Requirements Engineering

18CS35 | SOFTWARE ENGINEERING | Module-1 VTU Notes

VTU | 18CS35 | Module - 1

Requirements Engineering Overview:

Requirements Engineering is a critical phase in software development that involves a systematic approach to capturing, analyzing, documenting, and managing the requirements for a software system. It ensures that the final product meets stakeholders' needs and expectations.

Requirements Engineering Processes (Chapter 4):

The Requirements Engineering process encompasses several key steps, including requirements elicitation, analysis, specification, validation, and management. These processes are interrelated and iterative, ensuring that requirements are accurately defined and maintained throughout the project lifecycle.

Requirements Elicitation and Analysis (Section 4.5):

Elicitation: This involves gathering requirements from stakeholders, including end-users, customers, and domain experts. Techniques like interviews, surveys, and workshops are employed to extract and understand requirements.

Analysis: Once gathered, the requirements are rigorously examined to identify inconsistencies, conflicts, and ambiguities. This phase ensures that the requirements are clear, feasible, and aligned with project goals.

Functional and Non-functional Requirements (Section 4.1):

Functional Requirements: These specify what the software system should do, describing its behavior, features, and interactions with users or other systems.

Non-functional Requirements: These define quality attributes and constraints, such as performance, reliability, security, and usability, that the system must adhere to.

The Software Requirements Document (Section 4.2):

Description: The Software Requirements Document (SRD) is a formal deliverable that captures all functional and non-functional requirements of the software system.

Contents: An SRD typically includes an introduction, system description, detailed requirements, constraints, and sometimes glossaries or appendices.

Requirements Specification (Section 4.3):

Specification Techniques: This involves translating gathered requirements into clear and unambiguous formats, such as natural language, use cases, diagrams (e.g., UML), or formal methods.

Requirements Validation (Section 4.6):

Validation Process: Requirements validation involves evaluating and verifying that the specified requirements accurately represent stakeholders' needs and can be implemented as intended.

Techniques: Techniques such as reviews, inspections, walkthroughs, and prototyping are employed to validate requirements.

Requirements Management (Section 4.7):

Ongoing Process: Requirements management ensures that requirements remain aligned with evolving project goals throughout the development lifecycle.

Traceability: Traceability matrices link requirements to design, implementation, and testing artifacts, ensuring consistency and facilitating changes.