The requirement engineering process aims to provide a requirements specification document that defines the system to be developed. In this paper, we focus on the negotiation phase for the requirements engineering process in cooperative information systems (CIS). However, inter-enterprise cooperation can generate conflicts and contradictions among enterprise objectives due to the heterogeneity of their interests. The negotiation includes the discussion of requirements conflict and the search for a compromise approved by all stakeholders. In order to improve this phase, we propose a new negotiation approach for requirements engineering in a cooperative context, which overcomes the following problems: requirements could be in conflict, and the existing conflicts cannot be explicitly well expressed, i.e. conflicts are often unknown. Our approach has two steps, where the first one treats conflict detection by using a matrix. The second step consists on applying heuristic and contract net protocols related to the multi-agent systems for the resolution of the conflicts under a negotiation process. The principal quality of CIS is to interoperate physical sites by respecting their autonomy in this perspective, the multi-agents paradigm propose concepts particularly interesting for the development of CIS, such as dynamic organization, autonomy of control, decentralization, and interaction that includes cooperation, coordination, and negotiation. Finally, we apply our approach on a case study to demonstrate its advantages in reducing the complexity and problems of the requirements engineering.
Chaib-DraaB.JarrasI. and MoulinB., Systémes multi-agents: principes généraux et applications, Edition Hermés242 (2001), 1030–1044.
2.
BoehmB., A spiral model of software development and enhancement, Computer21(5) (1988), 61–72.
3.
BoehmB. and RossR., Theory-W software project management principles and examples, IEEE Trans Softw Eng15 (1989), 902–916.
4.
BoehmB.BoseP.HorowitzE. and LeeM.J., Software requirements as negotiated win conditions, in: Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Requirements Engineering, IEEE, April 1994, pp. 74–83.
5.
BoehmB.BoseP.HorowitzE. and LeeM.J., Software requirements negotiation and renegotiation aids: A theory-w based spiral approach, Proceedings of ICSE17 (April 1995), 243–253.
6.
BoehmB., Anchoring the software process, IEEE Software13(4) (1996), 73–82.
7.
BoehmB. and AlexanderE., WinWin requirements negotiation processes: A multi-project analysis, Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Software Processes1998.
8.
BoehmB. and InH., Conflict analysis and negotiation aids for cost-quality requirements, Software Quality Professional (SQP), American Society for Quality (ASQ)1(2) (1999), 38–50.
9.
BoehmB. and KitapciH., The winwin approach: Using a requirements negotiation tool for rationale capture and use, in: Rationale Management in Software EngineeringDutoitA.H.McCallR.MistríkI.PaechB., eds, Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, (2006), 173–190. DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-30998-7_8.
10.
NuseibehB. and EasterbrookS., The process of inconsistency management: A framework for understanding, in: Proceedings Tenth International Workshop on Database and Expert Systems Applications, DEXA, IEEE99 (1999), 364–368.
11.
NuseibehB. and EasterbrookS., Requirements engineering: A roadma, in: Proceedings of the Conference on the Future of Software Engineering ACM, May 2000, pp. 35–46.
12.
PandeyD.SumanU. and RamaniA.K., An effective requirement engineering process model for software development and requirements management, in: International Conference on Advances in Recent Technologies in Communication and Computing, IEEE (October 2010), 287–291.
13.
AnsiE., EIA-632-1998 (R2003)-processes for engineering a system, Electronic Industries Alliance, (1999).
14.
HorowitzE., WinWin reference manual: A system for collaboration and negotiation of requirements, Center for Software Engineering, University of Southern California Technical Report, March 1996.
15.
KotonyaG.SommervilleI., Requirements engineering processes and techniques, John Wiley & Sons, UK, 1998.
16.
BendjennaH.CharreP.J. and ZarourN.E., Using multi-criteria analysis to prioritize stakeholders, Journal of Systems and Information Technology14(3) (2012), 264–280.
17.
HohI.OlsonD.RodgersT., A requirements negotiation model based on multi-criteria analysis, Proceedings Fifth IEEE International Symposium on Requirements Engineering, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Canada, Aug 2001, pp. 27–31.
18.
HohI. and OlsonD., Requirements negotiation using multi-criteria preference analysis, J Univ Comput Sci10(4) (2004), 306–325.
19.
SommervilleI., Integrated requirements engineering: A tutorial, IEEE Software22(1) (2005), 16–23.
20.
García-FloresJ.J., Annotation sémantique des spécifications informatiques de besoins par la méthode d’Exploration Contextuelle: une contribution des méthodes linguistiques aux conceptions de logiciels(Doctoral Dissertation, Paris 4), 2007.
21.
McGrawK. and HarbisonK., User-centered requirements: The scenario-based engineering process, L. Erlbaum Associates Inc, 1997.
22.
PohlK., The three dimensions of requirements engineering: A framework and its applications, Information Systems19(3) (1994), 243–258.
23.
WiegersK.E., When telepathy won’t do: Requirements engineering key practices, Cutter IT Journal13(5) (2000), 9–15.
24.
