Ch4-Software Engineering 9

Chapter 4 – Requirements EngineeringLecture 11Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Topics coveredFunctional and non-functional requirementsThe software requirements document Requirements specificationRequirements engineering processesRequirements elicitation and analysisRequirements validationRequirements management2Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Requirements engineeringThe process of establishing the services that the customer requires from a system and the constraints under which it operates and is developed.The requirements themselves are the descriptions of the system services and constraints that are generated during the requirements engineering process.3Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

What is a requirement?It may range from a high-level abstract statement of a service or of a system constraint to a detailed mathematical functional specification.This is inevitable as requirements may serve a dual functionMay 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;Both these statements may be called requirements.4Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Requirements abstraction (Davis)“If a company wishes to let a contract for a large software development project, it must define its needs in a sufficiently abstract way that a solution is not pre-defined. The requirements must be written so that several contractors can bid for the contract, offering, perhaps, different ways of meeting the client organization’s needs. Once a contract has been awarded, the contractor must write a system definition for the client in more detail so that the client understands and can validate what the software will do. Both of these documents may be called the requirements document for the system.”5Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Types of requirementUser requirementsStatements in natural language plus diagrams of the services the system provides and its operational constraints. Written for customers.System requirementsA structured document setting out detailed descriptions of the system’s functions, services and operational constraints. Defines what should be implemented so may be part of a contract between client and contractor.6Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

User and system requirements7Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Readers of different types of requirements specification8Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Functional and non-functional requirementsFunctional requirementsStatements of services the system should provide, how the system should react to particular inputs and how the system should behave in particular situations.May state what the system should not do.Non-functional requirementsConstraints on the services or functions offered by the system such as timing constraints, constraints on the development process, standards, etc.Often apply to the system as a whole rather than individual features or services.Domain requirementsConstraints on the system from the domain of operation9Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Functional requirementsDescribe functionality or system services.Depend on the type of software, expected users and the type of system where the software is used.Functional user requirements may be high-level statements of what the system should do.Functional system requirements should describe the system services in detail.10Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Functional requirements for the MHC-PMSA user shall be able to search the appointments lists for all clinics.The system shall generate each day, for each clinic, a list of patients who are expected to attend appointments that day. Each staff member using the system shall be uniquely identified by his or her 8-digit employee number.11Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Requirements imprecisionProblems arise when requirements are not precisely stated.Ambiguous requirements may be interpreted in different ways by developers and users.Consider the term ‘search’ in requirement 1User intention – search for a patient name across all appointments in all clinics;Developer interpretation – search for a patient name in an individual clinic. User chooses clinic then search.12Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Requirements completeness and consistencyIn principle, requirements should be both complete and consistent.CompleteThey should include descriptions of all facilities required.ConsistentThere should be no conflicts or contradictions in the descriptions of the system facilities.In practice, it is impossible to produce a complete and consistent requirements document.13Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Non-functional requirementsThese define system properties and constraints e.g. reliability, response time and storage requirements. Constraints are I/O device capability, system representations, etc.Process requirements may also be specified mandating a particular IDE, programming language or development method.Non-functional requirements may be more critical than functional requirements. If these are not met, the system may be useless.14Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Types of nonfunctional requirement15Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Non-functional requirements implementationNon-functional requirements may affect the overall architecture of a system rather than the individual components.For example, to ensure that performance requirements are met, you may have to organize the system to minimize communications between components.A single non-functional requirement, such as a security requirement, may generate a number of related functional requirements that define system services that are required.It may also generate requirements that restrict existing requirements. 16Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Non-functional classificationsProduct requirementsRequirements which specify that the delivered product must behave in a particular way e.g. execution speed, reliability, etc.Organisational requirementsRequirements which are a consequence of organisational policies and procedures e.g. process standards used, implementation requirements, etc.External requirementsRequirements which arise from factors which are external to the system and its development process e.g. interoperability requirements, legislative requirements, etc.17Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Examples of nonfunctional requirements in the MHC-PMS18Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Goals and requirementsNon-functional requirements may be very difficult to state precisely and imprecise requirements may be difficult to verify. GoalA general intention of the user such as ease of use.Verifiable non-functional requirementA statement using some measure that can be objectively tested.Goals are helpful to developers as they convey the intentions of the system users.19Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Usability requirementsThe system should be easy to use by medical staff and should be organized in such a way that user errors are minimized. (Goal)Medical staff shall be able to use all the system functions after four hours of training. After this training, the average number of errors made by experienced users shall not exceed two per hour of system use. (Testable non-functional requirement)20Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Metrics for specifying nonfunctional requirements21Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Domain requirementsThe system’s operational domain imposes requirements on the system.For example, a train control system has to take into account the braking characteristics in different weather conditions.Domain requirements be new functional requirements, constraints on existing requirements or define specific computations.If domain requirements are not satisfied, the system may be unworkable.22Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Train protection systemThis is a domain requirement for a train protection system:The deceleration of the train shall be computed as:Dtrain = Dcontrol + Dgradientwhere Dgradient is 9.81ms2 * compensated gradient/alpha and where the values of 9.81ms2 /alpha are known for different types of train.It is difficult for a non-specialist to understand the implications of this and how it interacts with other requirements.23Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Domain requirements problemsUnderstandabilityRequirements are expressed in the language of the application domain;This is often not understood by software engineers developing the system.ImplicitnessDomain specialists understand the area so well that they do not think of making the domain requirements explicit.24Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Key pointsRequirements for a software system set out what the system should do and define constraints on its operation and implementation.Functional requirements are statements of the services that the system must provide or are descriptions of how some computations must be carried out. Non-functional requirements often constrain the system being developed and the development process being used.They often relate to the emergent properties of the system and therefore apply to the system as a whole.25Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

