Automatic Requirements Gatherer

[eluser]Unknown[/eluser]
Hi all,

Just discovered CodeIgniter and started to redo one of my sites using it, and I am already mighty impressed. I think within a month I will be nothing short of fanatical =)

While this post isn't actually about codeigniter, I noticed this community seems to be pretty active and friendly, so I was hoping I would share my ideas for a project I just started, and see if anyone has any feedback.

The project is for my undergraduate thesis in software engineering and I have decided to make an interview program.

The point of it would be to ask a client questions, and the output of which is both a formal requirements document (can subsequently be used to generate templates, quotes, estimate project length, etc.) and a transcript that includes their justifications and such - that the developer (ie. you) can read to get an understanding of their technical knowledge, expectations, etc.

Technically, I will deliver it using: HTML for the interface, AJAX for the communications, PHP for all the logic and XML for storing requirements, questions, etc.

I only started a few weeks ago, so it is obviously still in it's infant stages, but I am interested to hear what some other developers think of the idea. If it worked well, would you have your clients use it before your first meetings to discuss the scope of the project?

You can find a lot more detailed research and general fluff (along with a very basic prototype that has a whopping 4 questions in it's knowledgebase) at the following site for anyone who is interested:

http://www.designconcepts.com.au/thesis/

Thanks in advance to anyone who has feedback. I have spoken with some academics and some management types about it, but very few actual programmers.

Cheers,

Simon