User needs vs. user requirements: a Problem Frame-based View

It is well known that the analysis of requirements involves several perspectives and stakeholders. Very often several points of view at different abstraction levels have to be taken into account. All these features make requirements analysis a complex task. Such intrinsic complexity makes it difficult to understand several of the basic concepts that underlie requirements engineering. Actually, there is a bit of confusion especially in industry– about what really is a user requirement, what are the differences between user requirements and user needs, and what are the relations with business processes. This paper discusses these issues and provides some clarifications, using the roblem frames concepts and notation. Some indications about an analysis process that is aware of the differences between user needs and requirements are also given.