Stakeholder Needs Definition
stakeholder requirements represent the views of users, acquirers, and customers regarding the problem (or opportunity), through a set of requirements for a solution that can provide the services needed by the stakeholders in a defined environment. This topic provides knowledge about the idea of stakeholder needs and requirements and the activities necessary to identify and prioritize the needs of the stakeholder(s), as well as transform those needs into stakeholder requirements. The definition of the set of stakeholder requirements is the primary outcome of these activities, and these requirements then feed into the next phase of the systems engineering (SE) process of system definition.
It is assumed that the definition of the problem or the issue to be solved and/or the opportunity for developing a new solution or improving a system of interest (SoI) has been done prior to starting the activities necessary to define stakeholder needs and requirements. This means that the context of use of the new or modified mission, operation, or capability has been characterized (see the Mission Analysis topic).
Purpose and Definition
The purpose of defining stakeholder requirements is to elicit a set of needs related to a new or changed mission for an enterprise (see Mission Analysis (MA) for information relevant to identifying and defining the mission or operation), and to transform these needs into clear, concise, and verifiable stakeholder requirements.
Stakeholder needs analysis is the elicitation, communication, validation and refinement of the needs and objectives of the enterprise or set of stakeholders. Stakeholder needs analysis is aimed at understanding a potential capability (often identified through MA) that is needed to address an identified problem or opportunity. After defining the stakeholder needs and requirements, they interact with the MA to transform the defined set of needs into stakeholder requirements (also known as mission requirements) that reflect these needs.
Principles and Concepts
From the Capture of Needs to the Definition of Stakeholder Requirements
Several steps are necessary to understand the maturity of stakeholder needs and understand how to improve upon that maturity. Figure 1 presents the “cycle of needs” as it can be deduced from Professor Shoji Shiba's and Professor Noriaki Kano's works and courses, and is adapted here for systems engineering (SE) purposes.
Figure 1 shows the steps and the position of the stakeholder requirements and system requirements in the engineering cycle. Below are explanations of each stage of requirements (Faisandier 2012); to illustrate this, an example of a system related to infectious disease identification is provided:
- Real needs are those that lie behind any perceived needs (see below); they are conditioned by the context in which people live. As an example, a generic need could be the ability to “identify infectious diseases easily.” Often, real needs appear to be simple tasks.
- Perceived needs are based on a person’s awareness that something is wrong, that there is a lack of something, that there is something that could improve a situation, or that there are business, investment, or market opportunities. Perceived needs are often presented as a list of organized expectations resulting from an analysis of the usage conditions for the considered action (see the Mission Analysis topic). Following from the infectious disease example above, the real need might be perceived as a need to "carry out medical tests in particular circumstances (laboratories, points of care, hospitals, and/or human dispensaries).” Since the real need is seldom clearly expressed, richness of the knowledge of the perceived needs is used as a basis for potential solutions. This step has to be as complete as possible to cover all the contexts of use.
- Expressed needs originate from perceived needs in the form of generic actions or constraints, and are typically prioritized. In the example, if safety is the primary concern, the expressed need to “protect the operator against contamination” may take priority over other expressed needs such as “assist in the execution of tests.” When determining the expressed needs, the analysis of the expected mission or services in terms of operational scenarios takes place.
- Retained needs are selected from the expressed needs. The selection process uses the prioritization of expressed needs to achieve something or make solutions feasible. The retained needs allow the consideration of potential solutions for a SoI. These retained “stakeholder intentions do not serve as stakeholder requirements, since they often lack definition, analysis, and possibly consistency and feasibility. Using the concept of operations to aid the understanding of the stakeholder intentions at the organizational level and the system operational concept from the system perspective, requirements engineering leads stakeholders from those initial intentions to structured and more formal stakeholder requirement statements” (ISO/IEC/IEEE 29148 2011). Characteristics of good requirements can be found in ISO/IEC/IEEE 29148 (2011). Exploration of potential solutions must start from this step. The various solutions suggested at this step are not yet products, but describe means of satisfying the stakeholder requirements. Each potential solution imposes constraints on the potential future SoI.
- Specified needs, generally called “system requirements ,” are the translation of the stakeholder requirements to represent the views of the supplier, keeping in mind the potential, preferred, and feasible solutions. “The stakeholder requirements are then transformed into system requirements for the SoI, in accordance with Clauses 5.2.4, 5.2.5, and 5.2.6. Consistent practice has shown this process requires iterative and recursive steps in parallel with other life cycle processes through the system design hierarchy. The recursive application of the processes in Clause 6 will generate lower-level system element requirements.” (ISO/IEC/IEEE 29148 2011).
- Realized needs are the product, service or enterprise realized, taking into account every system requirement (and hence, the stakeholder requirement(s)).
Each class of needs listed above aligns with an area of the SE process. For example, the development of "specified needs" requirements is discussed in the System Requirements topic. For more information on how requirements are used in the systems engineering process, please see the System Definition knowledge area (KA).
