Semiautomated Development of Textual Requirements: Combined NLP and Multidomain Semantic Modeling Approach

Abstract

This paper presents a framework for the semiautomated development of textual requirements for the building construction industry, a domain in which quality of textual requirements has a direct bearing on the avoidance of unnecessary project losses and failures. The proposed framework is novel in three respects. First, it employs a combination of natural language processing (NLP) and template matching to restrict the range of ways in which textual requirements can be stated. Second, knowledge-based models work hand-in-hand with the NLP and templates to help designers fill in the details of a model that might be missing. Third, we envision the proposed approach being part of a multidomain semantic modeling and reasoning framework that includes the building construction domain and its connections to processes for project management and governance. To demonstrate the potential of the proposed approach to the practical development and construction of building systems, we developed a prototype software tool—the framework for linking ontology objects and textual requirements (FLOOR)—and procedures for the validation of individual textual requirements and groups of textual requirements related to construction tasks. This paper presents a new methodology and a prototype software framework for the semiautomated development and validation of textual requirements for the building construction industry. The work is novel in three respects: (1) it combines a natural language processing tool with a sentence-and-template matching technique to limit the ways in which textual requirements can be stated; (2) it employs a multidomain semantic modeling and reasoning framework to provide coverage in the range of textual requirements that can be handled; and (3) it employs a multidomain semantic modeling and reasoning framework that can work with individual requirements and groups of textual requirements. During the early phases of project development, these three factors work together to improve the quality of textual requirements, which in turn leads to improved levels of communication in construction management and avoidance of unnecessary project delays and failures.