Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mdcbbs!devsim.mdcbbs!jmi
From: jmi@devsim.mdcbbs.com
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: <None>
Message-ID: <5.261c97c7@devsim.mdcbbs.com>
Date: 6 Apr 90 13:21:10 GMT
References: <1990Apr5.144305.5483@quintro.uucp>
Organization: MDC - Douglas Aircraft - Long Beach CA
Lines: 452

In article <1990Apr5.144305.5483@quintro.uucp>, reb@quintro.uucp (Roger E. Benz) writes:
> We are a small company seeking to improve our software engineering process.
> One area that we are lacking in is documentation.  After reading several
> books and standards on how software requirement specs and design specs
> should look I would realy like to see some examples.  

While I can't offer an example, this is sort of like a checklist that we use 
for determining what we want in a requirements document. Our customers use this 
to insure that the information we need is provided to build the products that 
they ask us for. ***THIS IS A "ROUGH DRAFT" COPY*** the final copy is 
considered proprietery and could never be released. This copy is not completed 
and is in some ways lacking, but it should provide an insite into the type and 
form of information that a requirements document for a software product 
requires.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                    Requirements Document Criteria

















       Date:


       Authors:


       Revision:


       Acceptance:



Introduction:

Until this time, the development of requirements for systems
that are to be implemented in software has been primarily an
intuitive process without any formal method of determining
the acceptability or applicability of these requirements.
As a result, many key issues are often overlooked,requiring
major changes and rework at later stages of the development
process. While there amy appear to be redundancy in some of the
items within this document, each is unique in viewpoint and
should be addressed.



Purpose:

The objective of this document is to establish a minimal set
of criteria for requirements of a software system.  The issues
addressed by this document are intended to define the acceptability
of the requirements documents before the start of system
design.  It is recognized that not all of these issues will 
be applicable to all systems but it is necessary that each issue
be considered. If an issue is not applicable to a given system, 
the reason must be stated in the requirements.

CAVEAT: FOR ITEMS CONSIDERED "NOT APPLICABLE" BY THE REQUIREMENTS WRITER, THE
        ANSWERS WILL BE LEFT TO THE DISCRETION OF THE DESIGNER


Use Of This Document:

Both the software product designer and the author of the
software product requirements shall use this document as a
checklist against the software product requirements
document.  This will provide "one stop shopping" such that
the designer does not have to go to the customer for
additional information.


                                Page 2





1. Problem statement

       1.1      What problem is the product meant to solve?

       1.2      Where does this product fit into the "big
                picture" ?

2. Environment

       2.1  Cost

            2.1.1      What is the limit of expenditures to
                       be used to create the product? (i.e.,
                       dollars and/or engineering hours)

            2.1.2      What is the limit of expenditures to
                       be used to maintain the product?
                       (i.e., dollars and/or engineering
                       hours per unit time of use).

            2.1.3      What other resources are available
                       for the product development? (i.e.,
                       facilities/personnel and quantitative
                       or qualitative limits)

            2.1.4      What other resources are available
                       for maintenance use during the
                       product service life?  (i.e.,
                       facilities/personnel and quantitative
                       or qualitative limits)

            2.1.5      What methods of progress measurement
                       does the customer require to track
                       the development task? (e.g., status
                       reports, progress reports)

            2.1.6      What are the milestones that shall be
                       met? (e.g., schedules, deliveries)


       2.2  Hardware/Software

            2.2.1      What computers shall the product run
                       on? (e.g., makes, models, particular
                       installations)

            2.2.2      What peripherals are required to
                       interface with the product? (e.g.,

                                Page 3


                       terminals, hardcopy devices, tape
                       drives, disk drives, displays, etc.
                       Specify makes and models)

            2.2.3      What unique interfaces does the
                       product need to access? (e.g.,
                       cockpit hardware, microcomputer, test
                       benches, etc. Specify makes and
                       models)

            2.2.4      On what operating system shall the
                       product run?  (i.e., operating system
                       ID, revision level)

            2.2.5      What database methods shall this
                       product use?  (e.g., ISAM,
                       sequential, RDB, etc.)

            2.2.6      With which specific database
                       management products shall the product
                       interface? (e.g., products protocol,
                       etc.)

            2.2.7      With what other external (foreign to
                       this product) software products shall
                       this product interface?  (e.g.,
                       routines, libraries, product names,
                       manufactures, suppliers, revision
                       levels, etc.)

            2.2.8      What are the size restrictions for
                       the finished product?  (e.g., bytes
                       of code, text, embedded data, etc.)

            2.2.9      How transportable shall the product
                       be? (i.e., range of hardware/software
                       enviroments under which the product
                       will run)


       2.3  Required Design Restrictions 

            2.3.1      What are the language restrictions
                       for the product? (e.g., language
                       names, versions; or maximum number of
                       languages, etc.)

            2.3.2      To what standards shall the product
                       conform?  (e.g., document titles,
                       sources, revision levels, etc.)


                                Page 4


       2.4  Customers

            2.4.1      Who is commissioning this product?
                       (e.g, identify signatures of
                       authority, etc.)

