Eliciting requirements for an inter-company cooperative information system

Purpose – Requirements Engineering (RE) process constitutes the earliest phase of the information system development life-cycle. Requirements elicitation is considered as one of the most critical activities of this phase. Moreover, requirements elicitation is still a challenge, especially in the distributed environment of so-called inter-company cooperative information system. The purpose of this paper is to propose a methodology to elicit requirements for an inter-company cooperative information system. Design/methodology/approach – An analytical research was conducted. We have firstly evaluating the current requirements engineering approaches which are based on goals, scenarios or viewpoint. Then we have showing the role of elicitation technique selection step within the requirements elicitation process. Finally we have study the factors that affect this step in a distributed environment. An example from textile industry is used to illustrate the applicability of the proposed methodology. Findings – Even though existing requirements elicitation approaches based either on goal, scenario or viewpoint are effective techniques, however, they present some difficulties in the practice. Moreover, in a cooperative distributed environment, more issues are created by inadequate communication, time difference between sites, cultural, language, and characteristics diversity of stakeholders which affect the elicitation technique selection step and thus the requirements elicitation process. In order to tackle with these issues, this paper presents a methodology called MAMIE (from MAcro to MIcro level requirements Elicitation) to elicit requirements for an inter-company cooperative information system. Also, a tool has been developed to facilitate the operation of our methodology Research limitations/implications – The major limitation of the paper is that is not tested or used in an organisation. Practical implications –Provide the analyst by well defined steps to elicit requirements for an inter-company cooperative information system. Understanding the role of the elicitation technique selection step within the requirements elicitation process and identifying the factors which have an impact on this step. Selecting an appropriate elicitation technique according to these factors. Originality/value – MAMIE integrates the three notions of goal, scenario and viewpoint to elicit requirements for an inter-company cooperative information system. We argue that these concepts may be used simultaneously and in a complementary way to improve the requirements elicitation process. Moreover, in order to increase the quality of the elicited requirements and thus the system-to-be quality, selecting an elicitation technique in MAMIE is not based on personal preferences but on situation assessment. Key-words Requirements elicitation, Inter-company cooperative information system, Elicitation technique selection, Goals, Scenarios, Viewpoints Paper type Research paper