large computer/communications networks which may become indistinguishable from the CISs themselves. More important is the technology transfer and communication required between the significant, practical situations, which exemplify the requirements, and the research community that tries to address them. But most important is an increased common understanding across the existing boundaries as to the nature of the problems, the requirements, and adequate approaches to address them. THE CONFERENCE -------------- The CoopIS-94 conference will provide a forum for the presentation and dissemination of this research covering all aspects of CIS conception, requirements, functionality, implementation, deployment, and evolution. The CoopIS-94 conference programme will include technical sessions, invited presentations, panels, and tutorials that deal with CISs and the integration of relevant technologies. In addition, CoopIS-94 plans to host special sessions on the industrial applicability of CIS technology. Further information about the conference and its programme can be obtained from the General and Program Co-Chairs and by anonymous FTP from ftp.cs.toronto.edu (128.100.1.105) under directory pub/coopis or by sending e-mail to coopis@cs.toronto.edu. TOPICS OF INTEREST (not limited to:) ------------------ CIS Systems Issues: o CIS Principles - cooperation, intelligence, autonomy o CIS Architectures and communication protocols - novel open architectures, blackboard systems, multiagent planning frameworks, speech acts, advanced information services in support of interoperability o Core Technology for CIS - open distributed computing architectures, type systems, object models and advanced transaction models for interoperability, advanced query models and languages, active databases o CIS Implementation Techniques - novel programming languages for CISs, interoperability issues in distributed heterogeneous information bases, multi-database transaction scheduling and execution, rule bases o Integration Challenges - interoperability, multiple paradigms, forms of transparency, object and transaction model integration, global information (e.g., schemas, directories, repositories), semantic interoperability, negotiation, optimization (e.g., queries, indexing, ...) CIS Modelling, Migration, and Evolution: o CIS Applications - current and future o Information Modeling and Reasoning techniques for CISs - multiple perspective representations, non-deductive forms of inference (inductive, analogical, case-based, ...), multiagent planning and problem solving o Advanced CIS Programming - workflows, transactions, information requests, policy/rule-driven systems, mega-programming, multiple programming paradigms o Information Engineering for CIS - information acquisition, classification and retrieval techniques and tools, information sharing and management o Re-Engineering - concepts, tools, and methodologies; re-engineer legacy and new information systems into CISs o CIS Evolution - concepts, tools, and techniques for CIS design, development, and maintenance o Information Agents - novel models and organizations, application of information agent technology in virtual laboratories, concurrent engineering and other groupware frameworks. INFORMATION FOR AUTHORS ----------------------- Authors must clearly relate the contribution of their work to the concept of CIS, rather than just describing aspects of a component technology (e.g., state assumptions or definitions as to the nature of CISs). Papers which illustrate their results in terms of an CIS application or address technology integration issues leading to CISs are particularly welcome. Submission must be identified as one of three different categories: visions, research, and experience. Vision papers should present stimulating challenges, ideas, or visions that lead to exciting and valuable CIS research directions. Vision papers will be evaluated with respect to innovation, realizable applications and technologies, and technical challenges posed (e.g., that do not currently admit of solutions). Research papers should advance the state of the art of CIS and will be evaluated using conventional scientific criteria. Experience papers should describe the practical applications of CIS concepts or methods. They will be evaluated in terms of lessons learned, research issues raised, and solutions to realistic challenges, such as those of legacy information systems. Five copies of original and compelling unpublished papers up to 5000 words that are not under consideration for publication elsewhere during the reviewing period should