Prioritization of software functional requirements: Spanning Tree based approach

Abstract

Requirements prioritization shows significant role during effective implementation of requirements. Prioritization of requirements is not easy process particularly when requirements are large in size. The current methods of prioritization face limitations as the current prioritization techniques for functional requirements rely on the responses of stakeholders instead of prioritizing requirements on the basis of internal dependencies of one requirement on other requirements. Moreover, there is need to classify requirements on the basis of their importance i.e. how much they are needed for other requirements or dependent on other requirements. Requirements are first represented with spanning trees and then prioritized. Suggested spanning tree based approach is evaluated on requirements of ODOO ERP. Requirements are assigned to four developers. Time estimation with and without prioritization are calculated. The difference in time estimation with prioritization and without prioritization shows the significance of prioritization of functional requirements.