xPACE and TASC Modeler: Tool support for data-driven context modeling

TL;DR

This paper introduces xPACE and TASC Modeler, tools that automate context modeling from existing data to assist requirements engineering in developing context-aware functionalities.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel data-driven approach and toolset for automating context modeling, addressing the complexity faced by practitioners.

Findings

Tools successfully supported context modeling in a real project

Automation improved understanding of application contexts

Demonstrated feasibility of data-driven context modeling

Abstract

From a requirements engineering point of view, the elicitation of context-aware functionalities calls for context modeling, an early step that aims at understanding the application contexts and how it may influence user tasks. In practice, however, context modeling activities have been overlooked by practitioners due to their high complexity. To improve this situation, we implemented xPACE and TASC Modeler, which are tools that support the automation of context modeling based on existing contextual data. In this demonstration paper, we present our implementation of a data-driven context modeling approach, which is composed of a contextual data processor (xPACE) and a context model generator (TASC Modeler). We successfully evaluated the results provided by the tools in a software development project.