Developing User Requirements for Trans-National Government Information Systems

This paper presents our participant-performer case-based experience in eliciting user requirements for the development of a pan-European, trans-national government information system (TN-GIS). It is widely recognized that a significant challenge for Information Systems (IS) developers is the creation of systems specifications that align with user requirements. Many IS failures have been attributed to the mismatch between user requirements and what is actually produced. Specifying Information Systems (IS) through user requirements elicitation has always been challenging. In this paper we focus on Trans-national Government Information Systems which have their own 'special complications'. Our findings to date show that the development TN-GISs, which can involve hundreds or even thousands of 'stakeholders', require a blend of traditional user requirements elicitation methods, as well as several additional efforts which include rapid prototyping, political consultation, consensus building.