Requirements Prioritization Based on Benefit and Cost Prediction: An Agenda for Future Research

In early phases of the software cycle, requirements prioritization necessarily relies on the specified requirements and on predictions of benefit and cost of individual requirements. This paper presents results of a systematic review of literature, which investigates how existing methods approach the problem of requirements prioritization based on benefit and cost. From this review, it derives a set of under-researched issues which warrant future efforts and sketches an agenda for future research in this area

Requirements Prioritization Based on Benefit and Cost Prediction: A Method Classification Framework

In early phases of the software development process, requirements prioritization necessarily relies on the specified requirements and on predictions of benefit and cost of individual requirements. This paper induces a conceptual model of requirements prioritization based on benefit and cost. For this purpose, it uses Grounded Theory. We provide a detailed account of the procedures and rationale of (i) how we obtained our results and (ii) how we used them to form the basis for a framework for classifying requirements prioritization methods

Non-functional requirements: size measurement and testing with COSMIC-FFP

The non-functional requirements (NFRs) of software systems are well known to add a degree of uncertainty to process of estimating the cost of any project. This paper contributes to the achievement of more precise project size measurement through incorporating NFRs into the functional size quantification process. We report on an initial solution proposed to deal with the problem of quantitatively assessing the NFR modeling process early in the project, and of generating test cases for NFR verification purposes. The NFR framework has been chosen for the integration of NFRs into the requirements modeling process and for their quantitative assessment. Our proposal is based on the functional size measurement method, COSMIC-FFP, adopted in 2003 as the ISO/IEC 19761 standard. Also in this paper, we extend the use of COSMIC-FFP for NFR testing purposes. This is an essential step for improving NFR development and testing effort estimates, and consequently for managing the scope of NFRs. We discuss the merits of the proposed approach and the open questions related to its design

Quantifying Functional Reuse from Object Oriented Requirements Specifications

Software reuse is essential in improving efficiency and productivity in the software development process. This paper analyses reuse within requirements engineering phase by taking and adapting a standard functional size measurement method, COSMIC FFP. Our proposal attempts to quantify reusability from Object Oriented requirements specifications by identifying potential primitives with a high level of reusability and applying a reuse indicator. These requirements are specified using OO-Method, an automatic software production method based on transformation models. We illustrate the application of our proposal in a Car Rental real system

Value-Based Fuzzy Approach for Non-functional Requirements Prioritization

Non-functional requirements (NFRs) are often addressed late in a project and, in turn, can get less attention in the requirements prioritization (RP) process. For various reasons, RP may happen based on functional requirements (FRs) only. While many approaches for prioritizing NFRs have been published, these are known also for some limitations, e.g. not being scalable, being domain-specific and not able to cope with changing requirements. In this paper, we proposes a value-based fuzzy approach for prioritizing NFRs together with FRs. Our proposed approach takes into account (1) the relationships of NFRs with FRs using experts’ evaluations and fuzzy logic, and (2) the dependencies among both types of requirements and also the interdependencies that particularly exist among the NFRs themselves. We evaluated our proposal by conducting a real-world case study of an ATM system. We also compared the list of prioritized NFRs with the list of NFRs prioritized by different stakeholders on the basis of classification factors. The results of applying the proposed approach on NFRs of ATM system show that the approach produces a conflict-free and consistent list of prioritized NFRs.</p

The Unfulfilled Potential of Data-Driven Decision Making in Agile Software Development

With the general trend towards data-driven decision making (DDDM), organizations are looking for ways to use DDDM to improve their decisions. However, few studies have looked into the practitioners view of DDDM, in particular for agile organizations. In this paper we investigated the experiences of using DDDM, and how data can improve decision making. An emailed questionnaire was sent out to 124 industry practitioners in agile software developing companies, of which 84 answered. The results show that few practitioners indicated a widespread use of DDDM in their current decision making practices. The practitioners were more positive to its future use for higher-level and more general decision making, fairly positive to its use for requirements elicitation and prioritization decisions, while being less positive to its future use at the team level. The practitioners do see a lot of potential for DDDM in an agile context; however, currently unfulfilled

The unfulfilled potential of data-driven decision making in agile software development

With the general trend towards data-driven decision making (DDDM), organizations are looking for ways to use DDDM to improve their decisions. However, few studies have looked into the practitioners view of DDDM, in particular for agile organizations. In this paper we investigated the experiences of using DDDM, and how data can improve decision making. An emailed questionnaire was sent out to 124 industry practitioners in agile software developing companies, of which 84 answered. The results show that few practitioners indicated a wide-spread use of DDDM in their current decision making practices. The practitioners were more positive to its future use for higher-level and more general decision making, fairly positive to its use for requirements elicitation and prioritization decisions, while being less positive to its future use at the team level. The practitioners do see a lot of potential for DDDM in an agile context; however, currently unfulfilled

First Trimester Examination of Fetal Anatomy: Clinical Practice Guideline by the World Association of Perinatal Medicine (WAPM) and the Perinatal Medicine Foundation (PMF)

This recommendation document follows the mission of the World Association of Perinatal Medicine in collaboration with the Perinatal Medicine Foundation. We aim to bring together groups and individuals throughout the world for precise standardization to implement the ultrasound evaluation of the fetus in the first trimester of pregnancy and improve the early detection of anomalies and the clinical management of the pregnancy. The aim is to present a document that includes statements and recommendations on the standard evaluation of the fetal anatomy in the first trimester, based on quality evidence in the peer-reviewed literature as well as the experience of perinatal experts around the world.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Requirements Prioritization Based on Benefit and Cost Prediction: A Method Classification Framework

In early phases of the software development process, requirements prioritization necessarily relies on the specified requirements and on predictions of benefit and cost of individual requirements. This paper induces a conceptual model of requirements prioritization based on benefit and cost. For this purpose, it uses Grounded Theory. We provide a detailed account of the procedures and rationale of (i) how we obtained our results and (ii) how we used them to form the basis for a framework for classifying requirements prioritization methods

Status report on cross-organizational functional size measurement and cost estimation

Measurement is a fundamental part of any managed activity and functional size of software is the core to successful management of any software work of any magnitude [10,12,15,16]. It is crucial for estimating project team efforts and normalizing quality attributes such as defect rates, defect density, speed of delivery, and project duration. This paper discusses aspects of the measurement challenge in the context of cross-organizational implementation of large business information systems, namely Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. We make an account of observations in ERP functional size measurement practice and literature, identify aspects of the gap between practice and research, and report on a recent research initiative at the University of Twente that we plan to carry out with strong industrial participation