A framework for software requirement ambiguity avoidance

Abstract

This research deals with software requirements ambiguity problems. Among these are incomplete, incorrect, improper, inaccurate and unambiguous requirements. Interestingly, published material related to Software Requirements Specifications (SRS) problems discusses ambiguity as one of the most conversed problems. This paper proposes a Software Requirement Ambiguity Avoidance Framework (SRAAF) to assist and support requirement engineers to write unambiguous requirements, by selecting correct elicitation technique based on the evaluation of various attributes and by applying the W6H technique. We explored existing theories and the outcomes of experimental research to construct the framework. On the basis of existing and inferred knowledge, we tried to justify proposed frameworks components. Our selection process focuses on various situational attributes. We added various situational attributes related to project, stakeholders and requirement engineer for the selection process. Newly devised approach chooses techniques other than traditional techniques or most common techniques and deals with ambiguity to capture the correct requirements information from stakeholders. The framework will be able to address the selection and ambiguity issues in a more effective way and can handle vagueness. New evidence related to attributes and adequacy matrix can be easily added to the framework without any inconvenience.

Reducing Requirements Ambiguity via Gamification: Comparison with Traditional Techniques

“…There is less work done on automatically detecting ambiguity in SRS written in NL, using POS technique. Software Requirement Ambiguity Avoidance Framework (SRAAF) [ 70 ] was designed to support requirements engineer for writing unambiguous requirements by selecting well-suited elicitation technique. The framework, conducted with W6H technique, was based on evaluation of different attributes.…”

Proposed ethical framework for software requirements engineering

“…Kabaale and Kituyi [24] proposed a requirements engineering framework for process improvements in small and medium software companies. Gupta and Aziz [25] proposed a software requirements ambiguity avoidance framework to help requirements engineers to write unambiguous, complete, correct, proper, and accurate requirements. Bates [26] developed an ethical framework for engineering professionals and students to address ethics from two perspectives.…”

Likert-Rating Consensus for SRS Documentation

“…As discussed in the earlier subsection, there are many case scenarios wherein the enterprise applications developed for the organizations spending millions of dollars was ineffective for the organizations, and the implementations were discarded [2], [6]. The other critical reason to ensure the SRS are managed effectively is about the foundation form of SRS for the complete project.…”

“…For instance, when an insurance client asks the software company to develop an application, the scope of receiving the definitive set of requirements is very high compared to a software technologies company developing a CRM system as an offering to the customers in the Insurance industry. Right from the magnitude of requirements to be customized to focusing on the key deliverables integral to the project scenario, at every level, the project specifications requirements change, and it can be a significant impact on the project development plans [2], [5].…”

“…At the same time, there are numerous reasons researched as the critical factor for the failure of the projects. One of the key challenges is about the initial step of not getting the "Software Requirement Specifications" (SRS) defined in non-pragmatic conditions, or there are certain uncertain or ambiguous details that were not effectively accounted for [2].…”