Control, process facilitation, and requirements change in offshore requirements analysis: The provider perspective

Process, technology, and project factors have been increasingly driving organizations to offshore early software development phases, such as requirements analysis. This emerging trend necessitates greater control and process facilitation between client and vendor sites. The effectiveness of control and facilitation, however, has not been examined within the context of requirements analysis and change. In this study, we examine the role of control and facilitation in managing changing requirements and on the success of requirements gathering in the Indian offshore software development environment. Firms found that control by client site-coordinators had a positive impact on requirements analysis success, while vendor site-coordinators did not have similar influence. Process facilitation by client site-coordinators affected requirements phase success indirectly through control. The study concludes with recommendations for research and practice.