Ontology-Based Approach to the Requirements Engineering in Agile Environment

Abstract

The paper proposes an ontological approach to the requirements engineering in Agile environment. The key features of requirements engineering for agile project management of software product development are analyzed. A brief overview of the possibilities of using ontologies for intellectual support of the process of requirements engineering in Agile environment is given. Understanding stakeholder needs, prioritizing requirements, and assessing implementation risks are vital tasks for software development projects. Based on the analysis of scientific publications, it is concluded that it is necessary to create an ontology for a comprehensive assessment of requirements in the agile projects. The developed ontology accumulates knowledge about the criteria for assessing the quality of user stories, about requirements artifacts, types of requirements. The structure of the user story is represented by the ontology classes. The ontology includes axioms determining the quality of user story wording, the definition of priority and the risk of user stories based on the matrix approach. Also, the ontology allows you to trace the relationships of user stories with sources of requirements, non-functional requirements, product versions, which include requirements, scenarios that reveal user stories. Classes that reflect scenarios are developed in accordance with the technique of behavior-based development, in which Gherkin notation is used to develop scenarios.