be sent to the appropriate Programme Committee Co-Chair. Restricted electronic submission may be acceptable. For instructions contact the appropriate PC Co-Chair. Submissions must include contact information (contact name, postal and e-mail address, and phone number), a 100-word abstract, exact word count, and explicitly indicate the paper category (vision, research, or experience). The edited proceedings of CoopIS-94 will appear as a book from a major international publisher. Selected articles will be considered for publication in the International Journal of Intelligent and Cooperative Information Systems. IMPORTANT DATES --------------- December 1, 1993 paper, panel, and tutorial submissions due February 1, 1994 notification of acceptance March 1, 1994 camera-ready version due GENERAL CHAIR ------------- John Mylopoulos Dept. Computer Science University of Toronto 6 King's College Road, Toronto M5S 1A4, Canada jm@cs.toronto.edu PROGRAM CO-CHAIRS ----------------- America (North & South) Europe & Middle East Far East, Africa, Australia Michael L. Brodie Matthias Jarke Mike P. Papazoglou Distributed Object Informatik V School of Computing Department Information Systems GTE Laboratories Incorporated RWTH Aachen Queensland Univ. Technology 40 Sylvan Road Ahornstr. 55 GPO Box 2434 Waltham, MA 02254, USA 52074 Aachen, Germany Brisbane QLD 4001, Australia brodie@gte.com jarke@informatik.rwth-aachen.de mikep@fitmail.fit.qut.edu.au PROGRAM COMMITTEE ----------------- Philip A. Bernstein (USA) Robert Meersman (Holland) Patrick Bobbie (USA) Wolfgang Nejdl (Germany) Alexander Borgida (USA) Anne Ngu (Australia) Manfred Broy (Germany) Maurizio Panti (Italy) Tung Bui (Hong-Kong) Charles Petrie (USA) Umeshwar Dayal (USA) Andreas Reuter (Germany) Misbah Deen (UK) Daniel R. Ries (USA) Lois M.L. Delcambre (USA) Bob Rockwell (Germany) Eric Dubois (Belgium) Marek E. Rusinkiewicz (USA) Ahmed K. Elmagarmid (USA) Josef Schaefer (Germany) Opher Etzion (Israel) Hans Schek (Switzerland) Less Gasser (USA) Gunter Schlagter (Germany) Igor Hawryszkiewycz (Australia) Timos Sellis (Greece) Karen Huff (USA) Amit P. Sheth (USA) Michael N. Huhns (USA) Abraham Silberschatz (USA) Yahiko Kambayashi (Japan) Evangelos Simoudis (USA) Dimitri Karagiannis (Austria) Stefano Spaccapietra William Kent (USA) (Switzerland) Steven C. Laufmann (USA) Ronald Stamper (Holland) Ron Lee (Holland) Michael Stonebraker (USA) Maurizio Lenzerini (Italy) Zahir Tari (Australia) Victor Lesser (USA) Patrick Valduriez (France) Fred Lochovsky (Hong-Kong) Carson Woo (Canada) Vincent Lum (Hong-Kong) Yelena Yesha (Baltimore) Frank A. Manola (USA) Norihiko Yoshida (Japan) Louis Marinos (Germany) John Zeleznikow (Australia) ********************************************************************** Subject: The Clean Sheet of Paper From: Joseph.Goguen@prg.ox.ac.uk (Joseph Goguen) THE CLEAN SHEET OF PAPER Professor Chris Elliott, Smith System Engineering Royal Academy of Engineering Charter Professor in Design University of Oxford Computing Laboratory Lecture Theatre Friday October 22nd 2:15pm. Overview This lecture introduces the concept of system engineering as the discipline that starts with a clean sheet of paper and ends up with one or more plausible design options and an approach to bringing them about. Many large system problems are driven by a simple (often political) imperative. The classic case is Kennedy's 1962 speech in which he said that the US would put a man on the moon and bring him back by the end of the decade. That was before the first US astronaut had flown. The system engineer's task is to explore the options that exist, establish which are feasible, estimate their cost-effectiveness and define a programme of work to be carried out by the specialists. The basic approach and difficulties are illustrated by the questions that have to be considered in designing an ambulance service. This leads on to the use of some standard tricks and tools of system engineering and the concept of order of magnitude analysis. The Figure of Merit is introduced as a quantitative way of expressing customer's requirements. What is system engineering? System engineering is the first cut at design that maps out the route for the detailed work that follows. It is concerned with the analysis and design of the whole, rather than the components. Real engineering systems include people as well as technology. System engineering aims to be objective and, if possible, quantitative. The approach to solving any design problem is to tackle three questions -- what is the problem; what are the alternatives; which is best? The real problem