Specification of Requirements and Software Architecture for the Customisation of Enterprise Software: A Multi-case Study Based on the RE4SA Model

Abstract

Many failed software projects can be traced to bad requirements management. Additionally, there is a big gap be-tween state of the art and practice in software architecture. For enterprise software customisation, not only do these issues apply, but additional challenges exist too. Instead of one standard soft-ware product, vendors often have to deal with customised ver-sions with additional maintenance challenges. In this research, we apply the Requirements Engineering for Software Architecture (RE4SA) model via a multi-case study to show how the require-ments engineering and software architecture disciplines can be linked, and in doing so provide improvements to both areas. Our multi-case study regards enterprise software customisation and shows improvements in requirements management and higher alignment between the software architecture and requirements.