An Algorithm for Priority Ranking of Individualized Functional Requirements in Networked Software

Priority ranking of software requirements is recognized as an important but difficult activity during software development, especially for development of networked software, a kind of complex systems. Traditional methods for priority ranking which only calculates static priorities of requirements can not meet the need of networked software due to the individualized requirements characteristics of networked software. According to the features of networked software, four factors need to be considered in ranking requirements priority, that is, the type of requirements, the role who proposes requirements , the frequency of requirements proposed and the time of requirements proposed; and then an algorithm for ranking priority of individualized functional requirements is proposed, which can calculate priorities of all requirements dynamically when every new requirement is proposed. In addition, an example is given to verify the feasibility and rationality of this algorithm.