How Business Departments Manage the Requirements Engineering Process in Information Systems Projects in Small and Medium Enterprises

Abstract

In literature, the Requirements Engineering [RE] process in information system projects is typically presented as a process conducted by requirement engineers or similar skilled persons on the developer's site. In this paper the author presents the preliminary results of a survey about the way how business departments are engaged in the RE process. The author conducted semistructured interviews in 25 companies, most of them Small and Medium Sized Enterprises [SMEs], with persons of different departments. The results show that the business departments often conduct the whole RE process itself or at least a part of it. The project success does not depend on who conducts the process but on how the process is done. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]