Deutsche Bahn

+ Deutsche Bahn + +

Deutsche Bahn uses POI's HWPF component to process complex specification documents stored in the legacy Microsoft Word file format.

+ In a joint effort with other international partners, Deutsche Bahn Netz AG, the owner of the German rail infrastructure, developed a novel software toolchain to facilitate the creation of an interoperable on-board component for a pan-European train protection system. One part of this toolchain is a domain-specific specification processor which reads the relevant requirements documents using Apache POI, enhances them and ultimately stores their contents as ReqIF. Contrary to DOC, this XML-based file format allows for proper traceability and versioning in a multi-tenant environment. Thus, it lends itself much better to the management and interchange of large sets of system requirements. The resulting ReqIF files are then consumed by the various tools in the later stages of the software development process. +

+ Currently available, off-the-shelf software for requirement import performed very poorly on the original specification documents due to their structural complexity and heterogeneous formatting. POI not only helped to create a superior solution thanks to its rich API. Because of its open-source nature it also plays a key role in ensuring the maintainability of the resulting system which is expected to stay in operation for many decades to come. +

+ POI has seen various enhancements for this challenging application. Most notably, these include the addition of extensive list numbering support, a feature which is now part of Apache TIKA. Numerous smaller improvements, such as support for table cell background shadings, interpretation of certain kinds of OfficeDrawings, and proper conversion of special characters, also helped to derive meaning from the input files. See here for details. +

+ This work was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Grant No. 01IS12021) in the context of the ITEA2 project openETCS. +