The software requirements documentThe software requirements document is the official statement of what is required of the system developers.Should include both a definition of user requirements and a specification of the system requirements.It is NOT a design document. As far as possible, it should set of WHAT the system should do rather than HOW it should do it.27Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Agile methods and requirementsMany agile methods argue that producing a requirements document is a waste of time as requirements change so quickly.The document is therefore always out of date.Methods such as XP use incremental requirements engineering and express requirements as ‘user stories’ (discussed in Chapter 3).This is practical for business systems but problematic for systems that require a lot of pre-delivery analysis (e.g. critical systems) or systems developed by several teams.28Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Users of a requirements document29Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Requirements document variabilityInformation in requirements document depends on type of system and the approach to development used.Systems developed incrementally will, typically, have less detail in the requirements document.Requirements documents standards have been designed e.g. IEEE standard. These are mostly applicable to the requirements for large systems engineering projects.Chapter 4 Requirements engineering30

The structure of a requirementsdocument31Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

The structure of a requirements document32Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Requirements specificationThe process of writing don the user and system requirements in a requirements document.User requirements have to be understandable by end-users and customers who do not have a technical background.System requirements are more detailed requirements and may include more technical information.The requirements may be part of a contract for the system developmentIt is therefore important that these are as complete as possible.Chapter 4 Requirements engineering33

Ways of writing a system requirements specification 34Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Requirements and designIn principle, requirements should state what the system should do and the design should describe how it does this.In practice, requirements and design are inseparableA system architecture may be designed to structure the requirements;The system may inter-operate with other systems that generate design requirements;The use of a specific architecture to satisfy non-functional requirements may be a domain requirement.This may be the consequence of a regulatory requirement.

Natural language specificationRequirements are written as natural language sentences supplemented by diagrams and tables.Used for writing requirements because it is expressive, intuitive and universal. This means that the requirements can be understood by users and customers.Chapter 4 Requirements engineering36

Guidelines for writing requirementsInvent a standard format and use it for all requirements.Use language in a consistent way. Use shall for mandatory requirements, should for desirable requirements.Use text highlighting to identify key parts of the requirement.Avoid the use of computer jargon.Include an explanation (rationale) of why a requirement is necessary.

Problems with natural languageLack of clarity Precision is difficult without making the document difficult to read.Requirements confusionFunctional and non-functional requirements tend to be mixed-up.Requirements amalgamationSeveral different requirements may be expressed together.

Example requirements for the insulin pump software system39Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Structured specificationsAn approach to writing requirements where the freedom of the requirements writer is limited and requirements are written in a standard way.This works well for some types of requirements e.g. requirements for embedded control system but is sometimes too rigid for writing business system requirements.Chapter 4 Requirements engineering40

Form-based specificationsDefinition of the function or entity.Description of inputs and where they come from.Description of outputs and where they go to.Information about the information needed for the computation and other entities used.Description of the action to be taken.Pre and post conditions (if appropriate).The side effects (if any) of the function.

A structured specification of a requirement for an insulin pump42Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

A structured specification of a requirement for an insulin pump43Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Tabular specificationUsed to supplement natural language.Particularly useful when you have to define a number of possible alternative courses of action.For example, the insulin pump systems bases its computations on the rate of change of blood sugar level and the tabular specification explains how to calculate the insulin requirement for different scenarios.

