Requirements Prioritization Research Articles

Study of aggregation algorithms for aggregating imprecise software requirements’ priorities

Extensive Numerical Assignment (ENA) is a novel Requirements Prioritization Technique introduced by the authors that acknowledges the uncertain and imprecise nature of human judgment. A controlled experiment is conducted during which data are collected using ENA for the requirements assessment of university website system. The objective of this paper is to study how the imprecise data obtained from ENA can be aggregated using aggregation algorithms: Multiple Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT) and Interval Evidential Reasoning (IER) to generate requirements’ priorities in the presence of conflicting personal preferences among assessors. A simplified version of IER called Laplace Evidential Reasoning (LER) is introduced and the results are discussed. LER has the potential to emerge as a competent aggregation algorithm when compared to MAUT and IER, because of its reasonable processing requirements when compared to IER and its ability to produce rich set of outputs when compared to MAUT.

An approach for requirements prioritization based on tensor decomposition

A potential mathematical framework for machine learning is multi-linear algebra of the higher-order tensor that can reveal the relationships among multiple factors underlying the observations. Prioritizing the requirements of a project facilitates the process of requirements engineering and involves multifactors. Due to existing time constraints and budget related to projects, by prioritizing the requirements in an appropriate order we can select and apply them more accurately and this causes to increase the quality of software and customers’ satisfaction. In order to prioritize the requirements, there are many approaches that consider different parameters and different view point in their prioritization process. But as far as we know none of them considers the simultaneous effect among entities, namely functional requirements, non-functional requirements and stakeholders in their prioritization process. In this paper, we decided to consider the simultaneous effect among functional, non-functional requirements and stakeholders that have different preferences on requirements by modeling a three-order tensor. Then by applying multi-way analysis, we will obtain appropriate ordered lists of requirements. To evaluate our approach, a controlled experiment has been provided that compares the proposed approach with the state-of-the-art-based approach, analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The results show that our proposed approach outperforms AHP in terms of actual time consumption and ease of use while preserving the quality of the results obtained by our proposed approach.

Roadmapping for prioritisation of smartphone feature requirements based on user experiences

ABSTRACTSince the life cycle of smartphones is becoming shorter, users are demanding new and improved smartphone features for updated smartphones, but it is difficult to know which features are the most important to users. In Internet user communities, users increasingly review smartphone functions and share information about their experiences such as complaints, problems, and satisfaction, and these user experiences have been fruitful sources for manufacturers that lead to smartphone improvements. Focusing on these user experiences, this paper proposes a systematic roadmapping process including prioritisation of smartphone feature requirements. By prioritising smartphone feature requirements, new and improved versions of smartphones that reflect user needs can be planned based on a product–market roadmap. The systematic approach consists of three parts: user-driven quality function deployment (QFD), a frequent pattern (FP)-tree algorithm, and a product–market roadmap. First, we collected data extracted from text mining in Internet user communities to construct a user-driven QFD. Second, using user experiences related to smartphone features, we applied the FP-tree algorithm to algorithmically derive a priority list of smartphone feature requirements. Finally, based on the result of the FP-tree of smartphones, we proposed guidelines to construct a product–market roadmap. It is expected that a versioning strategy can be formulated through this prioritised product–market roadmap. Furthermore, covering each step from data collection to roadmapping, this study suggests a systematic process for prioritisation of smartphone feature requirements based on user experiences.

English

English

A Systematic Literature Review on the Limitations and Future Directions of the Existing Requirement Prioritization Techniques

Requirement prioritization are considered crucial towards the development of successful and high quality software. Nowadays, most software development project and people in software industries are confronted with the challenge of implementing a large scale, complex and dynamic software applications. Hence, the need to use a requirement prioritization technique which able to deliver a right set of requirement seems very crucial. The available techniques still suffer from several weaknesses. This motivate us to identify comprehensively what are the limitations and future directions of the existing requirement prioritization techniques. In this study, we conducted an in-depth software engineering based Systematic Literature Review, as it helps to execute a thorough and fair literature review due to its predefined review protocol. We gathered a list of 55 requirement prioritization techniques and investigate the limitation and weaknesses each one of this technique. Findings from this study later will be used to design a new effective and efficient requirement prioritization technique.

