A New Approach for System Requirements Elicitation Using Discount Focus Subgroups Method

Requirements elicitation is a key and critical activity for software/system development success. Several methods and techniques have been developed and used for requirements elicitation. Prior research referred to many problems and shortfalls with existing group-based methods (e.g., brainstorming, focus groups, and joint application development [JAD]). This paper provides a new approach for requirements elicitation using a novel method called discount focus subgroups (DFSG). The current paper demonstrates that DFSG is an alternative effective technique to improve requirements elicitation activity by addressing pitfalls and problems with existing group-based methods. The method is effective in several situations such as when the development team aims to minimize the costs of system development, large numbers of stakeholders need to be involved in large projects like enterprise systems (ERP), the system is novel and where no similar systems have been developed before.