Software Engineering: A Practitioner’s Approach, 7/e
Chapter 5
Requirements Engineering
Modified to include
some Agile Concepts
copyright © 1996, 2001, 2005
R.S. Pressman & Associates, Inc.
NOTE: Some slides referenced from: Ian Sommerville Slides for Software Engineering.
Coming up: What is a requirement?
1
What is a requirement?
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Requirements are used to describe all aspects of a
system
They may range from a high-level abstract statement of a
service or of a system constraint to a detailed
mathematical functional specification
They serve many roles
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May be the basis for a bid for a contract - therefore must be open
to interpretation
May be the basis for the contract itself - therefore must be
defined in detail
Are always used to communicate what you intend to build
Coming up: Requirements come in many forms
2
Requirements come in many forms
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Requirements Statements – ex: “The system shall ….”
UML Use-case diagrams
eXtreme Programming “User Stories”
Scrum Product Backlog
Any other documents that communicate what you intend
to build
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Prototypes can be used as requirements
Existing systems can serve as requirements “Build this system,
but use Java instead of Fortran”
UML Sequence diagrams, State charts, activity diagrams…
Coming up: All Requirements
3
All Requirements

Should specify external behavior of the system

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what the system does, not how
Includes functional and non-functional requirements
 Functional requirements are statements of the
services that the system must provide
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What must the system do? (Start all with the phrase
“The system shall…”)
Non-functional requirements are constraints on the
services and functions offered by the system
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How must it do it? or a constraint on the system
Coming up: Typical Requirements Statements
4
Typical Requirements Statements

Functional: The system shall display the heart rate,
blood pressure and temperature of a patient connected
to the patient monitor.

Non-Functional: "Display of the patient's vital signs must
respond to a change in the patient's status within 2
seconds.”
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‘ilities’ - Performance, Scalability, Capacity, Availability
Reliability, Recoverability, Maintainability, Serviceability,
Security, Regulatory,Manageability
What are some functional requirements on an iPod? Non-functional?
Coming up: Why do we care?
5
Why do we care?
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Most large software systems address wicked
problems
Problems which are so complex that they can never
be fully understood and where understanding
develops during the system development
Therefore, requirements are normally both
incomplete and inconsistent
Requirements help by giving you the best
understanding you can have at the beginning
I’ll destroy you and your
little software project
to!
Coming up: Prescriptive versus Agile approach
6
Prescriptive versus Agile approach

Prescriptive – approach is to minimize/prevent change
by understanding system thoroughly at the beginning

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Typically heard: “A change during implementation costs 10 times
more than a change during requirements phase”
Agile – approach is to manage change by being flexible
(i.e. Agile)

