Interoperability Requirements Elicitation, Validation and Solutions

This paper describes a methodology and a model-based approach for supporting the requirements elicitation and validation work in the ATHENA project. Numerous interoperability requirements have been gathered by four industrial partners and these requirements are validated against interoperability issues. The process of obtaining requirements from industrial users and developing solutions for them involves several communities such as the users, stakeholders and developers. A model-based methodology and approach are proposed to support the analysis of the requirements and for incorporating the different perspectives and views that are desired by everyone. An example from the telecommunications sector is used to illustrate the methodology and a matrix-based validation approach is supported using a model developed in the Metis modelling environment.