Analysing the Assumed Benefits of Software Requirements

TL;DR

This paper evaluates Goal Oriented Requirements Engineering (GORE) methods to better understand how they can demonstrate the value of requirements, proposing enhancements with concepts like correlation, confidence, and utility.

Contribution

It introduces an enriched GORE approach that incorporates correlation, confidence, and utility to improve requirement value assessment.

Findings

GORE methods can be enhanced with additional concepts.

Correlation and confidence improve value demonstration.

Proposed model supports better requirement prioritization.

Abstract

Often during the requirements engineering (RE) process, the value of a requirement is assessed, e.g., in requirement prioritisation, release planning, and trade-off analysis. In order to support these activities, this research evaluates Goal Oriented Requirements Engineering (GORE) methods for the description of a requirement's value. Specifically, we investigate the goal-to-goal contribution relationship for its ability to demonstrate the value of a requirement, and propose that it is enriched with concepts such as correlation, confidence, and utility.