Using scenarios to systematically support goal-directed elaboration for information system requirements

Abstract

Recent requirements engineering research, recognises that successful system development relies upon the ability to model and understand the intentional structure of the organisational and business environment within which an IS is intended to operate. The importance of establishing and maintaining explicit links between information systems requirements and business goals is further emphasised by recent research in the areas of business re-engineering, systems evolution and change management. The paper presents our approach for deriving and supporting decisions about system requirements based on the teleological paradigm. In this approach requirements for a new system are seen as the fulfilment or operationalisation of organisational and business goals. In contrast to conventional goal-oriented approaches in which requirements are derived by high level goals by a (mostly) top-down goal decomposition process, we perceive goal operationalisation as the iterative process of experimenting-in-action, using scenario generation techniques to refine enterprise goals to a level at which they have an operational definition.