Elicit: a method for eliciting process models

Abstract

Eliciting process models from software projects is a first significant step towards process improvement. In this paper, we present a method, called Elicit, for eliciting software process models from industrial software environments. What is significant about this method is that it has evolved from an intuitive state-the state that defines the immaturity of current elicitation methods-to a formally defined, repeatable, effective and quantified state. Over the last two years of its usage, the method has been used to elicit models from three industrial-scale processes: preliminary analysis, requirements engineering, and product planning and dependency management. The example given in the paper focuses on the requirements engineering process.<>