Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
S
3
C: Using Service Discovery to Support
Requirements Elicitation in the ERP Domain
Markus Nöbauer
1
, Norbert Seyff
2
, Neil Maiden
3
, and Konstantinos Zachos
3
1
InsideAX GmbH, Lunzerstraße 64, 4031 Linz, Austria
markus.noebauer@insideAx.at
2
University of Zurich, Requirements Engineering Research Group, Zurich, Switzerland
seyff@ifi.uzh.ch
3
City University London, Centre for HCI Design, London EC1V 0HB, UK
n.a.m.maiden@city.ac.uk, kzachos@soi.city.ac.uk
Abstract.
Requirements Elicitation and Fit-Gap Analysis are amongst the
most time and effort-consuming tasks in an ERP project. There is a potentially
high rate of reuse in ERP projects as solutions are mainly based on standard
software components and services.
However, the consultants' ability to iden-
tify relevant components for reuse is affected by the increasing number of ser-
vices available to them. The work described in this experience paper focuses
on providing support for consultants to identify existing solutions informing
system design. We report the development of a tool-supported approach called
S
3
C, based on Microsoft Sure Step methodology and SeCSE open source
service discovery tools. The S
3
C approach is tailored to the needs of SME
companies in the ERP domain and overcomes limitations of Sure Step. The
initial application and evaluation of the S
3
C approach also allows presenting
lessons learned.
Keywords:
Information systems, requirements elicitation, service discovery,
ERP.
1 Introduction
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are software systems that support busi-
ness operations. They were first introduced in material management but nowadays
ERP systems support a broad range of business activities [1]. Woods [2] highlights
that the service-oriented paradigm has changed the nature of ERP systems. Novel
ERP systems are based on software services and software vendors provide various
tool support and frameworks to integrate ERP systems in broader service-oriented
systems [3].
The rising number of services makes the task of the consultants, who align an ERP
system with a customer's requirements, increasingly difficult: the consultants need
to know all these services, their functionality and quality of service in order to do
their job properly. We observed this problem in two companies that provide ERP
