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Software Engineering

Components-Based Software for Knowledge Sharing

The NRC Institute for Information Technology (NRC-IIT) research project in Components-Based Software for Knowledge Sharing began in early 2002 and is expected to continue until 2004. The project is being conducted in conjunction with a Consortium for Software Engineering Research (CSER) project that includes IBM, the University of Toronto, the University of Windsor, the University of Waterloo and Queen’s University.

The project aims to develop software engineering techniques that are applicable to the creation and evolution of web-based applications. While engineering for the web benefits from years of research and practice in the area of application software engineering, changes in emphasis and technology make engineering techniques for web-based applications unique.

For example, software design must be compatible with a number of standards that are evolving outside the control of development teams. In addition, a component-based approach is critical to success because of rapid time-to-market cycles and the existence of high-quality off-the-shelf components in many areas.

Software engineering techniques must also focus on usability and usefulness issues since web-based systems often project functionality into environments lacking in appropriate user support. In particular, the requirements related to localization to foreign markets and to the provision of content that remains accessible in the face of disabilities create new challenges.

NRC-IIT’s experience in developing and supporting Web-based systems suggests new opportunities for collaborative services that can be delivered over the web. NRC-IIT intends to:

deliver a high-quality, configurable and tailorable version of these components-based applications
develop expertise and contribute to best practices in order to strengthen the Canadian software industry

On completion of this project, researchers expect to:

develop a software engineering environment for the development, deployment, evolution and support of Web-based applications; this new environment will call for significant research into the tools and techniques required to support software engineering processes
develop a set of software components that can be used to construct a highly tailorable and configurable Web-based application for collaboration; these components will be integrated into a prototype application, based on the J2EE infrastructure, for use by project collaborators

NRC-IIT expects its research results will be applicable to all organizations involved in developing component-based and Web-based software applications. Since these types of applications are being applied in a wide variety of sectors, research results could benefit not only software developers, but also their clients.

Opportunities

Inquiries about collaborating in this research are welcome. Almost any topic in software engineering provides fertile ground for collaboration; for example, in areas such as software architecture, testing, maintenance, evolution and quality.

Collaboration could involve either research or commercial organizations that must build, deploy and evolve software applications.

NRC-IIT is particularly interested in collaborating in specific application domains – such as e-learning or e-commerce – where Web-based collaborative systems can provide valuable services.

Anyone interested in collaborating in this research is asked to contact the project lead listed below
In addition, the following technology outputs are available to other organizations:
- a set of software components, developed as part of the prototype, can be transferred to an organization able to configure them in order to provide novel services
- software engineering processes and techniques can be used to construct new components and applicationssoftware engineering tools can be integrated into the processes of software development organizations

Please contact the Business Development Officer listed below to discuss these technology transfer opportunities.

Research Contact

Dr. Mark Vigder
Research Officer
Software Engineering
NRC Institute for Information Technology
1200 Montreal Road
Building M-50, Room 249A
Ottawa, ON K1A 0R6
Telephone: +1 (613) 991-6972
Fax: +1 (613) 952-7151
E-mail: Mark Vigder

Business Contact

Dr. George Forester
Business Development Officer
Business Development Office, NCR
NRC Institute for Information Technology
1200 Montreal Road
Building M-50, Room 203
Ottawa, ON K1A 0R6
Telephone: +1 (613) 993-3478
Fax: +1 (613) 952-0074
E-mail: George.Forester@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca