Analysing Requirements for Virtual Business Alliances – the case of SPIKEChristian Broser, Christoph Fritsch, Oliver Gmelch, Günther Pernul, Rolf Schillinger and Sandra Wiesbeck

AgendaMotivationThe case of SPIKEUser Requirements Analysis StrategyUser Requirements Classification and PrioritisationConclusionAnalysing Requirements for Virtual Business Alliances – the case of SPIKE

MotivationOrganisations are confronted with major challenges today:GlobalisationShorter innovation cyclesIncreased competitionAdditional external influential factorsMove from “traditional” companies to flexible and agile business networks as a solutionvirtual partnershipsQuick time to marketSMEs as flexible players in the marketAnalysing Requirements for Virtual Business Alliances – the case of SPIKE

The case of SPIKESPIKE stands for Secure Process-oriented Integrative Service Infrastructure for Networked Enterprises. The purpose of the project is to develop a software service platform for the easy and fast start-up of virtual business alliances.Using SPIKE, enterprises will gain business opportunities with previously inaccessible customers and partnering organisations.Analysing Requirements for Virtual Business Alliances – the case of SPIKE

Objectives of the projectOutsourcing of parts of the value chain to business partnersSupport of short-term and project-based alliancesSpecial focus on security and trustSimplify collaboration through dynamically created and pre-defined business processesAchieve interoperability and integration between organisations of all sizes and all kinds of servicesAnalysing Requirements for Virtual Business Alliances – the case of SPIKE

Special focus on security and trust

User Requirements AnalysisAnalysis of user requirements as an integral part of the system design phase Applied and presented in the paper: methodology originally proposed by Maguire and Bevan applied for SPIKE:Information gatheringIdentification of user needsEnvisioning and evaluationRequirements specificationAnalysing Requirements for Virtual Business Alliances – the case of SPIKE

Identification of SPIKE requirementsAnalysing Requirements for Virtual Business Alliances – the case of SPIKEOverall user requirements strategy

Alignment of SPIKE user requirements analysis with Maguire and BevanIn general, only minor differences between the SPIKE adaptation and the original approach can be determinedSPIKE introduced an additional phase at the beginning of the process prior to the actual information gathering phase for clarification of the context„Envisioning and Evaluation“ considered to be of less importance due to the nature of the SPIKE project Analysing Requirements for Virtual Business Alliances – the case of SPIKE

Requirements Analysis StrategyAnalysing Requirements for Virtual Business Alliances – the case of SPIKE

Requirements SpecificationCategorisation according to three axes:User requirementsFocusing on functionality aspects of the system to be developedUsability requirementsCovering usability concerns, such as effectiveness of the system, efficiency and user satisfactionOrganisational requirementsImplications on an individual organisationA summary of all requirements mentioned on the following slides is available at http://www.spike-project.eu/index.php?id=136Analysing Requirements for Virtual Business Alliances – the case of SPIKE

Categorisation of User Requirements for Collaboration Platforms (1/2)User RequirementsWorkflow ManagementCommunicationIntegration aspectsContent ManagementSecurity AspectsPlatform independenceFederated Identity ManagementAnalysing Requirements for Virtual Business Alliances – the case of SPIKE

Categorisation of User Requirements for Collaboration Platforms (2/2)Usability RequirementsIntuitively usable User InterfacePerformance aspectsFault toleranceOrganisational RequirementsPrivacy aspects of usersStructured processes, i.e. regarding deployment of the platformSetup of the platform (alliance-wide administrators)Time to marketAnalysing Requirements for Virtual Business Alliances – the case of SPIKE

Requirements Assessment and PrioritisationAll gathered requirements were assessed and prioritised according to the following axes:MUSTMEDIUMLOWFUTURETreated with high priority within SPIKE:Security aspectsTime to market, including short setup time of collaborationsFederated identity managementIntegration aspectsAssigned with low priority:All issues dealing with installation/operation of the systemAnalysing Requirements for Virtual Business Alliances – the case of SPIKE

ConclusionConsideration of user requirements as a constant process from the beginning of a project onApplication of a methodology for gathering and analysing user requirements Prove of significance within SPIKEProvided an overview on current SPIKE requirementsRequirements herein are neither exclusive nor exhaustiveFurther progress for SPIKE: usage of these intermediary results in the iterative user requirements handling processDevelopment within SPIKE to be validated within two trial phases, giving stakeholders the opportunity to redefine their needs prior to further developmentAnalysing Requirements for Virtual Business Alliances – the case of SPIKE

Contact InformationOliver GmelchDepartment of Information SystemsUniversity of Regensburgoliver.gmelch@wiwi.uni-regensburg.dewww.spike-project.euAnalysing Requirements for Virtual Business Alliances – the case of SPIKEThe research leading to these results is receiving funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement no. 217098. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the authors and in no way represents the view of the European Commission or its services.