Extending Problem Frames to deal with stakeholder problems: An Agent- and Goal-Oriented Approach

  • Authors:
  • Sam Supakkul;Lawrence Chung

  • Affiliations:
  • The University of Texas at Dallas;The University of Texas at Dallas

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 2009 ACM symposium on Applied Computing
  • Year:
  • 2009

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Abstract

The Problem Frames approach captures problems as seen by developers, but not by stakeholders. This paper presents a framework that extends the problem diagram of the Problem Frames approach to represent stakeholder problems using "soft-problem", a notion referring to an undesirable situation that negatively affects stakeholder goals and may have less clear-cut resolution criteria. A soft-problem may be refined to more specific sub-problems and root causes, which are then traced to corresponding solutions in a diagram called Problem Interdependency Graph. The framework has been applied to the 1992 London ambulance case study, which shows that the framework helps to more precisely represent the stakeholder problems suffered by the existing system ("as-is") together with the solutions to be provided by the new system ("to-be") to such problems. The study also shows that the framework helps to determine whether the problems have been sufficiently addressed and, if not, why.