Conceptual Modeling in Requirements Engineering: Weaknesses and Alternatives

Abstract

This chapter focuses on software engineering conceptual modeling, its current weaknesses, and the alternatives to overcome them. It is clear that software quality has its genesis in the conceptual model and depends on how well this model matches the problem in question. However, this chapter presents a representative study of the analysis approaches that highlights that (i) they have traditionally focused on implementation and have paid little or no attention to the problem domain and (ii) they have omitted the various stakeholders (viewpoints) generally involved in any problem. The proposed alternatives are based on those aspects that are related to a generic conceptualisation, independent of the implementation paradigms.