Web system requirements: an overview

The development of online and Web-based systems is becoming increasingly critical to the business strategy of many organisations. Although this development can be viewed as a form of software development, it has various unique characteristics. One of the most significant is the uncertainty in domain understanding by both clients and developers. Another is the way in which Web solutions typically lead to changes in business models and hence requirements. These are manifested as significant volatility in the requirements of these systems. In this survey paper we investigate the handling of requirements for Web systems including looking at both commercial practice and current research. We report on the outcomes of a comprehensive set of interviews and follow-up surveys, and argue that the Web system requirements process needs to be fundamentally different from more conventional systems, incorporating the design process into the identification of requirements resulting in a design-driven requirements process.