Requirements scoping outside product lines : Systematic Literature Review and Survey

• Main Author: Kollu, Ravichandra Kumar
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Institutionen för programvaruteknik 2016
• Subjects: Requirements; Scoping; Requirements scoping; Software Engineering; Programvaruteknik
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-11766

Context: Scoping is admitted as a key activity in Market Driven Software Development for handling the constant inflow of requirements. It helps in identifying the features, domains and products which help for gaining economic benefits in Software Product Line (SPL) development. Beyond SPL, managing the scope of the project is a major risk for project management. Continuously changing scope creates a congestion state to handle the requirements inflow which causes negative consequences like scope scrap and scope creep. However, for managing negative consequences caused due to requirements volatility depicts a need for work on requirements scoping outside the product line.  Objectives: In this study, an exploratory work is carried to identify the literature and industrial perspectives on requirements scoping outside the product line. The main objectives are: Identifying the state of literature of requirements scoping outside product line and variability analysis. To explore the industrial practice on requirements scoping. Suggesting recommendations in improving the scoping process based on the literature and survey.  Methods: Systematic Literature Review (SLR) using snowballing procedure was conducted to identify the literature available on requirements scoping outside the product line. Quality assessment using rigor and relevance was performed to find the trustworthiness of the papers obtained through SLR. The data obtained through SLR was analyzed using narrative analysis. Furthermore, an industrial survey was performed using web questionnaire to identify the industrial perspective on requirements scoping. Statistical analysis was performed for analyzing the data obtained from survey.  Results: 23 relevant papers were identified through SLR. The results were categorized as definitions obtained, phenomena, challenges and methods/tools identified. From the finding of SLR, an industrial survey was conducted, which has obtained 93 responses. The challenges that were identified through literature were validated through survey and are prioritized. Moreover, the study identified additional challenges that are not discussed in the literature. Additionally, the approaches followed in organizations while scoping the requirements were identified through the survey. Conclusions: This study identified that scope creep is the most frequently occurring phenomenon that organizations are facing throughout the lifecycle of the project. In addition project delays, quality issues and project cost were identified as the most occurring scoping associated challenges. Moreover, scoping activity was identified as the continuous activity which changes significantly throughout the lifecycle. Finally, suggestions were given for improving the scoping process.