Challenges in "mobilizing" desktop applications: A new methodology for requirements engineering

With the proliferation of mobile devices, the challenge today is to provide users with applications that are of real value. These applications are, in most of the cases, mobilized versions of desktop applications that fit the contextual requirements of mobility constraints. When developed from a desktop application, it is difficult to align the mobile application with user expectations because of the experience the user has from the desktop application. In addition, in current practices, we can notice a lack of relevant guidance that assists the analyst in building such applications. To overcome this shortcoming, we propose a methodology for requirements elicitation when mobilizing desktop applications. This methodology relies on using knowledge the user has from her/his experience on the desktop application on one hand and learning from strengths and limitations of desktop applications on the other hand. It helps the definition of the set of features that the mobile application should provide to meet users' expectations. An application has been mobilized following our methodology to evaluate it.