Jakub Miler

Trust case: justifying trust in an IT solution

In the paper we present an approach to the trust case development for DRIVE, the IT infrastructure supporting the processes of drugs distribution and application. The objectives of DRIVE included safer and cheaper drugs distribution and application. The trust case represents an argument supporting the trustworthiness of the DRIVE solution. It is decomposed into claims that postulate some trust related properties. Claims differ concerning their abstraction level and scope. To express a claim we need a language and a conceptual model. We used the Unified Modeling Language (UML) to represent claim models and the related context models of the trust case. To specify claims we introduced Claim Definition Language - CDL. The paper gives a detailed description of the above concepts and illustrates how they were applied in practice.

An Approach to Trust Case Development

In the paper we present an approach to the architectural trust case development for DRIVE, the IT infrastructure supporting the processes of drugs distribution and application. The objectives of DRIVE included safer and cheaper drugs distribution and application. A trust case represents an argument supporting the trustworthiness of the system. It is decomposed into claims that postulate some trust related properties. Claims differ concerning their abstraction level and scope. To express a claim we need a language and a conceptual model. We used UML to represent claim models and related context models of the trust case. To specify claims we introduced Claim Definition Language – CDL. The paper gives a deeper description of the above concepts and illustrates how they were applied in practice.

Supporting assurance by evidence-based argument services

Structured arguments based on evidence are used in many domains, including systems engineering, quality assurance and standards conformance. Development, maintenance and assessment of such arguments is addressed by TRUST-IT methodology outlined in this paper. The effective usage of TRUST-IT requires an adequate tool support. We present a platform of software services, called NOR-STA, available in the Internet, supporting key activities related to argument editing, communication and assessment and demonstrate an example of its application based on real case study focusing on analyzing safety of an innovative IT system.

Tool support for detecting defects in object-oriented models

Object-oriented models are commonly used in software projects. They may be affected, however, by various defects introduced easily due to e.g. wrong understanding of modelled reality, making wrong assumptions or editorial mistakes. The defects should be identified and corrected as early as possible, preferably before the model is used as the basis for the subsequent representations of the system. To assure the effectiveness of the defect detection process we need both, better analysis methods and effective tool support. The paper introduces a new analytical method called UML-HAZOP and presents a tool supporting the application of this method.

Comparative Conformance Cases for Monitoring Multiple Implementations of Critical Requirements

The paper presents the concept and the mechanism of comparative conformance cases which support conformance monitoring in situations where a standard or other set of requirements are being implemented at multiple sites. The mechanism is enabled by NOR-STA services which implement the TRUST-IT methodology and are deployed in the cloud in accordance with the SaaS model. In the paper we introduce the concept of comparative conformance cases, explain the software services used to implement them and present a case study of monitoring the implementation of the EC Regulation No. 994/2010, related to risk management of gas supply infrastructures across Europe.

Improvement of Task Management with Process Models in Small and Medium Software Companies

Small and medium software companies exhibit many special features that give reason for a dedicated approach to process improvement. They often cannot afford implementing maturity models or quality standards both in terms of time and money. Instead, they expect simpler solutions that can allow to run projects in more systematic and repeatable way, increase quality and knowledge management. In this paper, we present a method focused on improvement of task management using the process models. The method proposes the integration of modeling and task management tools, where models become templates of enacted projects. We applied the method in two case studies with SMEs, where sample process models were built and enacted in adapted task management tools, followed by a survey. The survey resulted in 82.5% of positive answers. The case studies show considerable potential of our method in solving some improvement problems of SMEs.