Customers often need help to define their needs and they often need help in their negotiations with vendors. Specifying requirements in general and user needs in special involves an analysis of existing systems and is often the start of a specification of a new system. We often see that the process of buying a new IT system starts at the wrong end; with a public procurement process based on a specification that often does not reflect what the customer really wants or needs. The struggle often begins after the vendor is chosen and the system is being built based upon a real-life specification that is different from the specification used to pick the vendor.
