Towards A requirements elicitation knowledge visualisation framework to improve the accuracy of information system requirements

Abstract

The requirements elicitation process (REP) forms part of the earliest phases of the information systems development (ISD) lifecycle and is a critical process that impacts all subsequent phases. REP is acknowledged as one of the most important and knowledge-intensive processes involved in ISD projects, which requires a great deal of communication and collaboration among involved stakeholders to produce the requirements for an information system (IS). The essential requirements knowledge is primarily contained within the stakeholders, is inherently tacit and, therefore, difficult to communicate. Poor communication and collaboration between the involved stakeholders are the primary contributors affecting the successful creation, transfer and sharing of requirements knowledge that directly impacts the accuracy of the elicited IS requirements. Consequently, REP is plagued with the elicitation of inaccurate requirements, which negatively impact the success rate of ISD projects.

It is acknowledged that the visual representation of knowledge is superior to verbal and written communication. Knowledge visualisation (KV), as an extension of knowledge management, aims to create, transfer and share knowledge through visualisations by utilising the key strengths of the human cognitive process to improve communication and collaboration. KV goes beyond the basic transfer of facts to convey insights, experiences, points of view, values, assumptions, outlooks, beliefs and prognoses in such a manner that empowers someone to rebuild, recall and implement these insights accurately. Therefore, this study aims to explore the possibility of using KV during REP to promote communication and collaboration between the involved stakeholders to increase the successful creation, transfer and sharing of requirements knowledge to improve the accuracy of elicited IS requirements.

The study resides in the IS discipline and is rooted in the interpretivist research paradigm to form the underlying philosophical viewpoint. Building upon the foundation of interpretivism, the research design of the study used the survey research strategy along with the questionnaire and interview data collection methods. The study collected both quantitative and qualitative data, which were analysed with the associated data analysis techniques. The quantitative data collected from the questionnaire was analysed using descriptive statistical analysis to determine the total and total percentage, with some instances also incorporating the mean, to identify key relationships and patterns in the data. The qualitative data was analysed using open, axial and selective coding to identify themes within the data relevant to the study.

The findings of the study produced the final version of the requirements elicitation knowledge visualisation (REKV) framework. The framework provides guidance to requirements engineers to effectively visualise existing requirements knowledge to increase the communication and collaboration of the involved stakeholders to promote the successful creation, transfer and sharing of requirements knowledge to increase the accuracy of elicited IS requirements. The findings confirmed the relevance and validity of the framework from a practical perspective and established the use of KV during REP to address the issues associated with the elicitation of inaccurate requirements. The proposed REKV framework breaches the divide between KV and REP and forms a foundation for further advancement of the use of KV during REP.