Analysis of Requirements Elicitation

Introduction

Requirements elicitation is the practice of researching and discovering the requirements of a system from users, customers, and other stakeholders. It is also reffered as requirement gathering. The term elicitation is commonly used in books and research to determine that good requirements isn't just obtained through collection of data from customers. Requirement elicitation practices include interviews, questionnaires, observation, brainstorming and prototyping. This information can be analyzed though an elicitation process which is usually followed by analysis and specification of the said requirement.

While you will be using the information from customers, you can find that an elicitation process is far more dedicated and widespread than usual information gathering. It uses a wealth of different forms of study to gain information from interviews and questionnaires handed out en masse to observation, long-term study, workshops, professional brainstorming, role playing and even prototyping.

Huge wealth of different features

This huge wealth of different features means that elicitation can provide a business with a far wider spectrum of information to learn from.

Get quality help now

Sweet V

Verified writer

Proficient in: Visual Arts

4.9 (984)

“ Ok, let me say I’m extremely satisfy with the result while it was a last minute thing. I really enjoy the effort put in. ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

It gives you a much greater wealth of data, opinion and feedback levels to build from " and with this information, getting a far more developed and integrated business becomes much easier than before. It's important to not, though, that any elicitation carried out will typically raise as many questions about priority and development as it does answers.

Requirements elicitation is a process during which analyst must interact with the stakeholders in many different types of elicitation sessions to draw out the user requirements for a project (Tagbo, 2011).

Hossenlopp and Hass, (2008) defined requirement elication as the process of gathering business requirements for a new business solution. According to Hossenlopp and Hass, (2008), activities involved in requirement elicitation process are intended to draw out and acquire requirements for business soulutions from buisness experts. Unlike Tagbo (2011), Hossenlopp and Hass (2008) definition is specific and confined confined the source information (business requirement) to business expert.In 2004, Goldsmith suggested a "problem pyramid" of "six steps which must be performed in sequence":

1. Identify the real problem, opportunity or challenge
2. Identify the current measure(s) which show that the problem is real
3. Identify the goal measure(s) to show the problem has been addressed and the value of meeting it
4. Identify the "as-is" cause(s) of the problem, as it is the causes that must be solved, not the problem directly
5. Define the business "wants" that must be delivered to meet the goal measure(s)
6. Specify a product design how to satisfy the real business requirements

Requirements quality can be improved through these approaches:

1. Visualization. Using tools that promote better understanding of the desired end-product such as visualization and simulation.
2. Consistent language. Using simple, consistent definitions for requirements described in natural language and use the business terminology that is prevalent in the enterprise.
3. Guidelines. Following organizational guidelines that describe the collection techniques and the types of requirements to be collected. These guidelines are then used consistently across projects.
4. Consistent use of templates. Producing a consistent set of models and templates to document the requirements.
5. Documenting dependencies. Documenting dependencies and interrelationships among requirements.
6. Analysis of changes. Performing root cause analysis of changes to requirements and making corrective actions.

Methods, materials and processes

Before determining the methods, materials and processes used in requirements elicitation, knowing the significance of this topic is crucial since we get to deal with real information from different people.Requirement elicitation is a critical activity in the requirement development process. It discovers the requirements of stakeholders. This means it is where analyst identifies what the users or owners of the system to build want to see. The success or failure of this process is based on recognizing the relevant stakeholders and detecting and discovering their needs as well as the quality of requirements (Sajjad&Hanif, 2010).Requirements elicitation isn't about transcribing what you say. It's a collaborative and analytical process that includes collection, discovery, extraction, and definition of business, user, functional, and nonfunctional requirements.

Requirements are gathered from uncategorized product-related information including product descriptions, features, types of users, sketches of screens, design references, links to competitor's apps, and other documents that have been piling up on your desk for the past few months. All this information needs to be sorted through.Prototyping is one of the methods used in requirement elicitation. In prototyping, we get to deal with what people really need while we still have time to change it. Sometimes, people can't be persuaded unless they get to try a product.Requirements Workshops can also be done in order for us to get the basic requirements done. A requirements workshop is a highly productive focused event attended by carefully selected key stakeholders and subject matter experts for a short, intensive period. For your workshop to be successful, you will need to select the right participants.

Quality over quantity can also be considered because requirements workshops that involve too many participants can slow down the workshop process. Conduct the workshop like an interview, with open-ended questions presented to the room.Brainstroming is one of the most important in elicitation since people get to unite ideas in order for the to have a concrete plan, when done properly, brainstorming has the most potential in capturing needs you didn't know about, processes no one mentioned, and things you hadn't thought of.Lastly, observe. You can figure out exactly where users are at the start of your project, and you can use your strengths to document it. Observation is primarily useful for capturing what's already in existence and enables several other types of requirements tools, not the least of which is existing use-case scenarios.

References

1. Essays, UK. (November 2018). Examining the Importance of Requirement Elicitation Information Technology Essay. Retrieved from Policy.
2. What is Requirements Elicitation. Retreived from Analyst, (December 2012).
3. Top Five Go-To Requirements Elicitation Methods. Retrieved from (May 2015). Use These Four Steps to Gather Requirements. Retrieved from