Skip to main content

Requirements Engineering Problems and Practices in Software Companies: An Industrial Survey

  • Conference paper
Book cover Advances in Software Engineering (ASEA 2009)

Abstract

This paper presents about a study conducted to investigate the current state of Requirements Engineering (RE) problems and practices amongst the software development companies in Malaysia. The main objective of the study is to determine areas in RE process that should be addressed in future research in order to improve the process. Information required for the study was obtained through a survey, questionnaires distributed to project managers and software developers who are working at various software development companies in the country. Results show that software companies in this study are still facing great challenges in getting their requirements right due to organizational and technical factors. Also, we found out that high-maturity ratings do not generally correlate better performance and do not indicate effective, high-maturity practices especially to the RE practices. The findings imply that we must consider both human and technical problems, with extra care should be given to the technical issues and all the RE practices in our future research which is to re-build a specialized RE process improvement model.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Kotonya, G., Sommerville, I.: Requirements Engineering. Processes and Techniques. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Young, R.R.: Effective Requirements Practices. Addison-Wesley, Boston (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Beecham, S., Hall, T., Rainer, A.: Software Process Improvement Problems in Twelve Software Companies: An Empirical Analysis. Empirical Software Engineering 8(1), 7–42 (2003)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  4. Hall, T., Beecham, S., Rainer, A.: Requirements Problems in Twelve Software Companies: An Empirical Analysis. IEEE Proceedings of Software 149(5), 153–160 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Niazi, M., Shastry, S.: Role of Requirements Engineering in Software Development Process: An Empirical Study. In: IEEE INMIC 2003, pp. 402–407 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Davis, A.M., Zowghi, D.: Good Requirements Practices are neither Necessary nor Sufficient. In: Requirements Eng., vol. 11(1-3). Springer-Verlag London Ltd., Heidelberg (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  7. El Emam, K., Madhavji, N.H.: A Field Study of Requirements Engineering Practices in Information Systems Development. In: 2nd IEEE International Symposium of Requirements Engineering, pp. 68–80. IEEE Press, New York (1995)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  8. Nikula, U., Sajaniemi, J., Kalviainen, H.: A State-of-the-Practice Survey on Requirements Engineering in Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises. Technical Report. Telecom Business Research Center, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Damian, D., Zowghi, D., Vaidyanathasamy, L., Pal, Y.: An industrial case study of immediate benefits of requirements engineering process improvement at the Australian Center for Unisys Software. Empirical Software Engineering Journal 9(1-2), 45–75

    Google Scholar 

  10. Niell, C.J., Laplante, P.A.: Requirements Engineering: The State of the Practice. IEEE Software, 40–45 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Lethbridge, T.C., Sim, S.E., Singer, J.: Studying Software Engineers: Data Collection Techniques for Software Field Studies. In: Empirical Software Engineering, vol. 10, pp. 311–341. Springer Science + Business Media, Inc., The Netherlands (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Sommerville, I., Sawyer, P.: Requirements Engineering. A Good Practice Guide. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester (1997)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  13. Hofmann, H.F., Lehner, F.: Requirements Engineering as a Success Factor in Software Projects. IEEE Software, 58–66 (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Sison, R., Jarzabek, S., Hock, O.S., Rivepiboon, W., Hai, N.N.: Software Practices in Five ASEAN Countries: An Exploratory Study. In: The 28th International Conference in Software Engineering ICSE 2006, pp. 628–631. ACM, China (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  15. MSC Malaysia Status for Companies, http://www.msc.com.my/cs/company/default.asp (last accessed 3 March 2008)

  16. Aris, H.: Exploring the Potential of Components-Oriented Software Development Application. In: UNISCON, pp. 355–366. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Seta, F., Onishi, T., Kidokoro, T.: Study about Locational Tendency of IT Companies in City Centers and Suburbs – Case Study of Malaysia. In: International Symposium on Urban Planning, pp. 257–266 (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Raja Kassim, R.S., Kassim, E.S.: Knowledge Management Practices amongst MSC Status Companies in Malaysia: A Survey. International Journal of Knowledge, Culture and Change Management 5(9), 63–70 (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Schreiner, K.: Malaysia’s Silicon Valley Moves Forward. IEEE Software, 126–130 (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Keith, M., Bower, M.S.: When to Use Fisher’s Exact Test. American Society for Quality. Six Sigma Forum Magazine 2(4), 35–37 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Boehm, B.W.: Making a Difference in the Software Century. In: Computer, pp. 32–38. IEEE Computer Society, Los Alamitos (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Solemon, B., Sahibuddin, S., Abd Ghani, A.A.: Re-building the RE Process Improvement Model. In: Accepted in the 16th Asia-Pacific Software Engineering Conference (APSEC 2009), Penang, Malaysia (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Solemon, B., Sahibuddin, S., Abd Ghani, A.A.: An Exploratory Study of Requirements Engineering Practices in Malaysia. In: 4th Malaysian Software Engineering Conference, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT), Terengganu (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Chrissis, M.B., Konrad, M., Shrum, S.: CMMI. Guidelines for Process Integration and Product Improvement, 2nd edn. Addison Wesley, Upper Saddle River (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Beecham, S., Hall, T., Rainer, A.: Defining a Requirements Process Improvement Model. Software Quality Journal 13, 247–279 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Solemon, B., Sahibuddin, S., Ghani, A.A.A. (2009). Requirements Engineering Problems and Practices in Software Companies: An Industrial Survey. In: Ślęzak, D., Kim, Th., Kiumi, A., Jiang, T., Verner, J., Abrahão, S. (eds) Advances in Software Engineering. ASEA 2009. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 59. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-10619-4_9

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-10619-4_9

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-10618-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-10619-4

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics