Knowledge management: Using a knowledge requirements framework to enhance UK health sector supply chains

The gaps of mismatch both knowledge and understanding of beneficiaries and solution providers at the initial stage of developing projects have led to the failures of many projects including supply chains (SC) and related information technology systems (ITS) projects (Lyytinen and Hirschheim, 1987) . The aims of this paper are first, to address theoretical framework by bridging the gaps of different types of knowledge. Second, to establishing business requirements and the flow of information in supply chains between beneficiaries and solution providers in the long and complicated supply chains of the UK’s Health Sector. On the basis of brief introduction to knowledge, knowledge management and supply chain, the paper presents a practical framework that has been developed through critical and relevant literatures in the above three subject areas. Techniques and Tools stem from both management science and information systems were used to provide a possible solution for the problem in bridging the gaps of mismatch knowledge and understanding at the initial stage of identifying requirements in projects through knowledge sharing and transfer

Culture-based artefacts to inform ICT design: foundations and practice

Cultural aspects frame our perception of the world and direct the many different ways people interact with things in it. For this reason, these aspects should be considered when designing technology with the purpose to positively impact people in a community. In this paper, we revisit the foundations of culture aiming to bring this concept in dialogue with design. To inform design with cultural aspects, we model reality in three levels of formality: informal, formal, and technical, and subscribe to a systemic vision that considers the technical solution as part of a more complex social system in which people live and interact. In this paper, we instantiate this theoretical and methodological view by presenting two case studies of technology design in which culture-based artefacts were employed to inform the design process. We claim that as important as including issues related to culture in the ICT design agenda—from the conception to the development, evaluation, and adoption of a technology—is the need to support the design process with adequate artefacts that help identifying cultural aspects within communities and translating them into sociotechnical requirements. We argue that a culturally informed perspective on design can go beyond an informative analysis, and can be integrated with the theoretical and methodological framework used to support design, throughout the entire design process

Challenges in requirements engineering for e-learning elicitation process / Noorihan Abdul Rahman and Shamsul Sahibuddin

Requirement Engineering (RE) is a crucial phase in software development process. It is a process to allow users and developers to elicit required information during requirements gathering before implementation starts. Collaborative application is an example of software that possesses knowledge sharing as the main component needed by users in using the application. RE supports software implementation by identifying requirements specification needed for supporting knowledge sharing. This paper gives an overview of requirements elicitation in collaborative application under the umbrella of RE. Thus, Electronic learning domain will be used as an example of collaborative application in order to give the idea of knowledge sharing among users. Electronic-learning can be seen as a collaboration of entities which comprises students, instructors, administrators, designers and developers of the application. Therefore, the challenges of E-learning are also highlighted in this paper in order to depict the importance of RE process for software development purpos

An analysis of the requirements traceability problem

In this paper1, we investigate and discuss the underlying nature of the requirements traceability problem. Our work is based on empirical studies, involving over 100 practitioners, and an evaluation of current support. We introduce the distinction between pre-requirements specification (pre-RS) traceability and post-requirements specification (post-RS) traceability, to demonstrate why an all-encompassing solution to the problem is unlikely, and to provide a framework through which to understand its multifaceted nature. We report how the majority of the problems attributed to poor requirements traceability are due to inadequate pre-RS traceability and show the fundamental need for improvements here. In the remainder of the paper, we present an analysis of the main barriers confronting such improvements in practice, identify relevant areas in which advances have been (or can be) made, and make recommendations for research

Exploring the Use of Web 2.0 Tools to Support Knowledge Sharing Within the Non-Profit Sector

