Artifact-oriented or artifact-based requirements engineering (RE) is a relatively new practice in the field of RE. The authors contrast artifact-oriented RE with the more common activity-oriented RE, where the RE reference model is defined by focusing on the interconnected procedures with artifacts as the outputs. Artifact-oriented RE, in contrast, defines an RE reference model by focusing on what needs to be produced rather than the process for getting there.

The artifact model for domain-independent RE (AMDiRE) approach described in this paper emerged from six years of development in collaboration with multiple companies where this approach has been successfully applied. The authors describe the approach in detail, as well as some of the iterative modifications made along the way, as the approach has been instantiated at specific companies across multiple domains. These specific applications are documented as case studies, including lessons learned and developments in the practical application of the AMDiRE approach. A detailed content model is included in an appendix, and the references contain a number of links and resources that can help guide further research and application of the approach.

The AMDiRE approach has been successfully applied to multiple companies, and continues to evolve in both research and practical contexts. For these reasons, this paper will be of particular interest to both practicing software engineers as well as researchers in the area of RE.