is often very different from that which is presented. There may be many different ways of approaching its solution and, as a designer, you have to choose one of them. These questions are illustrated by considering what might at first be thought of as not an engineering problem, the design of an ambulance service. It is concluded that real design problems are much less clear and well defined than we should like to believe. Some tools and tricks The principles of system engineering are examined in more detail and some of the engineering techniques are introduced. The aim is always to transform vague statements into precisely defined quantitative ones. This does not however imply that high precision is always needed. It is important to address every aspect of the problem, even if you only can work out an approximate answer, rather than consider one part in great detail and omit another. The simplest tool is an open mind. Dont be afraid to explore crazy ideas and try them on other people. It helps to have a good grasp of fundamental engineering science in the form of simple equations and rules of thumb. These may be more than adequate to decide whether an idea merits further consideration. Precise numerical simulations have their place, but usually further downstream, when optimising an outline design. The Figure of Merit is a powerful tool, since it combines all of the properties of the solution into a single number. This allows competing solutions to be compared. What is engineering design? The key message from this lecture is that design means taking decisions and that design decisions should be rooted in analysis, not guesswork. There are no right answers, since almost all decisions are a trade off between competing good and bad aspects. The third question should not be which alternative is best? but which alternative is least bad?. ********************************************************************** From: sjbr@cs.utwente.nl (Sjaak Brinkkemper) Subject: 6th Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering (CAiSE*94) 2nd CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS CAiSE*94 The 6th Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering Date: 6-10 June 1994 Location: Utrecht, The Netherlands ORGANISATION: Software Engineering Research Centre and University of Twente CONFERENCE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ============================== The CAiSE*94 conference is already the sixth conference in the CAiSE series of conferences. The CAiSE series of conferences provides a forum for presentation and exchange of research results and practical experiences within the Information Systems Engineering (ISE) field. The ISE field may be characterised by the two terms of information systems and engineering. Information Systems implies that computer based systems are designed to provide adequate and timely information to human users in organisations. Engineering implies the application of a rigourous set of problem solving approaches analogous to those found in traditional engineering disciplines. The CAiSE*94 conference in particular aims at bringing together researchers and practitioners in the ISE area. It will not only offer a three days scientific programme with state of the art paper presentations combined with highly interactive panel sessions, but also a specific industrial programme containing tutorials and technical presentations on innovative products (both scientific and commercial). To increase interaction between researchers and practitioners the official conference programme will be preceded by a two days programme of workshops. The conference will be completed with a commercial exhibition for ISE product suppliers and scientific poster sessions and demonstrations. CONFERENCE TOPICS ================= The topics addressed in the CAiSE*94 conference include, but are not limited to the following: CASE Dynamic modelling Groupware design Information management and planning Knowledge acquisition Maintenance and reverse engineering Meta-CASE Method engineering Multi-media information systems Object oriented analysis and design Object oriented database design Prototyping Quality management Requirements engineering Reuse Software process modelling Software process support User interface design Workflow management STRUCTURE OF THE CONFERENCE ======================= The CAiSE*94 conference will be held in Utrecht, The Netherlands, famous for its nice atmosphere and its beautiful canals. The conference takes place from 6 to 10 June 1994; the first two days (6 and 7 June) being reserved for workshops. The conference