Identifying Uncertainty in Large-Scale Industry 4.0 Software Projects Through Model-Based Requirements Engineering

Determining relationships between user requirements and software product functionalities enables an early-stage requirements evaluation and project risk assessment. This leads to preliminary uncertainty detection which can minimize gaps for the fulfillment of demanding needs. Therefore, a multi-step approach is introduced to elicit user requirements, define functional specification of software products, and classify project parts into four different uncertainty categories. The allocation is based on the determined relationship and considers requirements engineering as well as model-based approaches. Implementing the introduced approach provides distinct advantages, like the inclusion of unlimited number of project parts, the realization in any granular environment, and the unified communication between various numbers of stakeholders. Additionally, a continuous evaluation is given to the modular characteristics of the assessment criteria. Project management capabilities need to be considered during the simultaneous application of this methodology. This can have crucial impact on the achievement of desired project outcomes, especially in the context of the transition to Industry 4.0.