4.4.2 Quantifying the Evolution of Goals in Requirements Engineering: A Study on the Quality Assurance Review Assistant Tool

Abstract

Goal‐oriented requirements engineering is becoming increasingly important, as goals help to specify requirements, provide rationales to stakeholders, and detect causes behind requirements conflicts. Measuring and understanding the manner whereby goals are understood and modeled over time can have a vital implication to many aspects of software development. Despite the importance, however, there seems to be little help available in measuring the evolution of goals. This paper presents a scheme for quantifying the evolution of goals in requirements engineering. This paper also presents a case study for this scheme using a groupware application, called the Quality Assurance Review Assistant Tool (QARAT). The data collected are analyzed in relation to several conjectures regarding the structural evolution of the goals over 11 iterations. Ultimately, studies such as these can be used to help improve cost estimation, project planning, and risk analysis activities.