The implementation of adaptive requirements engineering process based on case-based reasoning

Abstract

One major reason of failure in IT projects is a problem in requirements given by stakeholders, such as incomplete, inconsistent, and incorrect requirements. Requirements Engineering (RE) is a phase in software development life cycle that plays a critical role in determining software requirements from user requirements. Therefore RE could be very influential in determining software quality. Factors that influence the process of RE are organization culture, application domain, and the characteristics of the project. Characteristics and attributes of the IT project should determine the choice of RE processes and techniques. In this paper we present the adaptive process of RE which is based on IT projects characteristics and attributes. We believe conducting RE process based on the right IT projects characteristics and attributes will give more benefits in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. Case-based reasoning approach was adopted for the adaptive process of RE in this study. The IT project parameters that used are project size, complexity, requirements volatility, project category, degree of safety criticality, time and cost constraints. Output of adaptive process of RE is a RE process model recommendation. To evaluate the RE adaptive process, prototype software were developed and used three IT projects as case studies. Results from the experiment showed that the RE process model recommendation helps developer in conducting RE process and the output recommendation satisfied its users.