Modeling and scenario simulation for decision support in management of requirements activities in software projects

Abstract

AbstractThere are many tools and techniques readily available to support the work in requirements activities of software development processes. As a consequence, the high frequency of errors still occurring in requirements activities suggests that the misunderstanding of the relationships among key decisions is the probable reason for this. The present work presents a system dynamics model constructed to make it possible for users to better understand the relations among key decision variables in requirements activities. The model was parameterized with data taken from previous studies and from a software development company so as to run two sets of simulations with three scenarios each. Optimistic, baseline and pessimistic scenarios are created on the basis of different assumptions regarding risk factors related to requirements volatility and people turnover. We used our simulation results to foresee the effects of these risk factors on the quality and cost of work in requirements activities. Up‐to‐date results from the software engineering literature strongly support the simulation outcomes obtained in our research. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.