Figure 2 - REQUIREMENTS Management Process

Requirements Definition

Each individual requirement must be well defined. IEEE Standard 610.12-1990 defines a requirement as:

a) A condition or capability needed by a user to solve a problem or achieve an objective.

b) A condition or capability that must be met or possessed by a system or system component to satisfy a contract, standard, specification, or other formally imposed document.

c) A documented representation of a condition or capability as in definition (a) or (b).

In other words, the individual requirement shall be clear, concise, measurable, and testable.

Here’s an example of a poor requirement:

The system must process school records every day.

Here’s an example of a well defined requirement:

The system must process 20,000 school records each day (Monday through Friday) at a minimum process speed of 15,000 records per hour between 2:00 and 4:00 pm each afternoon.

A well-defined set of requirements, per The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in Std. 1233-1998, will provide specific benefits:

· A basis for agreement between the customer and the suppliers detailing the final expectations of the product

· Reduction in the development effort (This is accomplished through detailed analysis, reducing a need for redesign later in the process).

· A basis for estimating resource requirements

· A baseline for subsequent verification and validation

· An easier transfer of the final product to users

· A basis for enhancement

· A method for tracing design elements back to requirements

Date: 2015-02-16; view: 753