186 Requirements Engineering for Software and Systems
A Case Study: FBI Virtual Case File
We close this chapter with a brief case study involving the U.S. Federal Bureau
of Investigations disastrous Virtual Case File system, which was a failure of
requirements management, among other things. is discussion is largely based
on Goldstein’s report of the project (2005). Begun in 2000, the Virtual Case File
(VCF) was supposed to automate the FBI’s paper-based work environment and
allow agents and intelligence analysts to share investigative information. e sys-
tem would also replace the obsolete Automated Case Support (ACS), which was
based on 1970s software technology. But the five years and $170 million the project
spent yielded only 700,0 ...