Improving time-to-market using SDL tools and techniques

In this paper we summarize our experiences in building and integrating new generation, formal-methods based CASE tools to yield pragmatic improvements in software engineering processes in the telecommunication industry. We define an accelerated development methodology (ADM) for the specification, design, testing and re-engineering of telecommunications software. We identify two of the most significant barriers to adoption of tools and formal methods to speed up software development, namely the requirements engineering barrier and the legacy code re-engineering barrier, and show how the ADM methodology helps to overcome these barriers and improve time-to-market for telecommunications software. Our ADM methodology is based on the most widely accepted formal languages standardized by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU): i) a scenario description language called Message Sequence Charts (MSC), ii) an EFSM-based Specification and Description Language (SDL), iii) an executable test description language called Tree and Tabular Combined Notation (TTCN), iv) and a data description language Abstract Syntax Notation (ASN.1). This paper emphasizes the following key components of our ADM methodology and their placement within the most common software engineering processes: i) Use-Case Based High-Yield Requirements Engineering with MSCs ii) Synthesis of SDL requirements models from approved MSC scenarios iii) Efficient, concurrent generation of high-yield TTCN test cases iv) Seamless refinement of SDL requirements models into SDL design models v) Code generation from the SDL models vi) Automated re-engineering of SDL models from legacy software. 1. Time-to-Market: Introduction and Background Until fairly recently, many authors echoed the sentiments of F. Brooks [1] that most of the industrial world was suffering from a software crisis. Products controlled by software arrived too late to market (if at all), were too costly to develop, or were too unreliable to use. Lately, these problems have been exacerbated by global competition for market share. In an effort to be "first to market", functionality, performance, and reliability may be sacrificed. Many large organizations develop numerous "products" in