Validation of a systematic approach to requirements engineering process improvement in SMEs in a design science framework

Abstract

Requirements Engineering (RE) acts as a conduit between the needs of system users and the capabilities of software produced. Because of this, many Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have been tempted to invest in improving corresponding processes. Regrettably though, many process improvement approaches for RE do not meet SMEs' needs and are often hard to apply in these companies especially in transitional countries such as Uganda. This study therefore, presents a validation of a Systematic Approach to Requirements Engineering Process Improvement that can be used to enable RE process improvement in SME software companies in transitional countries. The validation was conducted following a design science research approach where four (4) case organizations were used. From the study, it is reported that the approach is indeed easy to use, understandable and is applicable to all kinds of SMEs that would wish to conduct RE process improvement.