itself starts on the Wednesday 8 June with both a scientific and industrial track in parallel. The academic track consists of paper presentations in parallel and a number of panel discussions. Two invited speakers have been planned for. The academic activities have been enlarged with a possibility to have poster sessions and demonstrations. The industrial track contains both tutorials and product presentations. Products can be methods as well as tools, handbooks, etc. The industrial track also includes an exhibition. CALL FOR PAPERS =============== The conference organisers solicit papers within, but not restricted to the conference topics. Send five copies of your paper (max. 5.000 words) to: Gerard M. Wijers Programme chair CAiSE*94 Software Engineering Research Centre P.O. Box 424 3500 AK Utrecht The Netherlands Tel : +31-30-545412 Fax : +31-30-545948 Email : gwijers@serc.nl Papers submitted must be original, and not submitted to, or accepted by, any other conference or journal. Proceedings from CAiSE*94 will be published in the Springer Lecture Notes series. The proceedings for CAiSE 93, CAiSE 92, CAiSE 91 and CAiSE 90 are also available in this series. Important Dates: Deadline for Papers: 30 November 1993 Notification of acceptance : 1 February 1994 Camera-ready copy due : 1 March 1994 Conference dates: 8-10 June 1994 CALL FOR TUTORIALS ================== Proposals are solicited for tutorials that will be held in parallel with the conference. Tutorials can be half day (3 hours) or full day (6 hours). Each tutorial proposal should mention the objectives, a motivation of the relevance of the objectives for industrial as well as academic participants, and their relation to the state of the art in the field. Tutorials can be at an introductory, intermediate or advanced level and should be of interest to industrial as well as academic participants. Proposals should conform to the instructions for the format of tutorial proposals, which can be obtained from the tutorial chair. The proposals will be evaluated by members of the CAiSE*94 programme committee. There will be a honorarium for the instructors and a small reimbursement for the travel costs. In addition, there will be one complimentary conference registration per accepted tutorial proposal. Date: Tue, 19 Oct 93 11:40:44 BST To: re-world@doc.ic.ac.uk From: acwf@doc.ic.ac.uk (Anthony Finkelstein) X-Sender: acwf@gummo.doc.ic.ac.uk Subject: REQUIREMENTS ENGINEERING NEWSLETTER (14) Tutorial proposals should be sent to the tutorial chair: Roel J. Wieringa Tutorial chair CAiSE*94 Free University of Amsterdam Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science De Boelelaan 1081a 1081 HV Amsterdam The Netherlands Tel: +31-20-5485568 Fax: +31-20-6427705 email: roelw@cs.vu.nl Important dates: Deadline for tutorial proposals: 30 November 1993 Notification of tutorial acceptance: 1 February 1994 Camera-ready tutorial notes due: 1 March 1994 Tutorial dates: 8-10 June 1994 CALL FOR WORKSHOPS: Deadline approaching!! =================== *********************** Preceding the CAISE*94 conference a series of workshops will take place. They are meant to facilitate the exchange of ideas and experiences between active researchers. Workshop topics will be in line with the main conference topics. The CAISE*94 organising committee invites prospective workshop organisers to submit proposals stating topic and goal of the workshop. Proposals should conform to the instructions for the format of workshop proposals, which can be obtained from the workshop chair. The deadline for proposals is 31 October. Proposals will be reviewed by the organising committee. Notification of acceptance will be sent by 1 December 1993. Workshops will last for one or two days. Participation should be limited to about 25 persons. The format of the individual workshops is left to the discretion of the organisers, but it is encouraged to request position papers from all participants in order to further active participation. All participants are expected to attend the main conference. Proposals for workshops can be sent to: Rob J. Kusters Workshop chair CAiSE*94 Eindhoven University of Technology BDK/I&T P.O. Box 513 5600 MB Eindhoven The Netherlands Tel.: +31-40-472290 Fax: +33-40-451275 E-mail: rku@bdk.tue.nl Important dates: Deadline for workshop proposals: 31 October 1993 Notification of workshop acceptance: 1 December 1993 Workshop dates: 6 and 7 June 1994 CALL FOR POSTERS ================ During the CAiSE conference special room is reserved for poster sessions. Scientific or industrial research projects of any scale are invited