Stakeholder Needs and Requirements Definition During Service Development in a System of Systems

Increasing system connectivity enabled by wireless and mobile communication allows connecting previously isolated systems for the provision of new services. Connectivity, increasing performance, and miniaturization of electronics support cooperation of systems in a so-called System of Systems (SoS). Capabilities of individual systems are synergetically combined. The combination allows the provision of SoS capabilities that the constituent systems (CS) would not be able to provide if they were operating isolated from each other. These SoS capabilities can be commercially exploited when offered as services. Service development in SoS requires the consideration of needs of various stakeholders that are affected by the developed service and the SoS constituting systems. While there are several well-established Requirements Engineering approaches for developing self-contained systems, stakeholder needs and requirements consideration for service development in SoS remains a challenging task. This paper describes SoS characteristics and current Requirements Engineering approaches. These approaches are analyzed with respect to SoS characteristics. Based on the analysis results a consolidated approach consisting of a method and a process is developed. In addition, application and validation is given by the development of an In-Flight Catering Demand Prediction (IFCDP) service providing better food and beverage demand estimations to airlines by using the systems trolley, in-flight catering software system, and catering production planning and control system.