Tabular specification of computation for an insulin pump45Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Requirements engineering processesThe processes used for RE vary widely depending on the application domain, the people involved and the organisation developing the requirements.However, there are a number of generic activities common to all processesRequirements elicitation;Requirements analysis;Requirements validation;Requirements management.In practice, RE is an iterative activity in which these processes are interleaved.46Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

A spiral view of the requirements engineering process47Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Requirements elicitation and analysisSometimes called requirements elicitation or requirements discovery.Involves technical staff working with customers to find out about the application domain, the services that the system should provide and the system’s operational constraints.May involve end-users, managers, engineers involved in maintenance, domain experts, trade unions, etc. These are called stakeholders.48Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Problems of requirements analysisStakeholders don’t know what they really want.Stakeholders express requirements in their own terms.Different stakeholders may have conflicting requirements.Organisational and political factors may influence the system requirements.The requirements change during the analysis process. New stakeholders may emerge and the business environment may change.49Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Requirements elicitation and analysisSoftware engineers work with a range of system stakeholders to find out about the application domain, the services that the system should provide, the required system performance, hardware constraints, other systems, etc.Stages include:Requirements discovery,Requirements classification and organization,Requirements prioritization and negotiation,Requirements specification.Chapter 4 Requirements engineering50

Therequirements elicitation and analysis process51Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Process activitiesRequirements discoveryInteracting with stakeholders to discover their requirements. Domain requirements are also discovered at this stage.Requirements classification and organisationGroups related requirements and organises them into coherent clusters.Prioritisation and negotiationPrioritising requirements and resolving requirements conflicts.Requirements specificationRequirements are documented and input into the next round of the spiral.

Problems of requirements elicitationStakeholders don’t know what they really want.Stakeholders express requirements in their own terms.Different stakeholders may have conflicting requirements.Organisational and political factors may influence the system requirements.The requirements change during the analysis process. New stakeholders may emerge and the business environment change.

Key pointsThe software requirements document is an agreed statement of the system requirements. It should be organized so that both system customers and software developers can use it.The requirements engineering process is an iterative process including requirements elicitation, specification and validation.Requirements elicitation and analysis is an iterative process that can be represented as a spiral of activities – requirements discovery, requirements classification and organization, requirements negotiation and requirements documentation.Chapter 4 Requirements engineering54

Requirements discoveryThe process of gathering information about the required and existing systems and distilling the user and system requirements from this information.Interaction is with system stakeholders from managers to external regulators.Systems normally have a range of stakeholders.Chapter 4 Requirements engineering56

Stakeholders in the MHC-PMSPatientswhose information is recorded in the system.Doctorswho are responsible for assessing and treating patients.Nurses who coordinate the consultations with doctors and administer some treatments.Medical receptionistswho manage patients’ appointments.IT staff who are responsible for installing and maintaining the system.Chapter 4 Requirements engineering57

Stakeholders in the MHC-PMSA medical ethics manager who must ensure that the system meets current ethical guidelines for patient care.Health care managerswho obtain management information from the system.Medical records staffwho are responsible for ensuring that system information can be maintained and preserved, and that record keeping procedures have been properly implemented.Chapter 4 Requirements engineering58

InterviewingFormal or informal interviews with stakeholders are part of most RE processes.Types of interviewClosed interviews based on pre-determined list of questionsOpen interviews where various issues are explored with stakeholders.Effective interviewingBe open-minded, avoid pre-conceived ideas about the requirements and are willing to listen to stakeholders.Prompt the interviewee to get discussions going using a springboard question, a requirements proposal, or by working together on a prototype system.Chapter 4 Requirements engineering59

Interviews in practiceNormally a mix of closed and open-ended interviewing.Interviews are good for getting an overall understanding of what stakeholders do and how they might interact with the system.Interviews are not good for understanding domain requirementsRequirements engineers cannot understand specific domain terminology;Some domain knowledge is so familiar that people find it hard to articulate or think that it isn’t worth articulating.

ScenariosScenarios are real-life examples of how a system can be used.They should includeA description of the starting situation;A description of the normal flow of events;A description of what can go wrong;Information about other concurrent activities;A description of the state when the scenario finishes.

