1.0 Participants

Faculty:

• Gregory Abowd
• Ashok Goel
• Mike McCracken
• Melody Moore
• Colin Potts
• Spencer Rugaber
• Linda Wills

Research Assistants:

• Christian Ertmann-Christiansen
• Dean Jerding
• Bill Murdock

2.0 Ongoing Research & Development

2.1 Task 1 Methodology Descriptions

MORALE methodology descriptions take the form of guidebooks. All five guidebooks are now in draft form and have been submitted to two publishers for comments: Prentice-Hall and Addison-Wesley.

2.2 Task 2 Tool Development

While MORALE is primarily a methodology project, we are developing several tools to support analysts using the methodologies.

• Subtask 2.1 - ISVis (Interactive Scenario Visualizer) - The ISVis tool is undergoing internal alpha testing. An external beta tester (Lewis Johnson of ISI) has been identified. User documentation is being written. Once these activities have been completed, a general availability announcement will be made.
• Subtask 2.2 - ScenIC- The ScenIC effort has continued, involving parallel research with Prof. Axel van Lamsweerde (U. Louvain, Belgium) into the development of scenarios from models of system goals and obstacles.
• Subtask 2.3 - SIRRINE (Self-Improving/Redesigning Reasoner Integrating Noteworthy Experience) - An experiment is being conducted to generate ACME output from SIRRINE.
• Subtask 2.4 - MORPH (Model Oriented Reengineering Process for HCI) - The MORPH knowledge base of user interface abstractions has been further refined and tested. Development of a visualization tool for the MORPH model is underway, currently experimenting with implementation strategies (DOT, xvcg, capabilities of Classic).
• Subtask 2.5 - SAAM(Software Architecture Analysis Method) - The SEI version of SAAMTool has been obtained, installed, and demonstrated. Requirements for a MORALE version and ACME interoperation constraints are being explored.

2.3 Task 3 Case Study

The primary validation mechanism for MORALE is the case study. The two case studies we are currently anticipating comprise the analysis of an evolving system and an assessment of SBF as a suitable architectural description language (ADL).

• Subtask 3.1 Case Study - The Mosaic case study is complete. A publication describing this work is listed in Section 5.0 below.
• Subtask 3.2 SBF Assessment - The SBF assessment is complete. It resulted in a proposal to merge SBF with Familiar (see section 4.0).

3.0 Notable Accomplishments & Technology Transition

• We have been working with the TARDEC group at TACOM in Warren, Michigan. They have a charter to develop a generic Sofware Loader/Verifier for Army vehicles. We have applied parts of the MORALE methodology to the domain analysis they are undertaking and given them feedback on the requirements they are generating. We have also spoken with the people in their Next Generation Software Engineering Laboratory effort about a more comprehensive transfer of MORALE technology to them.

4.0 Progress on Inter/Intra Cluster Collaboration

• We hosted the Spring meeting of the Rationale Capture cluster. In conjunction with this, we met with the ISI group led by Barry Boehm, with Lewis Johnson, with Dean Allemang, with Daryl McCullough, and with K. Narayanaswamy. The meetings led to various agreements for tighter technical collaboration.
• We have obtained Xinotech Object Abstractor tool and are currently installing it.
• We are investigating the ACME architectural description interoperation notation and conducting experiments on how it can be used to integrate our tools.

5.0 Publications

• A paper titled,"MORALE / Mission Oriented Architectural Legacy Evolution" authored by all of the MORALE faculty participants has been accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the International Conference on Software Maintenance'97.
• A paper titled "A Case Study of Domain-based Program Understanding" authored by Rugaber and Wills has been accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the International Workshop on Program Comprehension'97.
• A paper titled "Creating a Research Infrastructure for Reengineering" authored by Rugaber and Wills has been accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the International Workshop on Program Comprehension'97. In addition, Rugaber has been invited to participate on a panel on this topic at the conference.
• Potts was author of four conference or journal publications on the role of naturalistic methods in the determination of system requirements in the Annals of Software Engineering, Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, and the Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Requirements Engineering.
• Moore, Melody and Rugaber, Spencer. "Using Knowledge Representation to Understand Interactive Systems", to appear in the Proceedings of the Fifth International Workshop on Program Comprehension, Dearborn, MI, IEEE Press, May 28-30, 1997.

6.0 Travel

• Rugaber trip to TARDEC described in Section 3.0.
• Potts traveled to the Third International Symposium on Requirements Engineering, Annapolis, MD, in January where he was keynote speaker and presented a regular paper. He was invited to give a colloquium at the Univ. of Oregon in March about the integration of goals and scenarios into requirements methods. He, along with Gregory Abowd, also attended the IFIP Working Group 2.7 meeting at Stone Mountain, GA in March to facilitate discussions among participants about the requirements for a reference example (a university evolving into a virtual university), and the CHI conference in Atlanta in April where he participated in a workshop about patterns of interaction. Abowd, Rugaber, and Moore also attended CHI.

7.0 Miscellaneous/Administrative/Problematic Issues

• Because of a family emergency, Prasanta Bose has returned to India until May 10. The action item on Potts and Bose involving consulting on the future plans for the Issue Representation and Exploration focus group, which was due May 1, will not now be completed until the end of May.

8.0 Plans For The Next Reporting Period

• Beta release of ISVis
• Requirements development for SAAMTool
• Seattle demo planning
• Guidebook refinement
• Xinotech Object Extractor evaluation
• Further ACME investigation
• Continued development of SIRRINE, ScenIC, and MORPH