مرور سامانمند مدیریت تغییر در الزامات A Systematic Review of Requirements Change Management

1. Introduction Change is an intrinsic characteristic of the software engineering discipline compared to other engineering disciplines. In real-world scenarios, it is difficult to specify all the requirements for software as the need and the circumstance of the scenario is subject to change. Factors such as customer needs, market change, global competition, government policies, etc. contribute profoundly to the changing nature of requirements. The need for increasingly complex software is in high demand as organizations struggle to survive in a highly competitive market. Therefore, managing change in software development is not just important but crucial for the success of the final product. Nurmuliani [1] defines requirements volatility as “the tendency of requirements to change over time in response to the evolving needs of customers, stakeholders, the organisation and the work environment”. Requirements, in principle, are the needs and wants of the users and stakeholders of the system captured by an analyst through an elicitation process [2]. These requirements change throughout the system development and maintenance process, which includes the whole lifecycle of a system: requirement formation, analysis, design, evaluation and learning [1-15]. As this review progresses, we discuss in detail the factors that can cause these requirements changes. Therefore, requirements change management (RCM) can be defined as the management of such changing requirements during the requirements engineering process, system development and the maintenance process [2, 5, 16]. This definition of RCM is an adaptation of the definition provided by Sommerville [2] who states RCM is a process of “managing changing requirements during the requirements engineering process and system development”. Managing such evolving changes has proved to be a major challenge [12-15]. The consequences of unmanaged or improperly managed requirement changes can spell disaster for system development. These negative consequences can result in software cost and schedule overrun, unstable requirements, endless testing and can eventually cause project failure and business loss [1, 17-23]. Therefore, the proper management of change can be both rewarding and challenging at the same time. The research area of RCM is of importance to many parties as requirements change is a constant factor. Many research studies on have been conducted on improving RCM and many more have been conducted to look for answers in the knowledge gaps found in the current research. The main motivation of this research paper is to bring together the plethora of research work done in the area of RCM into one location. This will enable software practitioners and researchers alike a reference point in acquiring knowledge on the current practices, benefits, risks and difficulties associated with RCM. As a result, they can form realistic expectations before making decisions on activities related to RCM. Better decision making will lead to better planning which will increase the chance of project success. An equally important reason to conduct this research is to identify the knowledge gaps in the area of RCM. Given that a lot of research work has been done in this area, we felt it is important for us as well as other researchers to understand the future of RCM. Although this is a widely researched area, there are many gaps still remaining that once recognized and remedied could assist organizations immensely.