A Wish List for Requirements Engineering for COTS-Based Information Systems

This paper summarizes the main achievements of a research whose main goal was to investigate the current state-of-art in the field of requirements engineering for COTS-based systems. For this purpose, we have reviewed the most relevant contributions in this field over the last 10 years have been considered. After analyzing these research contributions, we defined a scenario composed by a number of punctual but relevant contributions and a number of methodological approaches coping with the requirements definitions for such systems. Finally, on the basis of this scenario, a Wish List of desirable features of a hypothetical approach has been defined and compared against the current situation. This list may act as an empirical means for evaluating new approaches addressing RE for COTS-based systems, and bases its foundations on the current needs pointed out by the major experts in this field.