Reporting and Exploring

Making Use of the

Active Structure

Usefulness

Reporting can alert the user to a particular situation, or it can simply bring together on the one page two or more pieces of information that otherwise would be widely scattered – helping to break the six pieces limit

Canned ReportsThe system provides reports on

• Different types of ambiguity• Defined terms confusion• Mandatory attributes• Forbidden relations• Inconsistency• Invalid references• Letter and intent• Unverifiable requirements• Circular definitions• Weak statements• Poor phrasing• Duplication

Canned reports can include semantic searches set up by the user, making them anything but “canned”To minimise user overload, reporting on grammatical “fluff” is kept to a minimum

Ambiguity

There can be ambiguity at a word having several meanings, across a conjunction or at a collocation or a packed noun phrase, or there can be global ambiguity – where several statements need to be seen at once, as in this example

Forbidden Relations

Some relations are forbidden – “The performance of the Tow Motor shall be fitted with…” – or the example “Requirements that conform…”This isn’t just style, the meaning is wrong

Weak Statements

Weak Statements can be pretty close to meaningless – “The Tow Motor shall have wheels that meet a standard” – this leaves open the possibility that it also has wheels that do not meet a standard – there has to be an actual or implied “All”

A Weak Statement can use an abstraction like “provisions” – the system may not need any special provisions, making the statement unverifiable

Poor Phrasing

Poor Phrasing is reported using a simple string search of the text, or a semantic search of the structure – “that shall” is poor – mandatory control should be exercised on the main verb phrase

Exploring

A controllable list of the objects and relations in the text allows the exploration of the relations among objects or recognition of duplication

Duplication of Standards

Bringing together the name of the standard and the reference to it are enough to see that the reference should be more general

Less Impressive Than It Seems

Having the seating conform to a standard sounds impressive, until you realise it is just for vibration – also duplication

Duplication of Values

References to one type of Object/Relation

Reporting and Exploring

Canned reports provide a simple way of assessing the health of a specification

Exploring using the objects and relations in the text assists in understanding of the specification

Semantic Search – asking questions of the document – provides another powerful tool for understanding and validating a specification