to illustrate innovative concepts, theories or prototype systems on a poster. Poster proposals include title, outline and names of presenters. More elaborate instructions for posters can be obtained from the poster chair. Descriptions of posters should be sent to: Han L. H. Oei Poster chair CAiSE*94 University of Twente P.O. Box 217 7500 AE Enschede Tel: +31-53-894284 Fax: +31-53-339605 E-mail: oei@cs.utwente.nl Important dates: Deadline for poster descriptions: 1 March 1994 Notification of poster acceptance: 1 April 1994 EXHIBITION AND PRODUCT PRESENTATIONS ==================================== The conference will be accompanied by a commercial exhibition and by presentation sessions of innovative products. Those organisations interested in demonstrating their product either at the exhibition or during a specific presentation session should contact: Steven van 't Veld Sponsor chair and industrial liaison Van 't Veld Information Consultancy B.V. Hoekerkade 80 2725 AM Zoetermeer The Netherlands Tel: +31-79-414993 Fax: +31-79-4149930505 CONFERENCE ORGANISATION ======================= General conference chair Tony Wasserman Intelligent Development Environments Inc., USA Advisory Committee Janis Bubenko, Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden Arne Solvberg, University of Trondheim, Norway Programme chair Gerard Wijers Software Engineering Research Centre, The Netherlands Organising chair Sjaak Brinkkemper University of Twente, The Netherlands Tutorial chair Roel Wieringa Free University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Workshop chair Rob Kusters Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands Poster chair Han Oei University of Twente, The Netherlands Industrial liaison and sponsor chair Steven van 't Veld van 't Veld Information Consultancy, The Netherlands Publicity chair Roland Tijssen Software Engineering Research Centre, The Netherlands PROGRAMME COMMITTEE =================== Rudolf Andersen, Norway Frans van Assche, Belgium Alex Borgida, USA Janis Bubenko, Sweden Panos Constantopoulos, Greece Valeria De Antonellis, Italy Jan Dietz, The Netherlands Eric Dubois, Belgium Gregor Engels, The Netherlands Leo Essink, The Netherlands Eckhard Falkenberg, The Netherlands Anthony Finkelstein, United Kingdom Marcel Franckson, France Paul Grefen, The Netherlands Hele-Mai Haav, Estonia Henri Habrias, France Jacques Hagelstein, Belgium Terry Halpin, Australia Michael Hanani, Israel Kees van Hee, The Netherlands Juhani Iivari, Finland Matthias Jarke, Germany Keith Jeffery, United Kingdom Paul Laagland, The Netherlands Michel Leonard, Switzerland Frederick Lochovsky, Hong Kong Pericles Loucopoulos, United Kingdom Kalle Lyytinen, Finland Robert Meersman, The Netherlands John Mylopoulos, Canada Antoni Olive, Spain Jan-Willem Pauw, The Netherlands Barbara Pernici, Italy Peter Pircher, USA Naveen Prakash, India Reind van de Riet, The Netherlands Daan Rijsenbrij, The Netherlands Colette Rolland, France Gunter Saake, Germany Amilcar Sernadas, Portugal Henk Sol, The Netherlands Arne Solvberg, Norway Stefano Spaccapietra, Switzerland Alistair Sutcliffe, United Kingdom Doaitse Swierstra, The Netherlands Bernhard Thalheim, Germany Costantino Thanos, Italy Babis Theodoulidis, United Kingdom Ron Tolido, The Netherlands Jos Trienekens, The Netherlands George Verheijen, The Netherlands Roland Vonk, The Netherlands Yair Wand, Canada Benkt Wangler, Sweden Richard Welke, USA Roberto Zicari, Germany FURTHER INFORMATION =================== If you have any further questions about the conference or its organisation, please contact: Sjaak Brinkkemper Organising chair CAiSE*94 University of Twente P.O. Box 217 7500 AE Enschede Tel: +31-53-893690 Fax: +31-53-339605 E-mail: sjbr@cs.utwente.nl or Gerard M. Wijers Programme chair CAiSE*94 Software Engineering Research Centre P.O. Box 424 3500 AK Utrecht The Netherlands Tel : +31-30-545412 Fax : +31-30-545948 Email : gwijers@serc.nl IMPORTANT DATES =============== Deadline for workshop proposals: 31 October 1993 Deadline for papers: 30 November 1993 Deadline for tutorial proposals: 30 November 1993 Deadline for poster descriptions: 1 March 1994 Notification of workshop acceptance: 1 December 1993 Notification of paper acceptance : 1 February 1994 Notification of tutorial acceptance: 1 February 1994 Notification of poster acceptance: 1 April 1994 Camera-ready copy of paper due : 1 March 1994 Camera-ready tutorial notes due: 1 March 1994 Workshop dates: 6-7 June 1994 Conference dates: 8-10 June 1994 Tutorial dates: 8-10 June 1994 **********************************************************************