Software Engineering for multi-Agent systems - Essay Example

It is also possible that the customers brought in new requirements after the specifications were frozen and these change requests were impossible to accommodate and hence the project failed. When the requirements analysis or requirements gathering is not correct, then there are very little chances that the project would succeed. So important and fundamental is the process of requirements engineering that is often the first step in the software development cycle (Browne, 2002). This paper would perform a critical study and review of the requirements engineering step and explore various concepts and ideas behind this step.

When large and complex software applications are to be created, it must be first understood that there would perhaps hundreds of users and stakeholders who would want to have a say in how the system works. It would not be possible to meet the needs and demands of each and every person. However, the software should be designed in such a manner that it should help all personnel to complete their tasks and work, as desired by the organisation. As an example, a software that is used for billing in the checkout counter of a store would have different menus that allows the clerk to quickly scan the bar code on an item and then the software will immediately calculate the items price, check out the discount or premium if applicable, and then calculate the total payment due after adding all the taxes.

The checkout clerk wants software that would be fast, not make mistakes and that requires the least human intervention. The backend team wants the software to allow them to create product items such as chips by Pringles, assign a unique item code and then add the price. As a further automation, stores such as Wal-Mart do not enter such details manually but these details are picked up automatically from the bar code. At any time if the