            2.4.2      Who is to accept delivery? (e.g.,
                       identify signatures of authority,
                       etc.)

            2.4.3      What is the profile of the typical
                       end user? (e.g., years of experience
                       in some specified job, years of
                       schooling, etc.)

            2.4.4      What are the human factors criteria
                       and how shall the success of the
                       product in meeting the criteria be
                       determined? (e.g., non-direct paths,
                       non-standard user-interface, etc.)


       2.5  Performance factors

            2.5.1      What human support is required to
                       operate the product? (e.g., Identify
                       any runtime operations which the user
                       or support personnel shall physically
                       carry out in order to achieve any
                       specified results, etc.)

            2.5.2      What periods of time shall the
                       product be available for operation?
                       (e.g., hours per day, weekly
                       schedule, etc.)

            2.5.3      What criteria must the product meet
                       regarding reliability of operation?



       2.6  Operational Considerations

            2.6.1      What methods shall be used to deliver
                       the product? (e.g., data storage or
                       transfer medium, etc.)

            2.6.2      What are the restrictions on the
                       installation of the product?  How
                       easily shall the product be to
                       install? (e.g., classes of users,

                                Page 5


                       numbers of users, access limitations,
                       etc.)


            2.6.3      To what degree shallthe operation of
                       the product be successfully
                       restricted to authorized users only?
                       (e.g., classes of users, numbers of
                       users, access limitations, etc.)

            2.6.4      How shall product integrity be
                       ensured? (e.g., data recovery source
                       code recovery, etc.)


       2.7  Maintainability

            2.7.1      What support of the product after
                       turnover to the customer is required?
                       (e.g. training support, computer
                       personel, etc)

            2.7.2      Where might the requirements for the
                       product expand in the future? (i.e.
                       percentage chance of change)


3. Input 

       3.1   What are the input media ? (e.g., touch screen,
             keyboard, tape, etc.)

       3.2   What is the format of the input ? (e.g., record
             layout)

       3.3   What are the input items ?

       3.4   What are the characteristics of each input
             item? (e.g., units, data type, sampling rate,
             etc. )

       3.5   For each item what is the acceptable level
             accuracy (tolerance)?

       3.6   For each numeric item, how many significant
             digits are required ? 

       3.7   What are the descripitons and range for each
             data item? (e.g., month of the year, 0<x<100,
             file spec. etc.)


                                Page 6


4. Process 

       4.1   Function

             4.1.1     What processes is the product is to
                       perform?

             4.1.2     What are the algorithims?

             4.1.3     What are the associations between
                       algorithms and processes?

             4.1.4     What are the modes of operation?
                       (e.g., interactive, batch, etc.)

             4.1.5     What options are available prior to
                       startup? (e.g., switches, job
                       parameters, etc.)

             4.1.6     What options are available during
                       runtime? (e.g., selection of I/O, job
                       parameters, etc.)

             4.1.7     How does the product use all the
                       input data?

             4.1.8     How does the product define all
                       output data?



       4.2   Timing 

             4.2.1     What are the constraints on response
                       time? (e.g., acknowledge time,
                       results time, etc.)

             4.2.2     What are the constraints on iteration
                       rate? (e.g., frames per second)

             4.2.3     What is the latency required? (e.g.,
                       data transmission in multi-
                       processing)

             4.2.4     What are the CPU usage constraints
                       for each process?

             4.2.5     what are the CPU usage constraints
                       for the product?



                                Page 7


       4.3   Error Handeling 

             4.3.1     What defines an error? (internal,
                       user induced, system induced,
                       disaster recovery, etc.)

             4.3.2     How is each error communicated?
                       (e.g., setting error flags sending
                       message to user, etc.)

             4.3.3     How does the product handle error
                       condition? (e.g., program about,
                       require new input, restore original
                       enviroment, etc.)


5. Output

       5.1   What are the output media ? (e.g., touch
             screen, keyboard, tape, etc)

       5.2   What is the format of the output ? (e.g.,
             record layout, etc.)

       5.3   What are the output items?

       5.4   What are the characteristics of each output
             item? (e.g., units, data type, sampling rate,
             etc.)

       5.5   What is the acceptable level accuracy (e.g.,
             tolerance)?

       5.6   For each numeric item, how many significant
             digits are required ? 

       5.7   What are the descripitons and range for each
             data item? (e.g., month of the year, 0<x<100,
             file spec. etc.)

       5.8   What are the expected values of output for a
             given set of inputs?


6. Documentation 

       6.1 Requirements 

             6.1.1     What documents have been referenced
                       in the requirements document?


                                Page 8


             6.1.2     What additional documents are
                       recommended for the development of
                       the product?

             6.1.3     What are the definitions of all the
                       acronyms and technical terms?

             6.1.4     What technical or legal
                       authorizations are required to
                       develope the product

             6.1.5     Who has created and revised the
                       requirements document and what are
                       the dates of creation and revision?


       6.2 Support 

             6.2.1     What type of support documentation
                       shall the developer provide with the
                       product?

             6.2.2     To what standards shall the support
                       documentation for the product
                       conform?

                                Page 9


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

jmi    jmi@dac.mdcbbs.com