Document Type

Conference Paper

Publication Date

2017

Publication Title

Proceedings of the 2017 Industrial and Systems Engineering Conference

Pages

5 pp.

Conference Name

IISE Annual Conference and Expo, May 20-23, 2017, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Abstract

Despite considerable time and resources spent on the initiation phase of software projects, discrepancies often exist between formal project documentation, customer requirements, and final project specifications. Such discrepancies in the requirements management process can have a very negative impact on final project outcomes. The Business Requirements Document (BRD) constitutes the formal software requirements documentation, which typically includes stakeholders’ needs and expectations and project scope while providing a clear project roadmap and project plan. According to IEEE standards, a BRD should be a structured document that includes specific elements such as functional and technical requirements while incorporating certain traits such as traceability and verifiability. Numerous studies indicate that most software companies do not formally follow accepted standards such as IEEE while developing their BRDs and we know little about the relationship between requirements documentation and project outcome. In this paper, we study the impact of requirements documentation quality on software project’s performance through a random sample of software projects from 12 healthcare providers. Requirements documentation quality was evaluated against IEEE standards. Projects’ cost and schedule metrics were used to assess project outcomes. Results outline the key elements of the requirements documentation process that are significant predictors of project success.

Rights

© 2017 Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers. All rights reserved.

Included with the kind written permission of the publisher.

ORCID

0000-0003-2824-4528 (Alla), 0000-0003-4348-7798 (Pazos)

Original Publication Citation

Alla, S., Pazos, P., & DelAguila, R. (2017). The impact of requirements management documentation on software project outcomes in health care. In K. Coperich, E. Cudney, H. Nembhard (Eds.), IISE Annual Conference and Expo, May 20-23, 2017, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (5 pp.). Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers.

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