DRank: A semi-automated requirements prioritization method based on preferences and dependencies

Abstract There are many types of dependencies between software requirements, such as the contributions dependencies (Make, Some+, Help, Break, Some-, Hurt) and business dependencies modeled in the i * framework. However, current approaches for prioritizing requirements seldom take these dependencies into consideration, because it is difficult for stakeholders to prioritize requirements considering their preferences as well as the dependencies between requirements. To make requirement prioritization more practical, a method called DRank is proposed. DRank has the following advantages: 1) a prioritization evaluation attributes tree is constructed to make the ranking criteria selection easier and more operable; 2) RankBoost is employed to calculate the subjective requirements prioritization according to stakeholder preferences, which reduces the difficulty of evaluating the prioritization; 3) an algorithm based on the weighted PageRank is proposed to analyze the dependencies between requirements, allowing the objective dependencies to be automatically transformed into partial order relations; and 4) an integrated requirements prioritization method is developed to amend the stakeholders’ subjective preferences with the objective requirements dependencies and make the process of prioritization more reasonable and applicable. A controlled experiment performed to validate the effectiveness of DRank based on comparisons with Case Based Ranking, Analytical Hierarchy Process, and EVOLVE. The results demonstrate that DRank is less time-consuming and more effective than alternative approaches. A simulation experiment demonstrates that taking requirement dependencies into consideration can improve the accuracy of the final prioritization sequence.

RePizer: a framework for prioritization of software requirements

The standard software development life cycle heavily depends on requirements elicited from stakeholders. Based on those requirements, software development is planned and managed from its inception phase to closure. Due to time and resource constraints, it is imperative to identify the high-priority requirements that need to be considered first during the software development process. Moreover, existing prioritization frameworks lack a store of historical data useful for selecting the most suitable prioritization technique of any similar project domain. In this paper, we propose a framework for prioritization of software requirements, called RePizer, to be used in conjunction with a selected prioritization technique to rank software requirements based on defined criteria such as implementation cost. RePizer assists requirements engineers in a decision-making process by retrieving historical data from a requirements repository. RePizer also provides a panoramic view of the entire project to ensure the judicious use of software development resources. We compared the performance of RePizer in terms of expected accuracy and ease of use while separately adopting two different prioritization techniques, planning game (PG) and analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The results showed that RePizer performed better when used in conjunction with the PG technique.

Toward the Design of an Energy Consumption Feedback System

In this article, we examine two novel issues in user requirements analysis for a feedback system on household energy consumption: (a) microgeneration and (b) the “Must, Should, Could, Won’t have” (MoSCoW) method. We report on a qualitative user requirements analysis using the MoSCoW method for the prioritization of user requirements. Fifteen interviews resulted in three user groups that were abstracted into personas with different user requirements. Finally, we show that changes in cutoff values resulted in MoSCoW prioritization changes for a maximum of only 5.9%. These are promising results for the robustness of the MoSCoW method.

Understanding requirement prioritization artifacts: a systematic mapping study

The importance of prioritizing requirements stems from the fact that not all requirements can usually be met with available time and resource constraints. Efficient and trustworthy methods for prioritizing requirements are therefore in high demand. In this article, we present results of a systematic mapping study in order to appreciate the different considerations that have influenced prioritization of software requirements, identify the various types of artifacts proposed toward prioritizing software requirements, and examine certain characterizations of these artifacts. The results emphasize the heightened attention the domain of requirement prioritization has received in recent years. On the basis of this study, we are able to provide the following inferences regarding possible future research trajectories in software requirement prioritization artifacts: (1) focus on frameworks and tools; (2) emphasis on specialization; and (3) proposition of theory-based artifacts. Additional research possibilities are also pointed out at the end and are expected to stimulate further research on the topic.

Experimentation on accuracy of non functional requirement prioritization approaches for different complexity projects

Summary Non functional requirements must be selected for implementation together with functional requirements to enhance the success of software projects. Three approaches exist for performing the prioritization of non functional requirements using the suitable prioritization technique. This paper performs experimentation on three different complexity versions of the industrial software project using cost-value prioritization technique employing three approaches. Experimentation is conducted to analyze the accuracy of individual approaches and the variation of accuracy with the complexity of the software project. The results indicate that selecting non functional requirements separately, but in accordance with functionality has higher accuracy amongst the other two approaches. Further, likewise other approaches, it witnesses the decrease in accuracy with increase in software complexity but the decrease is minimal.

토픽 모델링과 이해관계자 요구 산출물을 이용한 요구사항 자동 우선순위화

소프트웨어 개발에 투자되는 자원은 한정되어 있으므로 요구사항들을 우선순위화하여 중요한 요구사항부터 충족시켜야 한다. 기존 요구사항 우선순위화 기법들은 인간의 수동화된 판단에 의존하므로 요구사항의 수가 많은 경우에는 적용하기가 힘든 확장성 문제와 이해관계자 개개인의 편향된 가치판단에 노출되는 편향성 문제를 가지고 있다. 이 문제들을 해결하고자 본 논문은 요구사항 도출 단계에서 얻어지는 이해관계자 요구 산출물과 텍스트의 의미적 주제를 추리하는 토픽 모델링 기법을 이용한 자동 요구사항 우선순위화 기법, ToMSN(Topic Modeling Stakeholder Needs for requirements prioritization)을 제안한다. 이 기법을 사용자 30,000명 규모의 실제 소프트웨어 요구사항 데이터로 평가한 결과, 인간의 개입이 필요 없는 자동화 과정으로 확장성과 편향성 문제를 해결함과 더불어 우선순위화 정확도 또한 기존 수동화 기법들과 유사함을 확인할 수 있었다.

