Quality-Driven, Semantic Information System Integration: The QuaD-Framework

Quality-Driven, Semantic Information System Integration: The QuaD-Framework

Steffen Mencke, Martin Kunz, Dmytro Rud, Reiner Dumke
Copyright: © 2010 |Pages: 35
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60566-894-9.ch007
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Abstract

The importance of automatic integration in every field of application is beyond controversy these days. Unfortunately, existing solutions are mainly focusing on the automation aspect. But for the success in the long run, the quality must be of substantial interest – it is an inherent characteristic of any product (Garvin, 1984). Existing quality-related information can be reused to optimize this aggregation of entities to thereby always provide the best possible combination (Kunz et al., 2008b). Such aggregation of entities can be done taking into consideration different characteristics like quality attributes, functional requirements, or the ability for automated procedures.
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The Focus On Quality

The better is the enemy of the good. Why should somebody be satisfied with something, if he has the need and resources to achieve a better result? The answer is: he should not. And this is entirely about quality. A product’s perceivable quality is a key factor for the long term success of a company (Buzzell & Gale, 1987). Therefore, quality is defined according to the definition of the ISO 9000 standard (ISO/IEC, 2004b):

Definition: Quality is the “degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfils requirements” (ISO/IEC, 2004b).

A quality attribute is such a characteristic. To achieve quality in the field of software engineering, measurement is the fundamental basis: “you cannot improve what you cannot measure.” With software measurement it becomes possible to understand and communicate, to specify and achieve objectives, to identify and resolve problems as well as to decide and improve (Ebert & Dumke, 2007).

Definition: Software measurement is the approach to control and manage the software and to track and improve its performance (Ebert & Dumke, 2007).

Figure 1 comprises general software measurement phases and methods.

Figure 1.

Software Measurement Phases and Methods (Ebert & Dumke, 2007)

978-1-60566-894-9.ch007.f01

Measuring certain attributes is only the first step. The interpretation of the results is important, too. It is necessary because the human mankind is rarely capable to directly comprehend the meaningful information of the real world (see Figure 2).

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