Stakeholder Oriented Analysis for Information Intensive Applications: A Case Study

We present an approach to Requirements Elicitation based on AWARE, a goal oriented technique conceived for Web applications. The approach integrates a goal-oriented analysis of the needs of each stakeholder class with a subsequent phase of function-oriented analysis. Goal-oriented analysis facilitates an active participation of users and, therefore, can be considered as a substantial step towards user acceptance of the system. Our approach introduces the use of predefined diagrams of user’s needs and confirmation/disconfirmation interviews, that easies and fastens user interaction. The approach was tested on an Information Intensive Application, namely a collaborative document management system for a fast growing Management Consulting organization. The system will support both marketing activities and consulting work on the whole life cycle of consulting projects. In our case study the goal-oriented approach actually encouraged active participation of future users in the dynamic and unstructured environment typical to a Management Consulting organization. The active user participation helped analyst to maximize the potential value supplied to each professional and to minimize the future effort required to use the system. The consulting organization is currently implementing the system and decided to adopt the approach also for their customers.