SycaraK.P., Problem restructuring in negotiation, Management Science37(10) (1991), 1248–1268.
25.
AnnikaL.MareikeS. and GeorgH., Requirements analysis as a negotiation process, in: Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Group Decision & NegotiationKamińskiB.KerstenG.E.SzufelP.JakubczykM. and WachowiczT., eds, Warsaw School of Economics Press, Warsaw (2015), 303–309.
26.
HuangL.WuX. and ZhangY., WikiWinWin: A wiki based system together with win win method for collaborative requirements negotiation, AASRI Winter International Conference on Engineering and Technology (AASRI-WIET 2013), (2013), https://doi.org/10.2991/wiet-13.2013.16.
27.
MacaulayL.A., requirements engineering, SpringerVerlag London, Series on Applied Computing, London, UK, 1996.
28.
AmrouneM., Pierre jean charrel, nacereddine zarour and jean michel inglebert, composition of aspectual requirements: A multi-criteria process for conflict resolution, Journal of Software Engineering8(2) (2014), 75–88.
29.
KleinM., Supporting conflict resolution in cooperative design systems, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics21(6) (1991), 1379–1390.
30.
LubarsM.PottsC. and RichterC., A review of the state of the practice in requirements modeling, in: Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Requirements Engineering, IEEE (January 1993), 2–14.
31.
WooldridgeM., An introduction to multiagent systems, John Wiley & Sons, 2009.
32.
JenningsN.R.FaratinP.LomuscioA.R.ParsonsS.WooldridgeM.J. and SierraC., Automated negotiation: prospects, methods and challenges, Group Decision and Negotiation10(2) (2001), 199–215.
33.
WilliamN.R. and FiekasS., Automated support for requirements negotiation, AAAI Technical Report, WS-94-04.
34.
GrunbacherP.HallingM.BifflS.KitapciH. and BoehmB., Repeatable quality assurance techniques for requirements negotiations, in: 36th Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences, Los Alamitos, CA, USA, 36th Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences, 9 IEEE Computer Society, 2003.
35.
GrunbacherP.HallingM.BifflS. and BoehmB., Integrating collaborative processes and quality assurance techniques: experiences from requirements negotiation, J Manag Inf Syst20(4) (2004), 10–30.
36.
GrunbacherP. and SeyffN., Requirements negotiation, in: Engineering and Managing Software RequirementsAurumA.WohlinC., eds, Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2005, pp. 143–162. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-28244-0_7.
37.
JennyP. and JacobL.C., Consensus making in requirements negotiation: The communication perspective, Australasian Journal of Information Systems13(1) (September 2005). DOI: 10.3127/ajis.v13i1.72.
38.
LoucopoulosP. and KarakostasV., System requirements engineering, McGraw-Hill, Inc, 1995.
39.
LouridasP. and LoucopoulosP., A generic model for reflective design, ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology (TOSEM)9(2) (2000), 199–237.
40.
ChitchyanR.RashidA.RaysonP. and WatersR., Semantics-based composition for aspect-oriented requirements engineering, in: Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Aspect-oriented Software Development, ACM, March 2007, pp. 36–48.
41.
DavisR. and SmithR.G., Negotiation as a metaphor for distributed problem solving, Artificial Intelligence20(1) (1983), 63–109.
42.
AhmadS., Negotiation in the requirements elicitation and analysis process, 19th Australian Conference on Software Engineering, Perth, WA, Australia, March 2008, pp. 26–28.
43.
EasterbrookS., Resolving requirements conflicts with computer-supported negotiation, in: Requirements Engineering (ISBN: 0-12-385335-4), Academic Press Professional, Inc. San Diego, CA, USA, (1994), 41–65.
44.
FrickerS., Specification and analysis of requirements negotiation strategy in software ecosystems, Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Software Ecosystems, CEUR-WS, 2009, 19–33.
45.
HazrinaS.B.Siti.S.B. S and ShahamiriS.R., A requirements negotiation process model that integrates easywinwin with quality assurance and multi, Criteria Preference Techniques, Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering39(6) (June 2014), 4667–4681.
46.
FengT.ZhangY.R.JinY.ZhangJ., A compromise-negotiation framework based on game theory for eliminating requirements inconsistency, Tehnicki Vjesnik22(5) (October 2015), 1085–1092. DOI: 10.17559/TV-20150731092521.
47.
CouturierV., L’ingénierie des systémes d’information coopératifs par réutilisation: Une approche á base de patterns(Doctoral Dissertation, Lyon 3), 2004.
48.
GaurV.SoniA. and BediP., An agent-oriented approach to requirements engineering, IEEE 2nd International Advance Computing Conference (IACC), Patiala, India, February 2010, pp. 19–20. DOI: 10.1109/IADCC.2010.5422878.
49.
DiW.DaY. and BoehmB., Finding success in rapid collaborative requirements negotiation using wiki and shaper, 43rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences1 (2010), 1–10.
50.
RobinsonW.N. and FickasS., Automated support for requirements negotiation, in: AAAI-94 Workshop on Models of Conflict Management in Cooperative Problem Solving, August 1994, pp. 90–96.
