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Uni-REPM: validated and improved

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Abstract

Software products are usually developed for either a specific customer (bespoke) or a broader market (market-driven). Due to their characteristic, bespoke and market-driven development face different challenges, especially concerning requirements engineering. Many challenges are caused by an inadequate requirements engineering process, and hence there is a need for process improvement frameworks based on empirical research and industry needs. In a previous article we introduced Uni-REPM, a lightweight requirements engineering process assessment framework based on a review of empirically motivated practices in market-driven and bespoke requirements engineering literature. In this article, we validate this framework in academia as well as industry, in order to prepare Uni-REPM for widespread industry use. We conduct two validations; a static validation based on interviews with seven academic experts and a dynamic validation where Uni-REPM is applied in four industrial organisations. Uni-REPM is refined according to the feedback obtained in the validations. The study shows that Uni-REPM is a quick, simple, and cost-effective solution to assess the maturity level of the requirements engineering process of projects. Moreover, the assessment method using checklists is highly usable and applicable in various international development environments.

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Notes

  1. Under submission. Can be obtained from the main author.

  2. Please see http://www.bth.se/tek/mdrepm.nsf.

  3. See footnote 1.

  4. Details about these improvements are available on the project homepage: http://www.bth.se/tek/mdrepm.nsf

  5. This is reported in a previous publication, as yet under submission.

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Correspondence to Mikael Svahnberg.

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Svahnberg, M., Gorschek, T., Nguyen, T.T.L. et al. Uni-REPM: validated and improved. Requirements Eng 18, 85–103 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00766-012-0148-1

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