Typically heard: Requirements planned for 6 months from now
are most likely completely inaccurate. Don’t waste resources
planning far ahead. Plan short iterations and adjust the plan as
you go.
Coming up: Typical Prescriptive
Requirements Engineering Process
7
Typical Prescriptive
Requirements Engineering Process
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Inception—ask a set of questions that establish …
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Elicitation—elicit requirements from all stakeholders
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basic understanding of the problem
the people who want a solution
the nature of the solution that is desired, and
the effectiveness of preliminary communication and collaboration between
the customer and the developer
to identify the problem
propose elements of the solution
negotiate different approaches, and
specify a preliminary set of solution requirements
Elaboration—create an analysis model that identifies data, functional
and behavioral requirements
Negotiation—agree on a set of requirements among all stakeholders
(realistic, non-conflicting, inline with budget)
Coming up: Requirements Engineering-II
8
Requirements Engineering-II
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Specification—can be any one (or more) of the following:
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Validation—a review mechanism that looks for
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A written document
A set of models
A formal mathematical
A collection of user scenarios (use-cases)
A prototype
errors in content or interpretation
areas where clarification may be required
missing information
inconsistencies (a major problem when large products or systems
are engineered)
conflicting or unrealistic (unachievable) requirements.
Requirements management
Coming up: Typical Prescriptive System Requirements Specification (SRS) Document Structure
9
Typical Prescriptive System Requirements
Specification (SRS) Document Structure
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Purpose
Overall Description
System Features (Functional Requirements/Use Cases)
External Interface Requirements
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User interface requirements or standards
Hardware interfaces to other systems
Software interfaces to other systems
Communication Interfaces
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Non-functional Requirements
Appendices - analysis model diagrams
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See SRS Template on CS421 Project Page
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(provided by http://www.processimpact.com/ … but essentially from IEEE).
Coming up: Analysis Model
10
Analysis Model
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Included to provide more clarification about textual
requirements (where needed)
Elements of the analysis model
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Scenario-based elements
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Coming up: Use-Cases
Functional—processing narratives for software functions
Use-case—descriptions of the interaction between an “actor” and
the system
Class-based elements – e.g. class diagram
Behavioral elements – e.g. state diagram, sequence diagram,
activity diagram, etc..
Flow-oriented elements – e.g. data flow diagram
11
Use-Cases
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A collection of usage scenarios that describe the thread of usage of a system
Each scenario is described from the point-of-view of an “actor”—a person or device
that interacts with the software in some way
Each scenario answers the following questions:
 Who is the primary actor, the secondary actor (s)?
 What are the actor’s goals?
 What preconditions should exist before the story begins?
 What main tasks or functions are performed by the actor?
 What extensions might be considered as the story is described?
 What variations in the actor’s interaction are possible?
 What system information will the actor acquire, produce, or change?
 Will the actor have to inform the system about changes in the external
environment?
 What information does the actor desire from the system?
 Does the actor wish to be informed about unexpected changes?
Coming up: Use-Case Diagram
12
Use-Case Diagram
Each stick figure is an
actor in your system
Arms/ disarms
syst em
Accesses syst em
via Int ernet
homeow ner
Responds t o
alarm event
sensors
The block is an
external system that
interacts with your
system. Any system
you aren’t
developing is
external
Encount ers an
error condit ion
syst em
administ rat or
Coming up: Use Case Description
Reconf igures sensors
and relat ed
syst em f eat ures
Each oval is a
separate use case that
has a description
13
Use Case Description
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ID - A unique to reference this use case U01, U02, etc…)
Objective - What is the ultimate objective of the use-case. What is it trying to
achieve?
Priority – The overall priority of this use-case (Low, Medium, High)
Source – Who is the main source of this use case. Who cares most about this
functionality? This should be the one person you would ask if there is a
question about this use-case. (Make up a name and cite their: John Smith
(End-user) here.)
Actors – Which actors/stakeholders are involved in the use-case?
Flow of Events
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Basic Flow - flow of events normally executed in the use-case
Alternative Flow(s) - a secondary flow of events due to infrequent conditions
Exception Flow(s) - Exceptions that may happen during the execution of the use case
Includes - other use case IDs that are referenced in steps in the flow of
events.
 Preconditions - Any condition that must be satisfied before the use case
begins. If the condition is “User is logged in”, then the first step of the use
case is NOT “User logs in”. They are already logged in if that is a precondition!
 Post conditions - The conditions that will be satisfied after the use case
successfully
completes
(typically same as objective)
Coming
up: Alternate and Exception
Flows
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14
Alternate and Exception Flows
1.
Basic Flow
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
2.
2.
System displays error message.
System continues at step 1.2
Alternate Flow 2: Password is incorrect
1.
4.
Show when in the basic
flow this happens and
where you end up after
the alt flow
Alternate Flow 1: No password is present at step 1.4
1.
3.
User enters user name
User enters password
User submits the form
Password is validated as correct
Main menu is displayed
…
You may not know
aswhen
stepthis
1.4happens.
That’s okay
Exception Flow 1: Database is unreachable
1.
System displays an unrecoverable error and exits.
Coming up: Includes versus Preconditions
15
Includes versus Preconditions
Includes are steps in the use-case
Pre-conditions happen before the use case
Items are one or the other, not both!
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Basic Flow
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User selects option 4
from main menu screen
…
User is logged in
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None
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User executes U2: Login
User selects option 4 from
main menu screen
…
Preconditions:
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Includes:
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Basic Flow
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Preconditions:
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None
Includes:
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U2: Login
Don’t forget to show this on the use
case diagram as “includes”
Coming up: eXtreme Programming (XP): User Stories
16
eXtreme Programming (XP): User
Stories
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Serve as requirements within the XP/Scrum process
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Written by customers
Time Estimated by developers
Replaces large requirements documents
Represents anything that is “progress” to the customer
Examples:
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Professors can input student marks.
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Coming up: eXtreme Programming (XP): User Stories
17
eXtreme Programming (XP): User
Stories
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Short – 1 or 2 sentences. Usually supposed to fit
on a 3x5 notecard
Easy to estimate (project velocity)
Allows requirements to change frequently with
less impact
Without accompanying validation tests may lead
to misinterpretation
Difficult to scale to very large projects
Requires close customer contact to ensure correct
implementation
Coming up: Format for User Stories
(CS421 only… not standard!)
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Format for User Stories
(CS421 only… not standard!)
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Unique Identifier
Source – who should developer contact with questions
about this?
Story – short (1-3 sentence) high-level description of
story. When the developer plans to implement they
should discuss with the customer the details.
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As a [user role], I want to [goal], so I can [reason].
