Domain knowledge reuse during requirements engineering

Abstract

The accurate capture, understanding and representation of requirements is a critical step in the construction of effective and usable information systems. This activity is highly cognitive and is people and knowledge intensive; its success or failure is significantly influenced by the skills and especially the previous experience of the development staff involved. Many of the processes of requirements engineering are not well defined and remain difficult and problematic, significantly the initial investigation, elicitation and checking of requirements are poorly supported by current development tools and development methods. This paper describes research within the field of requirements engineering which draws upon AI/KBS research to adopt a knowledge based approach for requirements capture, modelling and validation and encourage the reuse of knowledge about typical information system applications and domains during such activities.