System Dynamics Modelling and Simulation of Collaborative Requirements Engineering

Requirements engineering is generally seen as a success-critical activity in the software development process. Within this context, the paper presents selected aspects of the System Dynamics modelling and simulation of the EasyWinWin requirements negotiation methodology. EasyWinWin approaches requirements definition as a learning rather than a gathering activity and aims at fostering stakeholder co-operation and involvement. It is based on the WinWin requirements negotiation model and provides a set of collaborative techniques and tools to enable stakeholder interaction. The major goal behind the modelling and simulation effort is to assess the issues associated with the social and behavioural aspects of the EasyWinWin process and to explore how these issues affect the overall outcome of the process. In this paper, we introduce the EasyWinWin requirements engineering process and describe its major activities. We present the overall System Dynamics based simulation model of EasyWinWin and provide details and results of the requirements elicitation component of the model. Finally, we will discuss model validation and calibration and summarize conclusions and insights obtained. An outlook on future work rounds out the paper.