Towards a Tool Supported Approach for Regulatory Requirements Engineering

With the escalating complexity and range of regu-lations impacting the development and operations of software-intensive systems, engineers are compelled to manage intensifying regulatory oversight. The critical task of analyzing and interpreting regulatory norms, as well as deriving software requirements, is a vital step in achieving regulatory compliance. Nevertheless, the interpretation of regulations remains heavily reliant on the individual expertise and domain-specific experience of legal professionals, with a notable absence of systematic methodologies and supportive tools to streamline this process. Research in this domain frequently remains isolated from the practical experiences of industry practitioners, resulting in solutions that struggle to find relevance in real-world applications. The work outlines a doctoral thesis aiming to have a detailed examination of the existing state of reported evidence in RE related to regulatory compliance and, analysis of current practices and obstacles in practice, to identify key areas for improvement and development of supportive tools and methodologies. Furthermore, this work includes an investigation into the limitations and potentials of automation in crafting viable approaches for regulatory RE. The ultimate goal is to bridge the theoretical and practical aspects of regulatory RE, ensuring the creation of a tool-supported approach that is both academically robust and pragmatically applicable. By focusing on enhancing the structure and utility of RE practices in the face of regulatory demands, this work seeks to contribute to the field, paving the way for more effective compliance management in software engineering.