Validating User Requirements During Requirements Elicitation and

Validating User Requirements During Requirements Elicitation and SRS Development Requirements Elicitation The process of validating user requirements during requirements elicitation requires the following important skills as indicated by Anthony Aaby in his online article Requirements Engineering. Ability to acquire an understanding of the application domain Technical skills Interpersonal skills to help build consensus between heterogenous groups of stakeholders The ability to acquire an understanding of the application domain is important because some users are not knowledgeable enough in using their systems.

When they give requirements, some do not know which is feasible and which is not. Therefore, if one has good understanding of the application that the user uses, he can easily identify what the users need. Moreover, an understanding of the application domain may involve the market analyses of other products that may help the user decide on his requirements. Technical skills on the other hand is important in relation to being knowledgeable on the user's system.

With good technical skills, one can validate which user requirements are technically feasible and which are not based on the development tools being used. This is because some development tools have limitations. Although some user requirements are logically correct, depending on the development tool however, some requirements may not be technically possible. Third is the interpersonal skill. Validating user requirements always entails communication with users during clarification of requirements such as interviews, meetings, and observations.

A good interpersonal skill can build a good relationship with users even during situations when their requirements are not feasible. SRS Development The development of software requirement specifications focuses more on the technical side during user requirements validation. Anthony Aaby indicates that user requirements must be feasible and necessary and are simply defined by the following properties. Clear, unambiguous Where appropriate, quantitative Non-prescriptive Correct, complete concise Precise and verifiable Consistent Traceable Modifiable Validation of.