Subject: Software Engineering

Topic: Requirements Engineering and Analysis Model

Difficulty: High

Requirement elicitation Developers and stakeholders meet, the latter are inquired concerning their needs and wants regarding the software product.

∙Requirements analysis and negotiation - Requirements are identified (including new ones if the development is iterative) and conflicts with stakeholders are solved. Both written and graphical tools are successfully used as aids.

Examples of written analysis tools: use cases.

System modeling - Engineering fields (or specific situations) require the product to be completely designed and modeled before its construction or fabrication starts and, therefore, the design phase must be performed in advance. For instance, blueprints for a building must be elaborated before any contract can be approved and signed. Many fields might derive models of the system with the Life-cycle Modeling Language, whereas others, might use UML.

Requirements specification - Requirements are documented in a formal artifact called Requirements Specification (RS). Nevertheless, it will become official only after validation. A RS can contain both written and graphical (models) information if necessary. Example: Software requirements specification (SRS).

Requirements validation - Checking that the documented requirements and models are consistent and meet the needs of the stakeholder. Only if the final draft passes the validation process, the RS becomes official.