Framework for elicitation of interoperability requirements in the context of organizational systems

Abstract

Introduction— Within requirements elicitation, stakeholders generally fail to articulate interoperability requirements (IR) according to business needs, because organizations focus on technical aspects of solutions instead of systematically conducting a holistic analysis of the interoperability and its relationship with aspects of the business. Objective: Describe a framework that guides from the business perspective, the capture and specification of IR that can occur between the systems that make up the processes of an organization.

Methodology— The action research method was used to define and apply each of the components of the proposed framework based on four research cycles and three problem-solving cycles in which the case study technique was applied.

Results— The framework is made up of four components, a set of heuristics to identify IR, a model that describes the attributes that constitute interoperability at the business level, a process that guides the capture of IR, and a guide to specifying IR. On the other hand, IR from a business perspective is proposed as a starting point for the development of the aspects that must be addressed at the lower levels of interoperability corresponding to processes, services and data.

Conclusions— Through three case studies, the experiences in the application of the proposal in two organizations are described. Initial results show that the framework is useful, practical and appropriate for addressing IR elicitation.