Tracing Requirements Errors to Problems in the Requirements Engineering Process

A case study of requirements engineering practice is reported. The application, a decision support system for the Greek Ministry of Health, was investigated by studying the process of requirements analysis through to design and implementation. A usability analysis was then conducted on the designed system with the users. Several usability problems were discovered, and interviews uncovered further problems with the system that could be attributed to failure in requirements engineering (RE). Even though requirements were explicitly stated and the system was an evolution from an existing legacy system, functionality was defective and usability was poor. The client’s prime concern for redeveloping the system was to improve usability; unfortunately communications problems in the RE process meant that the developers did not appreciate this. The implications for RE methods and understanding the RE process are discussed.