Design guidelines for negotiation support systems: an expert perspective using scenarios

Abstract

Negotiation support systems (NSS) can enhance humans' performance in negotiations. Much research in this area focuses on finding optimal bids. However, there is little research on human factors in technological negotiation support. We believe an in-depth analysis of the task involving experts and users is needed to build a new generation of NSS focusing on man-machine collaboration. We describe a scenario-based approach to gathering requirements for such a system. We wrote five scenarios containing part of the envisioned functionality in the most important use situations, e.g. face-to-face negotiation, on the phone, collaborative or mobile preparation. We used claims analysis to clarify our design decisions. To evaluate our claims we organized focus groups including six general and six job negotiation experts. The filmed scenarios were used together with two claims each to guide the discussion. Based on the data analysis we constructed 12 design guidelines for NSS.