Requirement Prioritization and Scheduling in Software Release Planning Using Hybrid Enriched Genetic Revamped Integer Linear Programming Model

The main objective of this study is to scheduling the prioritized requirements that make the software release in a better way. Software release is a single or a group of change in an already evolved software product that can result in another new product. Therefore, a good planning is essential and a bad plan can always lead to irrelevant features (requirements) being included in the release which in turn can affect the release time of the software. In order to overcome this delay, two things have to be considered such as requirements prioritization and scheduling. Prioritization of requirements means that the significant requirements are released in priority. Second is to schedule these prioritized requirements so as to release the new version on time. If we just do requirement prioritization without making an appropriate time plan, there is a high chance that the project may exceed the release schedule and this probability will grow as the number of dependencies increases. So we have to perform requirement prioritization and scheduling as one model that can minimize the project duration. So the paper consolidates both the processes of software release, prioritization and scheduling, called as Hybrid EGRILP model in order to maximize the revenue and to minimize the project duration. The requirements prioritization is performed using the Enriched Genetic process where the premature convergence problem is overcome and the Revamped Integer Linear Programming (RILP) is introduced with the enriched genetic process. This combination of methods maximizes the profit of the software and minimizes the release time of the software.

Towards the Applied Hybrid Model in Requirements Prioritization

Although there are numerous prioritization techniques, few satisfy the quality criteria such as scalability, efficiency and easiness of usage. This research presents a case study of Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) software requirements prioritization to be potentially used by thousands of users. The HCV(Hierarchical Cumulative Voting) requirements prioritization technique was addressed and applied through a web questionnaire directly to potential users to analyze the benefit of the requirement criteria. Another aspects discussed were volatility of the requirements and market competition. In the end, eighty respondents sent in the questionnaire and a score of requirements in ratio scale of measurement was obtained, and the criteria have been consolidated through the Macbeth approach. It was found that the method could respond positively to the needs and characteristics of Market-Driven Software Development, in similar situations to those described.

Requirement prioritization approaches and evaluation strategies: a systematic literature review

Requirements prioritization is one of process in requirement engineering which aim to manage the order of urgency and implementation a set of requirements. Requirement prioritization also used in software development project to cope with the limited resources allocated. Many research have been done at industrial and academic level in this particular area. There are many techniques applied by using several approaches. However, the evaluation towards the effectiveness and efficiency of these available techniques still can be examined. There is a need to identify the approaches used and the evaluation performed towards these techniques. A comprehensive and systematic exploration to distinguish the state-of-the-art approaches been used to develop, as well as methods used to evaluate those prioritization techniques is planned. The plan is elaborated in detail within this paper by using the Systematic Literature Review (SLR) protocol. Initial finding for this planning phase for SLR is a collection of scrutinized and significant research literatures. The extracted data from these literatures later will be used to summarize state of the art approaches to develop techniques for prioritizing requirement. Additionally, findings about the evaluations strategy will serve as a basis for researcher's perception in planning their research. It also will benefited the practitioners to choose a high quality and evaluated techniques. Furthermore, the findings will be useful for the researcher and academician to discover the knowledge gap for their future research and contribution.

Role of Requirements Elicitation & Prioritization to Optimize Quality in Scrum Agile Development

One of most common aspect with traditional software development is managing requirements. As requirements emerge throughout the software development process and thus are needed to be addressed through proper communication and integration between stakeholders, developers and documentation. Agile methodology is an innovative and iterative process that supports changing requirements and helps in addressing changes throughout the development process. Requirements are elicited at the beginning of every software development process and project (product) and latter are prioritized according to their importance to the market and to the product itself. One of the most important and influencing steps while making a software product is requirements prioritization. Prioritizing requirements helps the software team to understand the existence and importance of a particular requirement, its importance of use and its urgency to time to market. There are many requirements prioritization techniques with their relative strength and weaknesses. Otherwise many of them fail to take account all the factors that must be considered while prioritizing requirements such as cost, value, risk, time to market, number of requirements and effect of non-functional requirements on functional requirements. There are several requirements prioritization methodologies that aid in decision making but importantly many lacks to account the important factors that have significant influence in prioritizing requirements. A requirement prioritization methodology based on several factors such as time to market, cost, risk etc has been proposed. The proposed model is expected to overcome this lack. In sprints, requirements will be prioritized both on the basis of influencing factors such as cost, value, risk, time to market etc. and through the effect of non-functional requirements over functional requirements. This will improve the overall quality of software product when it is included in the development process of scrum. Requirements will not only be prioritized based on sprints, human decision but by critically analyzing the factors (sub characteristics) that can cause the product to success/ fail repeatedly thus ensuring the consistency in right requirements and hence the right prioritized requirements will be selected for a particular sprint at a time.

