Utilising CI environment for efficient and effective evaluation of NFRs
Published in Information and Software Technology, 2020
Recommended citation: L Yu, E Alégroth, P Chatzipetrou, T Gorschek (2020). "Utilising CI environment for efficient and effective evaluation of NFRs." Information and Software Technology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infsof.2019.106199
Continuous integration (CI) is a practice that aims to continuously verify quality aspects of a software intensive system both for functional and non-functional requirements (NFRs). Functional requirements are the inputs of development and can be tested in isolation, utilising either manual or automated tests. In contrast, some NFRs are difficult to test without functionality, for NFRs are often aspects of functionality and express quality aspects. Lacking this testability attribute makes NFR testing complicated and, therefore, underrepresented in industrial practice. However, the emergence of CI has radically affected software development and created new avenues for software quality evaluation and quality information acquisition. Research has, consequently, been devoted to the utilisation of this additional information for more efficient and effective NFR verification.