Requirements Engineering in the Context of Big Data Applications

Abstract

Requirements Engineering (RE) plays an essential role in the software engineering process, being considered as one of the most critical phases of the software development life-cycle. As we might expect, then, the Requirements Engineering would play a similar role in the context of Big Data applications. However, practicing Requirements Engineering is a challenging and complex task. It involves (i) stakeholders with diverse backgrounds and levels of knowledge, (ii) different application domains, (iii) it is expensive and error-prone, (iii) it is important to be aligned with business goals, to name a few. Because it involves such complex activities, a lot has to be understood in order to properly address Requirements Engineering. Especially, when the technology domain (e.g., Big Data) is not yet well explored. In this context, this paper describes a research plan on Requirements Engineering involving the development of Big Data applications. The high-level goal is to investigate: (i) On the technical front, the Requirements Engineering activities with respect to the analysis and specification of Big Data requirements and, (ii) on the management side, the relationship between RE and Business Goals in the development of Big Data Software applications.