Factors influencing the requirements engineering process in offshore software development outsourcing environments

Muhammad Shafiq, Qinghua Zhang, Muhammad Azeem Akbar, Ahmad Alsanad, Sajjad Mahmood

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

Offshore software development outsourcing (OSDO) is one of the popular development paradigms in the software industry. There are a number of challenges associated with OSDO including the challenges related to requirements engineering (RE) process. The objective of this study is to identify success factors (SFs) associated with RE processes in the OSDO context. A total of 25 SFs were identified using systematic literature review (SLR) and the identified SFs were further validated with practitioners using a questionnaire-based survey. The authors also examined the identified RE challenges with respect to their relevance for different organisation types (client and vendor) and sizes (small, medium, and large) with an aim to provide a clear understanding of the RE process and its SFs in the context of various OSDO organisations. They also conducted a comparative analysis between the SLR and questionnaire findings and the results indicate that there is a moderately positive correlation between the data sets. They believe that the findings of this study will provide a comprehensive model to help OSDO organisations assess and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their RE activities.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)623-637
Number of pages15
JournalIET Software
Volume14
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Dec 2020

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Institution of Engineering and Technology. All rights reserved.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design

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