The aim is to set up a permanent Delphi system which can be used with disparate target groups and which can easily create exactly equivalent Delphi surveys in collaboration with researchers in other countries. It is widely accepted that there is an inherent problem in getting non technical people, typically middle managers, to specify their own information needs so that computer applications can be built for them. It is not clear exactly what the underlying factors of the problem are. Research in determining what to do to improve the process of requirements definition cannot go forward until it is clear what the underlying causes are. We are working on the hypothesis that there are two inter-related problems.
Some people find it difficult to define their own information needs.
Some organisations are better than others at creating RFPs, Requests for Proposals. By definition, if a requirements specification is wrong the subsequent system built from it must be wrong. Similarly if an end user is unable to articulate their needs the requirements specification must necessarily be wrong. Studies have suggested that up to half of all systems commissioned in the past have never been delivered, or did not meet requirements and were never used, or had to be extensively modified before they could be used. Any process which ameliorates this situation must be valuable.