A visualized conflict resolution framework for software requirements negotiation

Abstract

Effective and efficient requirements negotiation, a key factor in the success of large software projects, is difficult when combining input from geographically distributed experts and reaching consensus from different stakeholders (e.g., end-users, developers, software assurance, customers) as well as different aspects of software requirements (e.g., functionality, non-functional quality, and infrastructure). Stakeholder perception conflicts should be anticipated and resolved at the early stage of decision making to achieve a shared vision of the requirements. Stakeholder conflict negotiation processes produce a massive amount of negotiation data wherein meaningful information is buried, and so is impractical for use. Our central hypothesis is that intuitive visualization of perceptions and conflicts in perceptions enables stakeholder understanding of mutual concerns and discernment of underlying trends leading to decisions based on sound consensus between stakeholders. We propose a Visualized Conflict Resolution (VCR) framework for requirements conflict negotiation among stakeholders by providing a platform for collecting stakeholder perception data, analyzing the degree of the perception conflicts, visualizing the perceptions and conflicts using intuitive graphical presentations, and providing conflict resolution guidance.