Methods for user‐centered design and evaluation of text analysis tools in a digital history project

ABSTRACTThis paper reports on the user centered, formative evaluation of tools and the validation of models for the analysis of historical textbooks in the context of the digital history project Children and their World. The goal of the project is to create methods for computer‐supported, interactive analysis that can be applied to a large corpus of historical textbooks on history and geography (∼5000 volumes). A first version of a tool for text analysis has been created based on a user centered design process, including a contextual study on current work practices of historians, participative design workshops, and the prioritization of requirements with the project stakeholders. In addition, several generations of text models used in these tools have been iteratively evaluated by the historians in the project. In the context of a cooperative validation study, researchers have used these tools to examine existing hypotheses from the field. The method enables the validation of text models regarding established knowledge, provides additional insights into the requirements for tools and visualizations, and helps to strengthen the expert users' trust in the tools. Based on the findings, this paper proposes four principles for the analysis of a corpus of historical texts. Moreover, the methods presented are discussed regarding the application of user centered design in the context of digital humanities projects.

Target-oriented Prototyping in Highly Iterative Product Development

The realization of radical innovations is a critical success factor in today's markets. When traditional sequential development processes are employed the high degree of uncertainty connected to these innovations results in a long and costly development time, potentially leading to failure of the project. The paper at hand recommends highly iterative prototyping processes based on findings from the software industry where agile processes, mostly Scrum, are widely employed. In the development of physical products, prototyping is often unsystematic which is considered as a major obstacle to an efficient agile development process. This paper presents a systematic method of prototyping in the context of physical product development in order to gradually reduce the high degree of market and technological uncertainty associated with radical innovations. The prioritization of requirements is suggested to be the basis for the design of adequate prototypes. An analytical information-oriented approach is presented that continuously takes into account the amount of uncertainty in the dimensions market, product and process. The evaluation of the specific ratio of benefit and effort connected to the implementation of the requirements leads to their prioritization.

Multi-Criteria Decision Making Using ELECTRE

Requirements prioritization is one of the key factors in deciding the success of the project and hence the software industry. One of the major concerns in software prioritization techniques is that the existing ranking techniques have a very modest support to different criteria used by stakeholders to present their ranking. The current techniques are not suitable for arriving at anoptimized view of multiple stakeholders using multiple criteria. This research analyzes the issues in existing techniques. A web based decision support model using ELECTRE as the method for prioritization is proposed. ELECTRE is a multi-criteria decision making model that is proved to be effective in ranking several decision making problems. The proposed system takes input from multiple stakeholders using 100-point method. An optimized ranking is obtained using ELECTRE method. The developed system is validated using a pilot project and is found to be efficient in terms of saving cost of implementation and man-hours needed for implementation.

An Evaluation of Requirement Prioritization Techniques with ANP

This article elaborates an evaluation of seven software requirements prioritization methods (ANP, binary search tree, AHP, hierarchy AHP, spanning tree matrix, priority group and bubble sort). Based on the case study of local project (automation of Mobilink franchise system), the experiment is conducted by students in the Requirement Engineering course in the department of Software Engineering at the University of Science and Technology Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhawa, Pakistan. Parameters/ measures used for the experiment are consistency indication, scale of measurement, interdependence, required number of decisions, total time consumption, time consumption per decision, ease of use, reliability of results and fault tolerance; on which requirements prioritization techniques are evaluated. The results of experiment show that ANP is the most successful prioritization methodology among all the available prioritization methodologies.

Toward Data-Driven Requirements Engineering

Nowadays, users can easily submit feedback about software products in app stores, social media, or user groups. Moreover, software vendors are collecting massive amounts of implicit feedback in the form of usage data, error logs, and sensor data. These trends suggest a shift toward data-driven user-centered identification, prioritization, and management of software requirements. Developers should be able to adopt the requirements of masses of users when deciding what to develop and when to release. They could systematically use explicit and implicit user data in an aggregated form to support requirements decisions. The goal is data-driven requirements engineering by the masses and for the masses.