Users' involvement in requirements engineering and system success

Involving users in software development in general, and in Requirements Engineering (RE) in particular, has been considered for over three decades. It is axiomatically believed to contribute significantly to a successful system. However, not much attention has been paid to ascertain in which phases of software development life cycle involvement or participation of users is most beneficial. In this paper we present an investigation into the concept of users' involvement during RE activities and explore its relationship with system success. We have conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) using guidelines of Evidence Based Software Engineering. Our SLR identified 87 empirical studies from the period of 1980 to 2012. Only 13 studies focused specifically on investigating users' involvement in RE and 9 of these confirmed benefits of involving users in requirements analysis and 4 remain inconclusive. Effective involvement of users in RE may reduce the need for their more active involvement in the rest of software development. This paper also offers a checklist we have created from the identified factors of all 87 empirical studies that should be utilised for effective users' involvement in RE. © 2013 IEEE