Minimizing Inter‐Dependencies in Functional Requirements for Timely Delivery of Software Projects: A Prioritization Approach Using AHP and Spanning Trees
Annotatsiya
ABSTRACT Requirements prioritization provides a structured way to rank and sequence requirements, which is particularly important in large‐scale ERP systems where development tasks are distributed among multiple teams. Prerequisite requirements often depend on one another and must be implemented in a specific order. Improper handling of these dependencies can delay project timelines, yet limited research addresses this challenge. This study aims to develop a systematic approach to prioritize requirements in order to minimize dependencies and improve the timely completion of the project. The Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) combined with spanning tree methodology was applied to analyze requirement dependencies. In addition, the NA technique was used to classify prioritized requirements into distinct categories. ODOO ERP requirements served as the case study for evaluation. The proposed methodology produced a prioritized list of requirements grouped into categories, which significantly reduced inter‐dependencies and improved the organization of requirements. Minimizing requirement dependencies through structured prioritization enhances the reliability and timely completion of software development projects. In the ODOO ERP case study, the suggested approach reduced 90% of dependencies. Priority grouping showed that the top 25 requirements eliminated 90% of dependencies, while the top 20 and 15 removed 82% and 67% respectively. This reduction lowered the projected project delay rate from about 25% to under 5%, confirming the approach's practical effectiveness and scalability for large ERP projects.