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 user requirements is an essential process for SRS development to prevent issues that may occur during the main software development process where coding and programming is involved. This can be similarly done via interviews, meetings, and observation. Because an SRS is the reference that is being used during the software development process, user requirements can greatly affect the outcome of a project.

Bibliography

Aaby, Anthony. Requirements Engineering.

2005. Open Content Online.

http://cs.wwc.edu/~aabyan/435/Requirements.html