Identifying Stakeholders and their Requirements
Stakeholders of a SoI may vary throughout the life cycle. Thus, in order to get a complete set of needs and subsequent requirements, it is important to consider all stages of the life cycle when identifying the stakeholders or classes of stakeholders.
Every system has its own stages of life; these may include concept, development, production, operations, sustainment, and retirement (for more information, please see Life Cycle Models). For each stage, a list of all stakeholders having an interest in the future system is identified. The goal is to get every stakeholder’s point of view for every stage of the system life in order to consolidate a complete set of stakeholder needs that can be prioritized and transformed into the set of stakeholder requirements as exhaustively as possible. Examples of stakeholders are provided in Table 1.
| Life Cycle Stage | Example of Related Stakeholders |
|---|---|
| Engineering | Acquirer, panel of potential users, marketing division, research and development department, standardization body, suppliers, verification and validation team, production system, regulator/certification authorities, etc. |
| Development | Acquirer, suppliers (technical domains for components realization), design engineers, integration team, etc. |
| Transfer for Production or for Use | Quality control, production system, operators, etc. |
| Logistics and Maintenance | Supply chain, support services, trainers, etc. |
| Operation | Normal users, unexpected users, etc. |
| Disposal | Operators, certifying body, etc. |
There are many ways to collect stakeholder needs, expectations, and objectives. Some of the most common techniques are interviews (including user surveys); technical, operational, and strategy document reviews; analysis of potential hazards and threats coming from the context of use of the system; feedback from verification and validation processes; and review of the outcomes from the system analysis process (ISO/IEC 2008). Stakeholder requirements are developed from these needs.
Classification of Stakeholder Requirements
Several classifications of stakeholder requirements are possible, e.g. ISO/IEC 29148, section 9.4.2.3 (ISO/IEC 2011) provides a useful set of elements for classification. One possible way to classify the stakeholder requirements is under the categories indicated in Table 2.
| Type of Stakeholder Requirement | Description |
|---|---|
| Service or Functional | Sets of actions to perform the mission or operation of the system-of-interest; enhanced by effectiveness or performance characteristics attached to the mission or operations. |
| Operational | This category may include:
|
| Interface | Matter, energy, or information flows exchanged between the system-of-interest and its external components in the context of its use, including physical interfaces. |
| Environmental | External conditions affecting the system when in operation. |
| Utilization Characteristics | The '-ilities' used to indicate conditions of the utilization of the system-of-interest (e.g. usability, dependability, security, etc.) |
| Human Factors | Capabilities of users and operators, ergonomics, and associated constraints. |
| Logistical | Acquisition, transportation, and storage of elements needed by the system-of-interest to perform its services (e.g. constraints for logistical support). |
| Design and Realization Constraints | Re-use of existing system elements or forbidden materials, for example. |
| Process Constraints | These are stakeholder, usually acquirer or user, requirements imposed through the contract or statement of work. These requirements do not directly address the end-item system, but rather how the end-item system is developed and provided. Process requirements include compliance with national, state, or local laws, including environmental laws; administrative requirements; acquirer/supplier relationship requirements; and specific work directives. Process requirements may also be imposed on a program by corporate policy or practice. System or system element implementation process requirements, such as mandating a particular design method, are usually captured in project agreement documentation such as contracts, statements of work (SOW), and quality plans. |
| Project Constraints | Constraints to performing the project and/or the end-item system within cost and schedule. |
| Business Model Constraints | Constraints related to the expected business goal achieved by the system-of-interest, when this is relevant within the context of use; these may include geographic position (local, national, international) of the future product, service, or organization resulting from the system-of-interest, distribution channels, alliance and partnership, finance and revenue model etc. |
Process Approach
Activities of the Process
Major activities and tasks performed during this process include the following:
- identify the stakeholders or classes of stakeholders across the life cycle;
- elicit, capture, or consolidate the stakeholders' needs, expectations, and objectives as well as any constraints coming from the mission and business analysis processes;
- prioritize the stakeholder needs;
- transform the prioritized and retained stakeholder needs into stakeholder requirements;
- verify the quality of each stakeholder requirement and of the set of stakeholder requirements using the characteristics of good requirements identified in Tables 4 and 5 in System Requirements;
- validate the content and the relevance of each stakeholder requirement with corresponding stakeholder representatives providing rationale for the existence of the requirement;
- identify potential risks (or threats and hazards) that could be generated by the stakeholder requirements (for further information, see Risk Management); and
- synthesize, record, and manage the stakeholder requirements and potential associated risks.
Artifacts and Ontology Elements
This process may create several artifacts, such as
- stakeholder requirements documents;
- stakeholder interview reports;
- stakeholder requirements database; and
- stakeholder requirements justification documents (for traceability purposes).
This process utilizes the ontology elements of Table 3.
| Element | Definition Attributes (examples) |
|---|---|
| Stakeholder | Party having a right, share, or claim in a system or in its possession of characteristics that meets that party's needs and expectations (ISO/IEC 2008). N.B.: Stakeholders include, but are not limited to, end users, end user organizations, supporters, developers, producers, trainers, maintainers, disposers, acquirers, customers, operators, supplier organizations, and regulatory bodies. (ISO/IEC 2011)
Identifier; name; description; status (identified, interviewed) |
| Stakeholder Requirement | Necessity or desire expected by an end user, formally drafted and expressed in terms of a client and end user; service, objective, capability expected from the future system by the end users. Equivalent to expectation; includes user requirements.
