Priority Assessment of Software Requirements from Multiple Perspectives

The development of complex software systems involves collecting software requirements from various stakeholders. Often stakeholder perceptions conflict during the requirements elicitation phase. An effective technique to resolve such a conflict is needed. We presented a framework that prioritizes software requirements gathered from multiple stakeholders by incorporating inter-perspective relationships, which is not addressed by existing priority assessment techniques. We use a relationship matrix to analyze the impact between requirements and facilitate the integration process which assesses their priorities based on their relationships from multiple perspectives. It allows the development team to resolve conflicts effectively and concentrate their valuable time and resources on the critical few requirements from multiple perspectives that directly contribute to high customer satisfaction

Collaborative design : managing task interdependencies and multiple perspectives

This paper focuses on two characteristics of collaborative design with respect to cooperative work: the importance of work interdependencies linked to the nature of design problems; and the fundamental function of design cooperative work arrangement which is the confrontation and combination of perspectives. These two intrinsic characteristics of the design work stress specific cooperative processes: coordination processes in order to manage task interdependencies, establishment of common ground and negotiation mechanisms in order to manage the integration of multiple perspectives in design

Deriving Information Requirements from Responsibility Models

This paper describes research in understanding the requirements for complex information systems that are constructed from one or more generic COTS systems. We argue that, in these cases, behavioural requirements are largely defined by the underlying system and that the goal of the requirements engineering process is to understand the information requirements of system stakeholders. We discuss this notion of information requirements and propose that an understanding of how a socio-technical system is structured in terms of responsibilities is an effective way of discovering this type of requirement. We introduce the idea of responsibility modelling and show, using an example drawn from the domain of emergency planning, how a responsibility model can be used to derive information requirements for a system that coordinates the multiple agencies dealing with an emergency

Scope Management of Non-Functional Requirements

In order to meet commitments in software projects, a realistic assessment must be made of project scope. Such an assessment relies on the availability of knowledge on the user-defined project requirements and their effort estimates and priorities, as well as their risk. This knowledge enables analysts, managers and software engineers to identify the most significant requirements from the list of requirements initially defined by the user. In practice, this scope assessment is applied to the Functional Requirements (FRs) provided by users who are unaware of, or ignore, the Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs). This paper presents ongoing research which aims at managing NFRs during the software development process. Establishing the relative priority of each NFR, and obtaining a rough estimate of the effort and risk associated with it, is integral to the software development process and to resource management. Our work extends the taxonomy of the NFR framework by integrating the concept of the "hardgoal". A functional size measure of NFRs is applied to facilitate the effort estimation process. The functional size measurement method we have chosen is COSMICFFP, which is theoretically sound and the de facto standard in the software industry

Driving continuous improvement

The quality of improvement depends on the quality of leading and lagging performance indicators. For this reason, several tools, such as process mapping, cause and effect analysis and FMEA, need to be used in an integrated way with performance measurement models, such as balanced scorecard, integrated performance measurement system, performance prism and so on. However, in our experience, this alone is not quite enough due to the amount of effort required to monitor performance indicators at operational levels. The authors find that IT support is key to the successful implementation of performance measurement-driven continuous improvement schemes

BlogForever D3.2: Interoperability Prospects

This report evaluates the interoperability prospects of the BlogForever platform. Therefore, existing interoperability models are reviewed, a Delphi study to identify crucial aspects for the interoperability of web archives and digital libraries is conducted, technical interoperability standards and protocols are reviewed regarding their relevance for BlogForever, a simple approach to consider interoperability in specific usage scenarios is proposed, and a tangible approach to develop a succession plan that would allow a reliable transfer of content from the current digital archive to other digital repositories is presented

Exploring participatory design for SNS-based AEH systems

The rapidly emerging and growing social networking sites (SNS) offer an opportunity to improve adaptive e-learning experience by introducing a social dimension, connecting users within the system. Making connections and providing communication tools can engage students in creating effective learning environment and enriching learning experiences. Researchers have been working on introducing SNS features into adaptive educational hypermedia systems. The next stage research is centered on how to enhance SNS facilities of AEH systems, in order to engage students’ participation in collaborative learning and generating and enriching learning materials. Students are the core participants in the adaptive e-learning process, so it is essential for the system designers to consider students’ opinions. This paper aims at exploring how to apply participatory design methodology in the early stage of the SNS-based AEH system design process

Current barriers and possible solutions to effective project team formation and deployment within a large construction organisation

The characteristics of the construction industry present an extremely challenging context for effective human resource management (HRM). The dynamic project-based nature of the industry results in extreme fluctuations in organisations’ workloads and requires teams to form, develop and disband relatively quickly. Thus, the importance of efficient management of employee resourcing activities cannot be understated. This paper reports on the findings of research which explored employee resourcing practices within large UK construction firms. The results suggest that managers currently attempt to carry out some strategic planning with regards to employee resourcing, but that this does not necessarily translate into effective operational practice which simultaneously takes account of organisational, project and individual employee needs. A new approach for more effective employee resourcing decision-making, based on encouraging the involvement of the employees in the deployment process, is put forward as a management tool which informs effective team formation and deployment. However, this will require the acceptance of both decision-support technology and of employee input into what is currently a tacit, management-oriented decision process