Future user requirement elicitation for technology investment : a formal approach

This study addresses the lack of methods to systematically identify future market needs for strategic planning in technology investment. Uncertain and ambiguous future, hardly available user input on realistic needs, market with latent demand and evolving market increase technology investment risk. The authors presents a formal approach named requirement elicitation of future users by systems scenarios (REFUSS) that derives future user requirements by relating process knowledge obtained from current system model with plausible future user lifestyle related information obtained from scenarios. Scenarios developed in a cause-effect way by identifying and correlating a number of environmental factors assists strategists to learn about plausible changes and be prepared for any unexpected shift. The REFUSS fills a gap by providing a simple and applicable method for future user requirement elicitation. This can be used for formulating needs based vision thus avoiding project failures from following technology based vision.