Identifier; name; description; origin (the owner of the expression of the stakeholder requirement); type (classification); flexibility (possibilities for negotiation - possibly supplemented with a margin rate); priority (immediately satisfied, allocated to a later version, etc.); decision (result of a trade-off study having led to choosing or rejecting the requirement); status (proposed, in review, validated, deleted, etc.); history records (date, author, identification, and contents of the modification, type of modification, reason for the modification); comment. |
| Rationale | Argument that provides the justification for the selection of an engineering element.
Identifier; name; description (rational, reasons for a requirement to be satisfied) |
| Scenario | A set of actions/functions representing the dynamic of exchanges between the functions allowing the system to achieve a mission or a service.
Identifier; name; description |
| Risk | An event having a probability of occurrence and a gravity degree on its consequence onto the system mission or on other properties (used for technical risk in engineering). A risk is the combination of vulnerability and of a danger or a threat.
Identifier; name; description; status |
Methods and Modeling Techniques
It is recommended that several techniques or methods for identifying needs, expectations, and requirements be considered during the elicitation activity to better accommodate the diverse set of requirements sources, including the following:
- structured brainstorming workshops;
- interviews and questionnaires;
- technical, operational, and/or strategy documentation review;
- simulations and visualizations;
- prototyping;
- modeling;
- quality function deployment (QFD), which can be used during the needs analysis and is a technique for deploying the "voice of the customer”. It provides a fast way to translate customer needs into requirements;
- use case diagrams (OMG 2010);
- activity diagrams (OMG 2010); and
- functional flow block diagrams.
Practical Considerations
Major pitfalls encountered with stakeholder requirements are presented in Table 4.
| Pitfall | Description |
|---|---|
| Operator role not considered | Sometimes engineers do not take into account the humans acting as operators inside a system or those who use the system and are outside of the system. In consequence, elements are forgotten (e.g. roles of operators). |
| Exchanges with external objects forgotten | The exhaustiveness of requirements is an issue; in particular, the interfaces with external objects of the context of the system can be forgotten (exchanges of matter, energy, information). |
| Physical connections with external objects forgotten | Within the interface issue, physical connections of the stem-of-interest with external objects can be forgotten (technological constraints). |
| Forgotten stakeholders | Stakeholders can be forgotten; everyone thinks of direct users, customers, and suppliers, but those who do not want the system to exist and malevolent persons are often left out. |
Proven practices with stakeholder requirements are presented in Table 5.
| Practice | Description |
|---|---|
| Involve stakeholders | Involve the stakeholders early in the stakeholder requirements development process. |
| Presence of rationale | Capture the rationale for each stakeholder requirement. |
| Analyze sources before starting | Complete stakeholder requirements as much as possible for starting the definition of the system requirements. |
| Modeling techniques | Use modeling techniques as indicated in sections above. |
| Requirements management tool | Consider using a requirements management tool. This tool should have the capability to trace linkages between the stakeholder requirements and the system requirements and to record the source of each stakeholder requirement. |
References
Works Cited
Faisandier, A. 2012. Systems Architecture and Design. Belberaud, France: Sinergy'Com.
OMG. 2010. OMG Systems Modeling Language specification, version 1.2, July 2010. http://www.omg.org/technology/documents/spec_catalog.htm.
ISO/IEC/IEEE. 2011. Systems and software engineering - Requirements engineering. Geneva, Switzerland: International Organization for Standardization (ISO)/International Electrotechnical Commission/ Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), (IEC), ISO/IEC/IEEE 29148.
ISO/IEC/IEEE. 2008. Systems and Software Engineering - System Life Cycle Processes. Geneva, Switzerland: International Organization for Standardization (ISO)/International Electronical Commission (IEC), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288:2008 (E).
Primary References
ISO/IEC/IEEE. 2011. Systems and software engineering - Requirements engineering. Geneva, Switzerland: International Organization for Standardization (ISO)/International Electrotechnical Commission/ Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), (IEC), ISO/IEC/IEEE 29148.
ISO/IEC/IEEE. 2008. Systems and Software Engineering - System Life Cycle Processes. Geneva, Switzerland: International Organization for Standardization (ISO)/International Electronical Commission (IEC), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288:2008 (E).
ISO/IEC/IEEE. 2011. Systems and Software Engineering - Architecture Description. Geneva, Switzerland: International Organization for Standardization (ISO)/International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)/Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010.
Additional References
Buede, D.M. 2009. The engineering design of systems: Models and methods. 2nd ed. Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
MITRE. 2011. "Requirements Engineering." Systems Engineering Guide. Accessed 9 March 2012 at [[1]].
MITRE. 2011. "Stakeholder Assessment and Management." Systems Engineering Guide. Accessed 9 March 2012 at [[2]].
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