Requirements interaction detection using semi-formal methods

Increased pressure to reduce time-to-market has resulted in an increased effort to reuse previously developed software components when developing new software systems. However, in numerous cases, reuse has resulted in interactions between features and/or requirements. As the amount of reuse increases, interaction detection becomes a more and more challenging subject. Although feature interaction is not a new problem and has already been researched especially in the telecommunications domain where new features are added to large-scale base systems, relatively little research has been done outside of telecommunications. The aim of this paper is to introduce a systematic approach for the detection of interactions based on requirements attributes. This systematic approach is part of a three-level framework that offers several approaches to feature-interaction detection in any domain at different levels of cost, time and complexity. The approach is illustrated using a case study.