The integration of an RE method and AHP: A pilot study in a large Swiss bank

This paper reports on a pilot study of the integration between the Systemic Enterprise Architecture Method (SEAM) and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) in a requirements engineering project. The objective of the project, conducted in one of the major banks in Switzerland, was to select a common SOA tool that could satisfy the needs of two of the bank's main business units, investment and private banking. SEAM provided help in identifying stakeholders, eliciting their requirements, and analyzing these requirements. The resulting requirements were then grouped and translated into selection criteria for the alternative SOA tools. Based on these criteria, the stakeholders chose the tool to be purchased using AHP. We describe the project, the challenges we faced and the lessons learned. These relate to the nature and traceability of requirements, to the requirements elicitation process and to the relations between the bank's business units.

[1]  Alain Wegmann,et al.  Defining early IT system requirements with regulation principles: the Lightswitch approach , 2004, Proceedings. 12th IEEE International Requirements Engineering Conference, 2004..

[2]  T. Saaty.  Analytic Hierarchy Process , 2005 .

[3]  Alain Wegmann,et al.  On the Systemic Enterprise Architecture Methodology (Seam) , 2003, ICEIS.

[4]  Joachim Karlsson,et al.  Prioritizing Software Requirements In An Industrial Setting , 1997, Proceedings of the (19th) International Conference on Software Engineering.

[5]  Irina Rychkova,et al.  Early Requirements and Business-IT Alignment with SEAM for Business , 2007, 15th IEEE International Requirements Engineering Conference (RE 2007).

[6]  John Mingers,et al.  Multimethodology: Towards a framework for mixing methodologies , 1997 .

[7]  Alain Wegmann,et al.  Experiential learning approach for requirements engineering education , 2009, Requirements Engineering.

[8]  Juhani Vaivio,et al.  Interviews – Learning the Craft of Qualitative Research Interviewing , 2012 .

[9]  Alain Wegmann,et al.  Requirements Engineering Education in the 21st Century, An Experiential Learning Approach , 2008, 2008 16th IEEE International Requirements Engineering Conference.

[10]  Bo K. Wong,et al.  Group decision making in a multiple criteria environment: A case using the AHP in software selection , 2002, Eur. J. Oper. Res..