By:- Sjaak Brinkkemper Information and Software Technology

38(1996) 275-280 Presented by Berhanu Herano

August 24,2013

Presentation OutlineOverview of the Article Introduction Statement of the Problem/discussion of main idea Conclusion Critics on the Article Title Abstract Introduction Research question Literature review Research Design (Methodology) Conclusion and Contributions References and Citations

Overview of the ArticleIntroduction practice of information system development is different based on application domain, analysis and design technique, programming language project strategy. The research identified and defined four important terms and notions in

method engineering. which are methods techniques tools methodology of information systems development

Overview of the ArticleIntroduction Definition and Examples of each important terms method:-an approach to perform system development. it has directions and

rules Examples of methods are SSADM,IE, and different OO versions technique:-a procedure with prescribed notation to perform system

development examples of techniques are process modeling, logic modeling, and data

modeling with ERD

tool:- a computer based application to support development process. e.g. CASE tools

methodology of information systems development :-Systematic explanation and evaluation of all aspects of methodical ISD.

Overview of the Article

Main issues discussed The author raised important research questions. Some of them are: Is there a most optimal technique for meta-modeling? Should tools interoperability be based on storage structure in data-integration architecture or

on a communication structure between the functional components in control-integration architecture?

How can proper methodical guidance and corresponding tool support be provided to system development?

How can the quality of methods or tools be expressed in order to compare them in a sound and scientifically verifiable way?

But the author given more emphasis to questions related to situational modeling which is

one of ISD methods that is adjusted to the situation of a project at hand.

Overview of the Article Main issues discussionTo support engineering situational methods, standardized

method building blocks (method fragments which are coherent pieces of IS development methods) are stored in and retrieved from the data base called method base. Since every project is different, it is important to characterize the project to a list of different factors in the method configuration process which contains project characterization, selection, validation and assembling of methods in to situational methods.

Overview of the ArticleConclusion Finally, the researcher presented method engineering as a research framework

for information system development methods and tools He defined the main concepts in method engineering: methods, techniques,

tools and methodology. The researcher also discussed and explained his main research area in method

engineering which was situational methods by using configuration process for situational methods, CAME tools and method engineering languages.

The author also developed a Computer Aided Method Engineering (CAME) tool that provides support for the system development process.The tool contains method administration tool, method assembly tool and the generators.The author also used method engineering language that helps to describe, administer, select and assembly method fragments in textual form..

Critics on the ArticleTitleThe title, Method engineering: engineering of information systems

development methods and tools accurately reflects the content.

In addition it is interesting and doesn’t contain abbreviations and overly general terms.

Therefore, I accepted the title on the basis of the above criterion as concise and specific.

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Critics on the Article Abstract Since it Is not more than one page, Does not contain references, Does not contain figures and tables, Enables readers to identify the basic content of the document quickly and

accurately Enables readers to determine its relevance to their interest Summarizes the main point of the study. Therefore , it is a concise summary of the material and is presented properly in the

research.

Critics on the ArticleIntroduction

The reviewer found that the purpose of the article, which was to describe and clarify systems development by using method engineering as framework, is clearly stated

in the introduction part. The introduction also contains problem statement which are described by using research questions and presented important research ideas.

Author Biography Received his BSc, MSc and PhD 1980,1984 and 1990 from University of

Amsterdam, Radboud University of Nijmegen, University of Twente respectively. In1992, he became Associate Professor at University of Twente. From 1996 to 2002, he has been process architect at Baan. Since 2004 he is full professor at Utrecht University and leads a group of twenty researchers specialized in product software development and entrepreneurship. He has published several books, papers, and articles. Therefore, as it is clearly seen on his biography the author has sufficient knowledge in the area of method engineering.

Critics on the ArticleResearch questions The author presented about four research questions and gave more attention to

questions related to situational models and his research questions were based on extensive literature review

Since the paper gives more focus on research questions that are related to situational method which is information systems development method that is adjusted to the situation of a project at hand.

The main research question was: How can proper methodical guidance and corresponding tool support be

provided to system development? The author described in detail using different literatures.

Critics on the ArticleLiterature review The author reviewed relevant books and articles to

conceptual foundations on the method engineering areas especially in relation to situational methods.

The author also clearly discussed the area thoroughly by defining and describing important concepts in method engineering such as methods, techniques, tools, and methodology of information systems development.

Critics on the ArticleResearch design or methodologyBecause of the descriptive nature of the research the author did not use

any of the methods of data collection, sampling and measurements. The author is also not guided by any particular theoretical assumptions to understand the problem

Clarity of the statement: the author did his best in clarifying the points in a user friendly manner. In addition he tried to use clear and simple statements

Conclusion and Contribution The researcher reached his conclusion based on his presentation and

description of main concepts in method engineering and what he did has great contribution to method engineering or engineering of information systems development methods and tools because he described situational method which very important in method engineering .

Critics on the ArticleUse of illustrations and figures: The author used graphs, textual representations and

different figures to describe the configuration process for situational methods, architecture of case tools, and method engineering language for method fragments.

Critics on the Article References and citations

Most of the references used by the author are important, recent and, are in line with the title.

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