REFraming Elicitation

2nd International Workshop on Requirements Engineering Frameworks

REFrame 2/2023, “REFraming Elicitation”, took place on 4th September, 2023, at RE 2023, the 31st IEEE International Requirements Engineering Conference 2023, 04–08 September 2023, in Hannover, Germany.

Call for Papers

The REFrame workshop is a forum for discussing questions and exchanging experiences concerning frameworks for requirements engineering (RE, RE frameworks). Special focus of REFrame 2/2023 is requirements elicitation.

The workshop brings together a diverse spectrum of people from scientific research and industrial practice. The workshop format is highly interactive, combining inspiring presentations, in-depth breakout sessions, and lively discussions.

Workshop results will include a collection of important requirements elicitation frameworks (methods, techniques, best practices etc.), which shall later be evolved into a web-based compendium.

Download Call for Papers flyer (PDF)

Submission

Submissions shall fit into one of the following categories:

Problem / Position / Vision Paper (up to 4 pages, excluding references). These papers could, for instance, share overviews of elicitation frameworks or open questions / challenges / expectations in the RE community that appear promising in terms of being addressed by elicitation frameworks.

Technical Solution / Experience Report / Scientific Paper (up to 6 pages, excluding references). These papers could share experiences or lessons learned from the development and/or application of elicitation.

Extended Abstract (up to 2 pages, excluding references). Such abstracts could share practical experiences with elicitation frameworks or visions for them. Authors are invited to share their best practice experience with requirements elicitation frameworks.

Presentation only (2-3 slides expressing the main message of the contribution). Primarily participants from industry are invited to share their experiences as presentations. Presentations will not be included into the proceedings publication.

Poster (poster page) Can provide an overview of concepts and experiences (e.g., from industry) or research results in early stages or work in progress. Posters will not be included into the proceedings publication.

Main Objective

Main objective of the workshop is to investigate and discuss requirements elicitation frameworks (e.g., techniques, methods, and practices). So, the key concepts addressed in the workshop are software requirements frameworks and requirements elicitation:

The workshop understands a framework as a structure for a topic area that collects elements of the topic area and relates them to each other. This includes for instance techniques, methods, and tools. A framework is semi-complete and must be supplemented and/or adapted context-specifically for a concrete application. 

Elicitation is the process of seeking, capturing, and consolidating requirements from available sources, potentially including the re-construction or creation of requirements.

Over time, as software and software engineering (SE) processes have evolved, the challenges of elicitation and the techniques and methods used have evolved, too. The workshop aims at understanding better what elicitation means today and how it needs to improve in the future.

In this sense the workshop will also consider the main theme of RE 2023: “Redefining RE: Challenging RE Perceptions, Boundaries, and Topics”. At best, it will provide a vivid illustration of what this theme can mean specifically to the field of requirements elicitation.

Workshop Questions

Specific questions that the workshop wants to address include but are not limited to:

  • What are relevant requirements elicitation frameworks, from scientific perspectives and in industrial practice?
  • What are important research questions in the context of requirements elicitation frameworks?
  • What challenges does requirements elicitation face today?
  • What can we learn from comparing requirements elicitation frameworks?
  • What empirical studies and empirical data do we have on requirements elicitation?
  • How have requirements engineering frameworks evolved over time?
  • How will the rise of AI and machine learning influence requirements elicitation and requirements frameworks?
  • Which methodological frameworks of other disciplines (e.g., UX design or software product management) can be used for requirements elicitation?
  • What experiences have been gained from using requirements elicitation frameworks in industrial practice?
  • How can projects choose requirements elicitation frameworks suitable to their specific needs and context?
  • Which aspects of a requirements elicitation framework must be customized to its specific application contexts?
  • How can a compendium of requirements elicitation frameworks be constructed?
  • What are important characteristics of state-of-the-art requirements engineering frameworks?

Target Audience

The workshop is open to the public and invites both researchers and practitioners who have an interest in discussing challenges and experiences related to requirements elicitation frameworks, and in fostering a (continuous) dialog on this workshop topic – even beyond the scope of this specific workshop.

Workshop participants shall at least have a specific interest for the topic of requirements elicitation. Ideally, they should be acquainted well with elicitation techniques and research. Or they should have relevant practical experience.

Workshop Format

The workshop will be conducted as a one-day workshop. It will be a lively combination of presentations and interactive sessions.

Publication Format

Accepted submissions of the paper and extended abstract types will be published in the RE 2023 workshop proceedings volume (IEEE Digital Library).

Accepted presentations and posters can be made available from the workshop website.

Program Committee

The program committee gathers leading experts from academia and industry. The list is still growing and updated versions will become available soon.

  • Daniel Berry, University of Waterloo, Canada
  • Stan Bühne, IREB, Germany
  • Heinrich Dreier, 3er-consulting, Germany
  • Alessio Ferrari, CNR-ISTI, Italia
  • Samuel Fricker, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Switzerland
  • Gerald Heller, pd7.group, Germany
  • Dirk Janzen, metadoc GmbH, Germany
  • Erik Kamsties, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Dortmund, Germany
  • Eric Knauss, Chalmers | University of Gothenburg, Sweden
  • Fabian Kneer, Germany
  • Kim Lauenroth, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Dortmund, Germany
  • Michael Panis, Teradyne Inc., USA
  • Norbert Seyff, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Switzerland
  • Paola Spoletini, Kennesaw State University, USA
  • Anna Perini, University of Trento, Italy

Organizing Committee

Andrea Wohlgemuth, Swisslog, Dortmund, Germany

Andrea Herrmann, AKAD University, Stuttgart, Germany

Andreas Birk, Software.Process.Management, Stuttgart, Germany

Contact: ws2-2023@reframe.andrea-wohlgemuth.de

Important Dates

Submissions due: Friday, 09 June 2023

Notification of acceptance: Friday, 07 July 2023

Camera-ready submissions due: Friday, 14 July 2023

Workshop date: Monday, 04 September 2023

All due dates are 23:59 AoE (UTC -12h)

Important Links

Workshop homepage: https://reframe-community.org/ws2-2023/

RE 2023 homepage: https://conf.researchr.org/home/RE-2023

REFrame community homepage: https://reframe-community.org

Workshop on EasyChair: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=reframe22023atre2023