Self-Elicitation of Requirements with Automated GUI Prototyping

TL;DR

SERGUI is an automated GUI prototyping tool that leverages large-scale repositories and language models to facilitate self-elicitation of requirements, reducing manual effort and dependence on experienced analysts.

Contribution

It introduces SERGUI, a novel approach combining GUI retrieval and large language models to automate and enhance requirements elicitation through GUI prototyping.

Findings

Effective in generating initial GUI prototypes

Reduces manual effort in requirements elicitation

Facilitates early-stage communication of requirements

Abstract

Requirements Elicitation (RE) is a crucial activity especially in the early stages of software development. GUI prototyping has widely been adopted as one of the most effective RE techniques for user-facing software systems. However, GUI prototyping requires (i) the availability of experienced requirements analysts, (ii) typically necessitates conducting multiple joint sessions with customers and (iii) creates considerable manual effort. In this work, we propose SERGUI, a novel approach enabling the Self-Elicitation of Requirements (SER) based on an automated GUI prototyping assistant. SERGUI exploits the vast prototyping knowledge embodied in a large-scale GUI repository through Natural Language Requirements (NLR) based GUI retrieval and facilitates fast feedback through GUI prototypes. The GUI retrieval approach is closely integrated with a Large Language Model (LLM) driving the prompting-based recommendation of GUI features for the current GUI prototyping context and thus stimulating the elicitation of additional requirements. We envision SERGUI to be employed in the initial RE phase, creating an initial GUI prototype specification to be used by the analyst as a means for communicating the requirements. To measure the effectiveness of our approach, we conducted a preliminary evaluation. Video presentation of SERGUI at: https://youtu.be/pzAAB9Uht80