Abstract
Requirements elicitation is one of the most important and critical phase in software development. It is the moment in which the users’ needs of a software system are captured, understood and validated. This is achieved through two-way communications between users and requirement analysts. The process however is not so straightforward to accomplish. The problem of poor communication among requirement analysts and users exists since both parties are different in many ways besides the environment in which the process happens. They face significant challenges to achieve common understandings and agreements on requirements. This paper discusses the contributing factors that affect communications between both parties during requirements elicitation phase. The factors were identified through reviews of related work. The data were analysed through content analysis. The collated factors form a conceptual framework of effective communication activity for requirements elicitation process. The aim of the framework is to ensure the produced requirements are comprehensible and thus leads to the production of a software system that satisfies its intended users.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Davis, C., Fuller, R., Tremblay, M., Berndt, D.: Communication challenges in requirements elicitation and the use of the repertory grid technique. Journal of Computer Information Systems 46, 78–86 (2006)
Cybulski, J., Sarkar, P.: Requirements engineering for web-based information systems. Engineering and managing software requirements, 327–349 (2005)
McAllister, C.A.: Requirements determination of information systems: User and developer perceptions of factors contributing to misunderstandings. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Capella University (2006)
Al-Rawas, A., Easterbrook, S., Aeronautics, U.S.N., Administration, S.: Communication problems in requirements engineering: a field study, Citeseer (1996)
Price, J., Cybulski, J.: Consensus Making in Requirements Negotiation: the communication perspective. AJIS 13 (2005)
Saiedian, H., Dale, R.: Requirements engineering: making the connection between the software developer and customer. Information and Software Technology 42, 419–428 (2000)
Laporti, V., Borges, M., Braganholo, V.: Athena - A collaborative approach to requirements elicitation. Journal of Computers in Industry, 367–380 (2009)
Mann, J.: IT education’s failure to deliver successful information systems: Now is the time to address the IT-user gap. Journal of Information Technology Education 1, 253–267 (2002)
Friedrich, W., Van Der Poll, J.: Towards a methodology to elicit tacit domain knowledge from users. Interdisciplinary Journal of Information, Knowledge, and Management 2, 179–193 (2007)
Tuffley, D.: Exploring the IT-User Gap: towards developing communication strategies. QualIt: challenges for qualitative research (2005)
Kumlander, D.: Communication gaps and requirements uncertainties in the information systems design. World Scientific and Engineering Academy and Society (WSEAS), 400–405 (2006)
Gissel, R.L.: Information system requirements determination: Factors impeding stakeholders from reaching common understandings and agreements on requirements (2010)
Galvin, K., Wilkinson, C.: The communication process: Impersonal and interpersonal. Making connections: Readings in relational communication 3, 4–10 (2003)
Zin, A., Pa, N.: Measuring communication gap in software requirements elicitation process. In: World Scientific and Engineering Academy and Society (WSEAS), pp. 66–71 (2009)
Kotonya, G., Sommerville, I.: Requirements engineering with viewpoints. Software Engineering Journal 11, 5–18 (1996)
Urquhart, C.: Analysts and clients in organisational contexts: a conversational perspective. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems 10, 243–262 (2001)
Cybulski, J., Systems, D.U.S.: Understanding problem solving in requirements engineering: debating creativity with IS practitioners. Deakin University School of Information Systems (2003)
Chakraborty, S., Sarker, S.: An Exploration into the Process of Requirements Elicitation: A Grounded Approach. Journal of the Association for Information Systems 11, 1 (2010)
Hickey, A., Davis, A.: Elicitation technique selection: how do experts do it? In: International Conference on Requirements Engineering, pp. 169–178. IEEE, Los Alamitos (2003)
Hornik, S., Chen, H., Klein, G., Jiang, J.: Communication skills of IS providers: An expectation gap analysis from three stakeholder perspectives. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 46, 17–34 (2003)
