Requirements Analysis
- A product of requirements development is a set of requirements for the system and any sub-systems. The systems engineering standard [EIA 632] defines “requirement” as “something that governs what, how well, and under what conditions a product will achieve a given purpose.”
- Does the system do WHAT it is supposed to do? – These are Functional requirements.
- How well does the system do its functions? – These are Performance requirements.
- Under what conditions [e.g. environmental, reliability, and availability.], does the system have to work and meet its performance goals? – These are Environmental and Non-Functional requirements.
- Products of a well structured requirements development effort include
- Concept of Operations (ConOps) document. This document is often given to the requirements team as input but often requires some refinement. The ConOps document describes the way the system is intended to operate from the customer’s perspective.
- System and Sub-system Requirements Document. This document must be complete, verifiable, and validated. After formal review and acceptance by the customer, they are put under configuration control.
- Validation and Verification Plan. This documents the plan to verify each system requirement and will be a set of instructions for the system test team.
Requirements are the foundation for building any system. The system requirements define what the system must do and what the team must build. System requirements set expectations and help define success. The requirement development process is an in-depth description of the processes that will drive your business into the future.
