TOWARDS QUALITY REQUIREMENTS VIA ANIMATED FORMAL SPECIFICATIONS

Assuring a high quality requirements specification document involves b oth an early validation process and an increased level of participatio n. An approach and its supporting environment which combines the benef its of a formal system specification and its subsequent execution via a rapid prototype is reported. The environment assists in the construc tion, clarification, validation and visualisation of a formal specific ation. An illustrative case study demonstrates the consequences of ass ertions about system properties at this early stage of software develo pment. Our approach involves the pragmatic combination of technical be nefits of formal systems engineering based techniques with the context -sensitive notions of increased participation of both developer and us er stakeholders to move us closer towards a quality requirements speci fication document.