Chen, H., Miller, R., Jiang, J., Klein, G.: Communication skills importance and proficiency: perception differences between IS staff and IS users. International Journal of Information Management 25, 215–227 (2005)
Alkadi, G., Beaubouef, T., Schroeder, R.: The sometimes harsh reality of real world computer science projects. ACM Inroads 1, 59–62 (2010)
Vale, L., Albuquerque, A., Beserra, P.: Relevant Skills to Requirement Analysts According to the Literature and the Project Managers Perspective. In: International Conference on the Quality of Information and Communications Technology, pp. 228–232. IEEE, Los Alamitos (2010)
Coughlan, J., Macredie, R.: Effective communication in requirements elicitation: A comparison of methodologies. Requirements Engineering 7, 47–60 (2002)
Pacheco, C., Garcia, I.: Effectiveness of Stakeholder Identification Methods in Requirements Elicitation: Experimental Results Derived from a Methodical Review. In: International Conference on Computer and Information Science, pp. 939–942. IEEE, Los Alamitos (2009)
Coughlan, J., Lycett, M., Macredie, R.: Communication issues in requirements elicitation: a content analysis of stakeholder experiences. Information and Software Technology 45, 525–537 (2003)
Thanasankit, T., Corbitt, B.: Cultural context and its impact on requirements elicitation in Thailand. The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries 1 (2000)
Hayat, F., Ali, S., Ehsan, N., Akhtar, A., Bashir, M., Mirza, E.: Requirement elicitation barriers to software industry of Pakistan (impact of cultural and soft issues). In: International Conference on Management of Innovation and Technology (ICMIT), pp. 1275–1278. IEEE, Los Alamitos (2010)
Hall, T., Wilson, D., Rainer, A., Jagielska, D.: Communication: the neglected technical skill? In: ACM SIGMIS CPR conference on Computer personnel research, pp. 196–202. ACM, New York (2007)
Ahmad, S.: Negotiation in the requirements elicitation and analysis process. In: 19th Australian Conference on Software Engineering, pp. 683–689. IEEE, Los Alamitos (2008)
Solemon, B., Sahibuddin, S., Ghani, A.: Adoption of Requirements Engineering Practices in Malaysian Software Development Companies. Advances in Software Engineering, 141–150 (2010)
Erra, U., Scanniello, G.: Assessing communication media richness in requirements negotiation. Software, IET 4, 134–148 (2010)
Wiegers, K.: Karl Wiegers describes 10 requirements traps to avoid. Software Testing & Quality Engineering 2 (2000)
Fuentes-Fernández, R., Gómez-Sanz, J., Pavón, J.: Understanding the human context in requirements elicitation. Requirements Engineering, 1–17 (2010)
Wan, J., Zhang, H., Wan, D., Huang, D.: Research on Knowledge Creation in Software Requirement Development. Journal of Software Engineering and Applications 3, 487–494 (2010)
Tesch, D., Sobol, M., Klein, G., Jiang, J.: User and developer common knowledge: Effect on the success of information system development projects. International Journal of Project Management 27, 657–664 (2009)
Weber, R.P.: Basic Content Analysis, Newbury Park, CA (1990)
Zhang, Z.: Effective Requirements Development–A Comparison of Requirements Elicitation Techniques. In: Berki, E., Nummenmaa, J., Sunley, I., Ross, M., Staples, G. (eds.) British Computer Society, pp. 225–240 (2007)
Wiegers, K.E.: Software requirements. Microsoft Press Redmond, WA (2003)
Razali, R., Snook, C.F., Poppleton, M.R., Garratt, P.W., Walters, R.J.: Experimental Comparison of the Comprehensibility of a UML-based Formal Specification versus a Textual One. In: International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering (EASE), British Computer Society, pp. 1–11 (2007)
Razali, R., Najafi, P., Mirisaee, S.H.: Combining Use Case Diagram and Integrated Definition’s IDEFO—A Preliminary Study. In: International Conference on Software Engineering and Data Mining (SEDM), pp. 231–236. IEEE, Los Alamitos (2010)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Anwar, F., Razali, R., Ahmad, K. (2011). Achieving Effective Communication during Requirements Elicitation - A Conceptual Framework. In: Zain, J.M., Wan Mohd, W.M.b., El-Qawasmeh, E. (eds) Software Engineering and Computer Systems. ICSECS 2011. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 181. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-22203-0_51
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-22203-0_51
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-22202-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-22203-0
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)