Abstract:
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.
