Abstract
Sets of requirements that analysts are dealing with are often big and complex. That makes requirements structuring one of the most important activities in requirements engineering, because of how requirements are structured and presented directly impacts the requirements development process and the quality of requirements.
In this methodological paper we argue that a requirements analyst has to build a requirements architecture that fits the properties of the problem. In particular, the requirements analyst should create a clear vision of the principles governing how requirements are being defined, built and presented.
We review some of the instruments that an analyst can use to structure requirements: requirements sets, views, levels and links. Among static views we emphasize concepts view, and also consider functions view, application architecture view, and other views; among dynamic views we consider use cases view, operational scenarios view, events view, and others. We specifically notice the importance of individual requirements sets, the purpose of which is to reveal the requirements for a particular element (concept, function, action, etc.). We argue in favor of differentiating between requirements model and requirements representation. We demonstrate on examples how requirements architecture is needed in complex contexts.
- Diev, Sergey. Use cases modeling and software estimation: Applying Use Case Points. ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes. Volume 31, Issue 6 (September 2006), 4 pages. Google ScholarDigital Library
Index Terms
- Structuring complex requirements
Recommendations
An operational model for structuring the requirements generation process
Product quality is directly related to how well that product meets the customer’s needs and intents. Therefore, the ability to capture customer requirements correctly and succinctly is paramount. Unfortunately, within most software development ...
System requirements engineering in complex situations
The purpose of this paper is to present an alternative systems thinking---based perspective and approach to the requirements elicitation process in complex situations. Three broad challenges associated with the requirements engineering elicitation in ...
Structuring Software Requirements for Architecture Design
ECBS '13: Proceedings of the 20th Annual IEEE International Conference and Workshops on the Engineering of Computer Based SystemsGlobal influence factors, e.g., quality attributes or technical constraints, often guide the process of designing software architectures. However, characteristics of individual requirements (e.g., the complexity or volatility of a requirement) also ...
Comments