Time estimate – how long in “ideal development time” –
time without meetings or any interruptions
Client’s Priority – how important is the story to the client?
(Low, Medium, High)
Coming up: The web has MANY references about User Stories and Use Cases.
19
The web has MANY references about
User Stories and Use Cases.
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User Stories: http://www.agile-softwaredevelopment.com/search/label/user%20stories
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Use Cases:
http://alistair.cockburn.us/Use+case+fundamentals
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Which is better? Many arguments – here is one:
http://alistair.cockburn.us/Why+I+still+use+use+cases
Coming up: Characteristics of requirements
20
Characteristics of requirements
Coming up: Negotiating Requirements
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Negotiating Requirements
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Identify the key stakeholders
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Determine each of the stakeholders’ “win conditions”
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These are the people who will be involved in the negotiation
Win conditions are not always obvious
Negotiate
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Work toward a set of requirements that lead to “win-win”
Different stakeholders have different ideas of what they want
Coming up: Requirements Rationale
22
Requirements Rationale
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It is important to provide rationale with requirements
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This helps the developer understand the application domain
and why the requirement is stated in its current form
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Particularly important when requirements have to be changed.
The availability of rationale reduces the chances that change
will have unexpected effects
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In this class we’ll provide the requirement’s source and assume
they can contact the source to get a rationale if needed instead
of an explicit “rationale”. This is more “agile”
Coming up: Non-Functional Requirement Types
23
Non-Functional Requirement
Types Remember: Non Functional =
Constraints on the system
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Product requirements
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Organizational requirements
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Requirements which specify that the delivered product must
behave in a particular way e.g. execution speed, reliability, etc.
Requirements which are a consequence of organizational
policies and procedures e.g. process standards used,
implementation requirements, etc.
External requirements
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Requirements which arise from factors which are external to the
system and its development process e.g. interoperability
requirements, legislative requirements, etc.
Coming up: Non-Functional Requirement Examples
24
Non-Functional Requirement
Examples
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Product requirement
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Organizational requirement
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4.C.8 It shall be possible for all necessary communication between the
APSE and the user to be expressed in the standard Ada character set.
constraint: interoperability
9.3.2 The system development process and deliverable documents
shall conform to the process and deliverables defined in XYZCo-SPSTAN-95.
constraint: quality
External requirement
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7.6.5 The system shall provide facilities that allow any user to check if
personal data is maintained on the system. A procedure must be
defined and supported in the software that will allow users to inspect
personal data and to correct any errors in that data.
security, maintainability
Coming up: Requirements must be testable
Agile stories?
How?
25
Requirements must be testable
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Traditional requirements must be written so that they can be
objectively verified.
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XP requirements have explicit acceptance test cases written by
the customers to solve this problem.
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The problem with this requirement is its use of vague terms
such as ‘errors shall be minimized”
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The system should be easy to use by experienced controllers
and should be organized in such a way that user errors are
minimized.
The error rate should be been quantified
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Experienced controllers should be able to use all the system
functions after a total of two hours training. After this training, the
average number of errors made by experienced users should
not exceed two per day.
Coming up: Requirements: testable metrics
26
Requirements: testable metrics
Property
Speed
Size
Ease of use
Reliability
Robustness
Portability
Coming up: Requirements Validation
Measure
Processed transactions/second
User/Event response time
Screen refresh time
K Bytes
Number of RAM chips
Training time
Number of help frames
Mean time to failure
Probability of unavailability
Rate of failure occurrence
Availability
Time to restart after failure
Percentage of events causing failure
Probability of data corruption on failure
Percentage of target dependent statements
Number of target systems
27
Requirements Validation
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Ensure the requirements define the system
that the customer really wants
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Requirements error costs are high so
validation is very important
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Fixing a requirements error after delivery may
cost up to 100 times the cost of fixing an
implementation error
Coming up: Validating Requirements-I
28
Validating Requirements-I
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Is each requirement consistent with the overall objective for the
system/product? Work with all parties on this question!
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Is each requirement bounded and unambiguous? (e.g. testable)
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Does each requirement have attribution? That is, is a source
(generally, a specific individual) noted for each requirement?
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Do any requirements conflict with other requirements?
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Is each requirement testable, once implemented?
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Does the requirements model cover the system to be built
(information, function and behavior).
Requirements errors are cheaper to fix before implementation and deployment
Coming up: Requirements final thoughts…
29
Requirements final thoughts…
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Requirements should specify one and only one thing
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Requirements must be testable
Requirements must specify what YOUR system must do,
not what other (external) systems do
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Requirements and User Stories can only pass or fail, they can’t
partially pass. If you want to partially pass a requirement split
into two
To make this easier, in this class all functional requirements
must begin with “The system shall…”
Must have a source (make it up for CS421)
Coming up: Requirements final thoughts…
30
Requirements final thoughts…
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Should not be a design choice (this is hard to get right).
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The system shall store user information including name, DOB, address
and SSN. <-- Good!
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The system shall store user information in an Oracle database including
name, DOB, address, SSN. <-- bad
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Is Oracle really REQUIRED? Hard to say… maybe, but probably not. This is
a decision you would make at implementation design time.
Question: Does the customer care that you use Oracle? MySQL? Etc..
Maybe someone found some other MUCH BETTER approach storing the
data on moon rocks.
Again: This is hard to avoid… and I’m not to concerned with it on the SRS,
but I want you to be very aware of when you are making design choices
instead of required features.
Coming up: Requirements must have a unique ID
31
Requirements must have a unique ID
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Must have a unique ID.
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When testing you need to reference REQ-1 or REQ-287.
Multiple things cannot be labeled REQ-1.
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Later our test cases will say: This test case validates
requirements REQ-1, REQ-27, and REQ-56.
Coming up: Bad Example Requirements Statements
32
Bad Example Requirements
Statements
Bad requirements examples:

