Situational factors affecting Requirement Engineering process in Global Software Development

A most favorable Requirement Engineering process is considered to be subject of situational characteristics of Software Requirement Engineering settings. These characteristics are related to organizations, project, process, requirements, stakeholders etc. However, list of situational factors affecting the Requirement Engineering process during Global Software Development is presently not available. The lack of such study is challenging as it not only restrain the ability to improve Requirement Engineering process, but also it can undermine the competence of Requirement Engineering team to determine the core constraints and characteristics of developing software. To address this scarcity, we have merged a considerable related research into an initial list of situational factors that affect the Requirement Engineering Process during Global Software Development. We have performed Systematic Literature Review for situational factors identification. To carry on data merging, we have used thorough data coding techniques adopted from Grounded Theory. The initial list of situational factors consists of 37 factors, which is the sound initial reference list for Requirement Engineering process definition in Global Software Development environment. The outcome of this study symbolizes a significant contribution to the Requirement Engineering body of knowledge.