Application of the Fuzzy AHP Technique for Prioritization of Requirements in Goal Oriented Requirements Elicitation Process

Requirement Engineering is the branch of science that aims to make system requirements clear and understandable so that they reflect the actual needs of the customers. It is a multidisciplinary approach which encompasses other fields also like the social and cognitive sciences to endow with theoretical grounds, practical knowledge and techniques for requirements elicitation and analysis. Requirements elicitation is the process through which the customer and the developer of a software system discover, review, articulate, and understand user needs and verifies user requirements through discussion. It is the earliest phase of software development and has the maximum impact on the product in the long run. Hence properly gathered requirements have great influence on the design phase of software development (Sommerville, 2001). In practice, only a limited set of requirements can be implemented in one release, but the product should also meet the stakeholders’ expectations. Goals have long been recognized to be essential components involved in the requirements engineering(RE) process (Ross and Schoman, 1977). Goal-oriented requirements elicitation process is concerned with the use of goals for eliciting, elaborating, structuring, specifying, analyzing, negotiating, documenting, and modifying requirements. This Goal-oriented requirements elicitation process is very important because it helps in defining the main goal and capturing the various objectives that the system under consideration for development must achieve. Requirements prioritization is a process that helps in identifying the most valuable requirements from the set that contains several requirements (Sommerville and Sawyer, 1997). The process of prioritizing requirements provides support for the stakeholders to decide the core requirements for the system and to plan and select an ordered, optimal set of software requirements for implementation (Karlsson, 1998). The ultimate goal of any software organization is to create systems that meet the stakeholder demands (Wiegers, 1999). Since there are usually more requirements than can be implemented, decision makers must face the problem of selecting the right set of requirements. By selecting a subset of the requirements that are valuable for the customers, and that can be implemented within budget, organizations can become more successful in the market (Yeh, 1992). Requirements prioritization plays an important role in the requirement engineering process. Selecting the right set of requirements for a product release largely depends on how successfully the requirements are prioritized.