Towards a Unified Framework for Contextual Variability in Requirements

Context is a significant factor in deciding the set of requirements relevant to a system (i.e., software product construction), the alternatives the system can adopt to satisfy these requirements, and the quality assessment of each alternative. By context we mean the conditions in the operating environment of an system that influences how the system should behave in different situations. However, the relationship between context and requirements can be challenging to capture and analyze. Presently this area of requirements engineering is largely under-researched. In this position paper, we discuss several ways by which context can be related to requirements and subsequently used for product derivation. We outline an approach that facilitates better understanding and use of contextual information in requirements. Our approach integrates three requirements engineering approaches - goal modeling, feature modeling, and problem frames - and is aimed at facilitating treatment of contextual variability in requirements.