Back Room Front Room 2

these parameters, as well as some ‘extreme’ values
that were less probable but worth investigating
nonetheless. Each scenario was characterised by the
values of all independent variables; the number of
possible scenarios thus depended on the number of
their feasible combinations.
The models were subjected to testing through
simulation sessions, in workshops involving
stakeholders in groups ranging from 5 to as many as
40. In all workshops the models were presented to
project stakeholders together with the corresponding
scenarios and simulated runs.
These features enabled stakeholders to reach a
consensus about the underlying processes and the
implications that each choice would have on overall
system behaviour. The first type of result, i.e. results
concerning specific components of the system,
helped to answer operational questions concerning
the rational allocation of resources and the resulting
service provision capabilities of the system. The
second type of result proved useful for
understanding the overall behaviour of a venue, thus
answering higher-level, management questions
concerning customer presence and distribution,
arrival and departure patterns etc.
3 CONCLUSIONS
In early requirements, when there is a great deal of
vagueness and uncertainty about system goals that
are often set against a background of social,
organizational and political turbulence, the need for
a systematic and systemic way of dealing with all
ENGAGING STAKEHOLDERS IN DEFINING EARLY REQUIREMENTS 41
Figure 3: Simulation results for the ‘Merchandising’ service
co-development aspects seems to be of paramount
importance.
The work presented in this paper is motivated by
the premise that informal and textual descriptions
need to give way to conceptual modelling languages
with clear semantics and intuitive syntax so that an
application can be defined at an appropriate level of
abstraction. This greatly enhance visualisation of
processes that in turn contribute to a more informed
discussion and agreement between stakeholders.
Whilst qualitative-based conceptual modelling
approaches seem to be an improvement on purely
linguistic-based approaches, they fail to bridge the
communication gap between client stakeholders and
analysts. The issue of analyst-client relationship has
been highlighted by many authors (Kennedy, 1994;
Bashein et al., 1997). This type of modelling
paradigm that has evolved from work on Databases,
Software Engineering or Object-oriented Design,
with its analyst orientation paradigms does little to
enhance communication.
The S 3 approach argues that that qualitative
models need to be enhanced with quantitative
capabilities. These capabilities provide opportunities
for the generation and evaluation of alternative
scenarios with respect to stakeholder choices on
their requirements. This way of working supports the
way experts work on ill-structured problem settings
such as planning and design (Carroll, 2002).