Elicitating and Formalising Requirements for C.I.M. Information Systems

It is now widely recognised that methods are needed for covering the whole lifecycle of Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) applications. In this paper, we deal with the requirements engineering phase of this lifecycle. A formal language is introduced for capturing real-time requirements expressed on CIM applications. The resulting specification is structured as a society of ‘agents’, each of them being characterised by (i) its responsibility with respect to changes happening in the system and (ii) the perception of the behaviour of other agents. On top of illustrating the use of the language on a small case-study, we also suggest some methodological guidance in the elaboration of requirements for large CIM applications.