This project will investigate the challenges of knowledge sharing and communication in non-profit organizations with a high dependence on volunteers. Projects of this type typically rely heavily on the knowledge of the volunteers for success and while many projects have some mechanisms through which they communicate and share knowledge such as a web presence, typically the knowledge is disparate, highly tacit, embedded in the people involved. A scattered approach is typical with knowledge and information on several different forums managed by several different people with no obvious connection. There is unlikely to be a cohesive, coherent approach in place to retain volunteer knowledge, facilitate knowledge sharing and make use of valuable knowledge to improve current and future projects. This project will focus on identifying how such projects store, communicate and facilitate sharing of necessary knowledge between the project and its volunteers and among volunteers themselves, use the knowledge of its volunteers and manage such knowledge to support current and future activities. The project will identify and implement appropriate mechanisms, to enhance the capture and recording of knowledge, the transfer of knowledge from person to person, the exploitation of knowledge and stimulate the generation of new knowledge within the project. A light-weight open-source knowledge sharing and communication tool-kit will be designed and implemented. Particularly, Web 2.0 technologies will be investigated. Existing tools may be leveraged however, tools will be selected to support the types of knowledge identified and communication and sharing mechanisms identified as most effective. A range of volunteer dependent projects will be used to conduct the required knowledge acquisition and elicitation to identify the knowledge needs of such projects. The processes and toolkit designed will be implemented in a specific project, the desireland project, to test and evaluate their effectiveness

The role of stakeholder understanding in aligning IT with business objectives

This article reports a study of senior management experience and their opinions on the issues of effective stakeholder communication and the evolving understanding between business and IT. In particular, we explore the impact of modern business context and practices, the issues of trust, nomenclature and the main barriers to the mutual stakeholder understanding. We find that a lack of communication and a lack of understanding between stakeholders impacts negatively on good alignment as manifested by scope creep, the desire to outsource and a lack of trus

A requirements-based software process maturity model

The requirements phase of software development is an on-going problem for the software engineering community. The many disparate recommendations and best practices found in the literature make it difficult for software organisations to recognise which practices apply to their individual needs. The aim of this thesis is to pull together key solutions into a framework that allows practitioners to assess where their requirements process needs strengthening and to provide a means in which improvements can be achieved. In this thesis I show how I design, develop and validate a model of requirements engineering processes. This requirements capability maturity model (R-CMM) adheres to the characteristics of the Software Engineering Institute's Software Capability Maturity Model (SW-CMM) and is designed to take practitioners from an immature process capability through to an advanced capability. I contribute to the body of knowledge in both software process improvement and requirements engineering (RE) by providing rigorous detail of how a process maturity framework is developed to support RE practices. The model is generic and should apply to many software development organisations. The R-CMM guides users towards a view of RE that is based on goals and is problem driven. The SW-CMM framework is transformed into a simplified model that relates goals and problems to individual RE practises

Understanding problem solving in requirements engineering : debating creativity with IS practitioners

RE is well-recognised as a creative problem solving activity by the systems development community. However, while substantial research has been conducted and knowledge gained about creativity in the general psychology of problem solving, creativity as it applies to RE remains a relatively unexplored area - one that has neither been comprehensively studied, nor highly recognised, as a research topic of importance. This paper attempts to address the above mentioned gap by presenting findings from a recent focus group study of creativity in RE as perceived by a group of RE practitioners. We provide a conceptual framework for understanding creativity in RE, which may be of use to requirements engineers attempting to enable more creative approaches and results, as well as adding to the existing, limited body of research in this area.<br /

Facilitating Requirements Negotiation: Modelling Alternatives and Arguments

Co-development aims to ensure the alignment of business processes and support technical systems. During co-development stakeholders need an early understanding of the potential impact of different requirement choices on the enterprise. An early impact analysis understanding is more likely to actively engage stakeholders, highlight strategic options and deliver useful and sustainable systems. However, when multiple stakeholders are involved with differing backgrounds, experiences and frequently competing goals it is inevitable that conflicts occur during the early phases when requirements tend to be opaque. This paper puts forward a conceptual framework for co-development to support collaborative reasoning and decision-making through the modelling of requirements alternatives and arguments, promoting critical reflection, negotiation and discussion