Adding quality in the user requirements specification: A first approach

Users need trusting in data managed by software applications that are part of Information Systems (IS), which supposes that organizations should assuring adequate levels of quality in data that are managed in their IS. Therefore, the fact that an IS can manage data with an adequate level of quality should be a basic requirement for all organizations. In order to reach this basic requirement some aspects and elements related with data quality (DQ) should be taken in account from the earliest stages of development of software applications, i.e. “data quality by design”. Since DQ is considered a multidimensional and largely context-dependent concept, managing all specific requirements is a complex task. The main goal of this paper is to introduce a specific methodology, which is aimed to identifying and eliciting DQ requirements coming from different viewpoints of users. These specific requirements will be used as normal requirements (both functional and non-functional) during the development of IS awareness of data quality.