Scenario for collecting medical history in MHC-PMS62Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Scenario for collecting medical history in MHC-PMS63Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Use casesUse-cases are a scenario based technique in the UML which identify the actors in an interaction and which describe the interaction itself.A set of use cases should describe all possible interactions with the system.High-level graphical model supplemented by more detailed tabular description (see Chapter 5).Sequence diagrams may be used to add detail to use-cases by showing the sequence of event processing in the system.64Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Use cases for the MHC-PMS65Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

EthnographyA social scientist spends a considerable time observing and analysing how people actually work.People do not have to explain or articulate their work.Social and organisational factors of importance may be observed.Ethnographic studies have shown that work is usually richer and more complex than suggested by simple system models.66Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Scope of ethnographyRequirements that are derived from the way that people actually work rather than the way I which process definitions suggest that they ought to work.Requirements that are derived from cooperation and awareness of other people’s activities.Awareness of what other people are doing leads to changes in the ways in which we do things.Ethnography is effective for understanding existing processes but cannot identify new features that should be added to a system.67Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Focused ethnographyDeveloped in a project studying the air traffic control processCombines ethnography with prototypingPrototype development results in unanswered questions which focus the ethnographic analysis.The problem with ethnography is that it studies existing practices which may have some historical basis which is no longer relevant.68Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Ethnography and prototyping for requirements analysis69Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Requirements validationConcerned with demonstrating that the requirements define the system that the customer really wants.Requirements error costs are high so validation is very importantFixing a requirements error after delivery may cost up to 100 times the cost of fixing an implementation error.70Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Requirements checkingValidity. Does the system provide the functions which best support the customer’s needs?Consistency. Are there any requirements conflicts?Completeness. Are all functions required by the customer included?Realism. Can the requirements be implemented given available budget and technologyVerifiability. Can the requirements be checked?71Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Requirements validation techniquesRequirements reviewsSystematic manual analysis of the requirements.PrototypingUsing an executable model of the system to check requirements. Covered in Chapter 2.Test-case generationDeveloping tests for requirements to check testability.72Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Requirements reviewsRegular reviews should be held while the requirements definition is being formulated.Both client and contractor staff should be involved in reviews.Reviews may be formal (with completed documents) or informal. Good communications between developers, customers and users can resolve problems at an early stage.73Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Review checksVerifiabilityIs the requirement realistically testable?ComprehensibilityIs the requirement properly understood?TraceabilityIs the origin of the requirement clearly stated?AdaptabilityCan the requirement be changed without a large impact on other requirements?74Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Requirements managementRequirements management is the process of managing changing requirements during the requirements engineering process and system development.New requirements emerge as a system is being developed and after it has gone into use.You need to keep track of individual requirements and maintain links between dependent requirements so that you can assess the impact of requirements changes. You need to establish a formal process for making change proposals and linking these to system requirements.75Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Changing requirementsThe business and technical environment of the system always changes after installation.New hardware may be introduced, it may be necessary to interface the system with other systems, business priorities may change (with consequent changes in the system support required), and new legislation and regulations may be introduced that the system must necessarily abide by. The people who pay for a system and the users of that system are rarely the same people.System customers impose requirements because of organizational and budgetary constraints. These may conflict with end-user requirements and, after delivery, new features may have to be added for user support if the system is to meet its goals.Chapter 4 Requirements engineering76

Changing requirementsLarge systems usually have a diverse user community, with many users having different requirements and priorities that may be conflicting or contradictory.The final system requirements are inevitably a compromise between them and, with experience, it is often discovered that the balance of support given to different users has to be changed.Chapter 4 Requirements engineering77

Requirements evolution78Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Requirements management planningEstablishes the level of requirements management detail that is required.Requirements management decisions:Requirements identificationEach requirement must be uniquely identified so that it can be cross-referenced with other requirements. A change management processThis is the set of activities that assess the impact and cost of changes. I discuss this process in more detail in the following section.Traceability policiesThese policies define the relationships between each requirement and between the requirements and the system design that should be recorded.Tool supportTools that may be used range from specialist requirements management systems to spreadsheets and simple database systems.Chapter 4 Requirements engineering79

Requirements change managementDeciding if a requirements change should be acceptedProblem analysis and change specificationDuring this stage, the problem or the change proposal is analyzed to check that it is valid. This analysis is fed back to the change requestor who may respond with a more specific requirements change proposal, or decide to withdraw the request.Change analysis and costingThe effect of the proposed change is assessed using traceability information and general knowledge of the system requirements. Once this analysis is completed, a decision is made whether or not to proceed with the requirements change.Change implementationThe requirements document and, where necessary, the system design and implementation, are modified. Ideally, the document should be organized so that changes can be easily implemented.Chapter 4 Requirements engineering80

Requirements change management81Chapter 4 Requirements engineering

Key pointsYou can use a range of techniques for requirements elicitation including interviews, scenarios, use-cases and ethnography.Requirements validation is the process of checking the requirements for validity, consistency, completeness, realism and verifiability. Business, organizational and technical changes inevitably lead to changes to the requirements for a software system. Requirements management is the process of managing and controlling these changes.Chapter 4 Requirements engineering82

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Ch4-Software Engineering 9