The system shall validate and accept credit cards and cashier’s
checks. High priority.

The system shall process all mouse clicks very fast to ensure
user’s do not have to wait.

The user must have Adobe Acrobat installed.
These don’t have a source or unique ID, but what else is wrong?
Coming up: Bad Examples
33
Bad Examples
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The system shall validate and accept credit cards and cashier’s
checks. High priority.
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The system shall process all mouse clicks very fast to ensure
user’s do not have to wait.
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Problem: two requirements instead of one.
If the credit card processing works, but the cashier’s check
validation does not… is this requirement pass or fail? Has to be fail,
but that is misleading.
Maybe only credit cards are high priority and cashier’s checks are
low priority.
Problem: This is not testable. Quantify how fast is acceptable?
The user must have Adobe Acrobat installed.

Problem: This is not something our system must do. It could be in
the constraints/assumptions or maybe operating environment
sections, but is not a functional requirement of our system
Coming up: SRS Functional Requirements Checklist
34
SRS Functional Requirements Checklist
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All start with “The system shall…”
All have a unique identifier (R1, R2, R3, …)
All do one and only one thing
All are testable
Have a source (who asked for it? make it up for the SRS
– John Smith (Marketing), Nguyen Kim (sys admin),
etc…
Says something YOUR software shall do
Are all labeld “F” in the chart
Coming up: SRS Non-functional Requirements Checkist
35
SRS Non-functional Requirements Checkist
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Section 5 just categorizes items in the table:
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5.1 Performance Requirements
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5.2 Safety Requirements
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See section 7 R11-R17, R29, R4
See section 7 R18
All the ones listed in section 5 should be marked “NF” in
section 7’s table and be non-functional constraints
Intuition: Is this something I can assign to one developer
and say “code this”… if so, it’s functional. (A constraint?)
Coming up: The Result of Good Requirements
36
The Result of Good Requirements
Your wicked
problems melt into
small manageable
problems ….
End of presentation
I’m melting!
37