Evaluation of Robustness of a User Requirements Specification Approach in a Purchase Context, a LIS Case Study

OBJECTIVES To verify the usefulness in terms of robustness of a specific User Requirements Specification Document (URD) approach in a contractual context. METHODS The URD was specified in the users' terminology and in a hierarchical structure (strategic, tactical and operational requirements). The organisational setting concerns the purchase of a LIS for 6 laboratories, anticipated being taken into operation May 2008. RESULTS An immediate description of the observations is that: i) amazingly few contract amendments or other changes have been necessary, ii) the budget is kept except for the labour resources within the user organisations, caused by the vendor's delayed final delivery, and iii) the functionality at present is judged to fulfil the functional needs of the user organisations. CONCLUSION The recommendations were helpful in the users' quality assurance of the purchase and implementation process: The contractual foundation as well as the budget were indeed very stable despite several years of delays, presumably because it is based on a purpose-oriented and hence fairly timeless URD.