01-01-2013, 02:23 PM
Requirements Elicitation
Requirements Elicitation.pdf (Size: 84.86 KB / Downloads: 32)
Scenarios
Scenarios are stories which explain how a system
might be used. They should include:
• A description of the system state before entering the
scenario.
• Normal flow of events in the scenario.
• Exceptions to the normal flow of events.
• Information about concurrent activities.
• A description of the system state at the end of the
scenario.
Scenarios are examples of interaction sessions which
describe how a user interacts with a system.
Observation and Social Analysis
People often find it hard to describe what they do
because it is so natural to them.
Sometimes, the best way to understand it is to
observe them at work.
Ethnography is a technique from the social sciences
which has proved to be valuable in understanding
actual work processes.
Actual work processes often differ from formal,
prescribed processes.
An ethnographer spends some time observing people
at work and building up a picture of how work is done.
Natural Language Approaches
The most common knowledge representation
medium is natural language (NL).
NL elicitation approaches fall into two categories:
• Approaches which directly interact with the user.
• Approaches which elicit the requirements from NL text.
Things that make NL an efficient communications
medium:
• Vocabulary – thousands of predefined words used to
describe any possible concept.
• Informality – possibility that a statement is ambiguous,
incomplete, contradictory and/or inaccurate.
• Syntax – useful feature of NL because it is familiar and
thus requires no time for learning it.