A model for navigating interview processes in requirements elicitation

Abstract

Experts in requirements elicitation interview stakeholders using various levels of knowledge to grasp and elicit users' requirements. This paper analyzes expert interview processes and explores a computation model for simulating them. This model can be used to navigate a novice analyst's interview processes. It consists of a blackboard model and a state transition model in order to narrow the candidates for questions that an expert analyst will ask stakeholders next in the interview process. The candidates are selected based on information that has been elicited from stakeholders, and the blackboard model is for holding this information in the form of IEEE 830, a standard form of requirements specification documents. We have analyzed experts' interview processes and constructed a computation model in the sales management domain. We also recorded novice processes and showed that we could improve them by means of the model.