Requirements Engineering Processes

Objectives

• To describe the principal requirements engineering activities

• To introduce techniques for requirements elicitation and analysis

Topics covered

• Feasibility studies• Requirements elicitation and analysis• Requirements validation• Requirements management

Requirements engineering processes

•The processes used for RE vary widely depending on the application domain, the people involved and the organisation developing the requirements•However, there are a number of generic activities common to all processes– Requirements elicitation– Requirements analysis– Requirements validation– Requirements management

The requirements engineering process

Feasibilitystudy

Requirementselicitation and

analysisRequirementsspecification

Requirementsvalidation

Feasibilityreport

Systemmodels

User and systemrequirements

Requirementsdocument

Feasibility studies

• A feasibility study decides whether or not the proposed system is worthwhile

• A short focused study that checks– If the system contributes to organisational

objectives– If the system can be engineered using current

technology and within budget– If the system can be integrated with other

systems that are used

Feasibility study implementation

• Based on information assessment (what is required), information collection and report writing

• Questions for people in the organisation– What if the system wasn’t implemented?– What are current process problems?– How will the proposed system help?– What will be the integration problems?– Is new technology needed? What skills?– What facilities must be supported by the proposed system?

Requirements Elicitation and analysis

• Sometimes called requirements elicitation or requirements discovery.

• Involves technical staff working with customers to find out about the application domain, the services that the system should provide and the system’s operational constraints.

• May involve end-users, managers, engineers involved in maintenance, domain experts, trade unions, etc. These are called stakeholders.

9

Requirements Elicitation Techniques

• Interviewing and questionnaires.• Brainstorming and idea reduction.• Storyboarding.• Role Playing.• Requirements workshops. • Prototyping.• User Stories.• Viewpoint-oriented elicitation

10

Technique: Interviewing

• Simple direct technique• Context-free questions about what system

needs to do for the users• Convergence on some common needs will

initiate a “requirements repository” • A questionnaire is no substitute for an

interview, but may precede or follow interviews

11

Interview: Context-free questions

• Goal is to prevent prejudicing the user’s response to the questions• Examples:–Who is the customer?–Who is the user?–Who is the user’s customer?– Are their needs different?–Where else can a solution to this problem be found?

• After context-free questions are asked, suggested solutions can be explored

12

Technique: Brainstorming

• Brainstorming involves both idea generation and idea reduction

• The most creative, innovative ideas often result from combining seemingly unrelated ideas

• Various voting techniques may be used to prioritize the ideas created

• Although live brainstorming is preferred, web-based brainstorming may be a viable alternative

13

Rules for Brainstorming

• Do not allow criticism or debate• Let your imagination soar• Generate as many ideas as possible• Mutate and combine ideas• Only then do Idea Reduction– Prune ideas that are not worthy of further discussion– Group similar ideas into one super topic

• Prioritize the remaining ideas

14

Technique: Storyboarding

• Scripted walkthrough of system activities and/or screen mockups

• Identify the players, explain what happens to them, and describes how it happens

• Make the storyboard sketchy and easy to modify

15

Technique: Role Playing

• Role playing allows developers to experience the user’s world from the user’s perspective

• Live storyboard or unscripted walkthrough• Generate system activities and/or screen

mockups as you go along

16

Technique: Requirements Workshop

• Perhaps the most powerful technique for eliciting requirements

• Gather all key stakeholders together for a short but intensely focused period

• Use an outside facilitator experienced in requirements management

• May combine interviewing, brainstorming, storyboards, role playing

17

Technique: Prototyping

• Partial implementation of a software system, built to help developers, users and customers better understand system requirements

• Focus on the “fuzzy” requirements: poorly defined and/or poorly understood

18

User Stories• Written by the customers (or end-users) as

things that the system needs to do for them • About 3 sentences in the customer’s

terminology, without technical detail• Written on index cards (!)• May be augmented by samples (e.g.,

formatted report)• Prioritize (high, medium, low)

19

Example Story Card

111 Instructor View

The instructor view for a given course includes the course number, name and semester; a button to edit the introduction; a button to designate library reserves; and a button to adjust settings for the course.

Otherwise the instructor view is the same as the student view.

Priority High

20

Continuing Example

222 Student View

The student view for a given course includes the course number, name and semester; general courseinformation; and instructor information.

There are buttons to select introduction, discussion, board, class e-mail, dictionary, notepad and help.

Priority High

21

Continuing Example

123 Instructor vs. Student View

When an instructor selects one of the courses he/she is teaching, the instructor view is shown.The instructor view should include a button to show the student view, and then that special studentview should include a button to switch back to the instructor view

Priority Medium

22

Continuing Example

321 Login

The user is prompted to enter uni and password

If the uni and password match database,the user is shown the default screen with his/her list of current courses

Priority High

Viewpoint-oriented elicitation

• Stakeholders represent different ways of looking at a problem or problem viewpoints.

• This multi-perspective analysis is important as there is no single correct way to analyse system requirements

Banking ATM system

• The example used here is an auto-teller system which provides some automated banking services.

• I use a very simplified system which offers some services to customers of the bank who own the system and a narrower range of services to other customers.

• Services include cash withdrawal, message passing (send a message to request a service), ordering a statement and transferring funds.

Autoteller viewpoints

• Bank customers• Representatives of other banks• Hardware and software maintenance engineers• Marketing department• Bank managers and counter staff• Database administrators and security staff• Communications engineers• Personnel department

The VORD method

Viewpointidentification

Viewpointstructuring

Viewpointdocumenta tion

Viewpointsystem mapping

VORD process model• Viewpoint identification

– Discover viewpoints which receive system services and identify the services provided to each viewpoint

• Viewpoint structuring– Group related viewpoints into a hierarchy. Common services are

provided at higher-levels in the hierarchy• Viewpoint documentation

– Refine the description of the identified viewpoints and services• Viewpoint-system mapping

– Transform the analysis to an object-oriented design

VORD Standard Forms

Viewpoint template Service templateReference: The viewpoint name. Reference: The service name.Attributes: Attributes providing

viewpoint information.Rationale: Reason why the service is

provided.Events: A reference to a set of event

scenarios describing howthe system reacts toviewpoint events.

Specification: Reference to a list of servicespecifications. These maybe expressed in differentnotations.

Services A reference to a set ofservice descriptions.

Viewpoints: List of viewpoint namesreceiving the service.

Sub-VPs: The names of sub-viewpoints.

Non-functionalrequirements:

Reference to a set of non -functional requirementswhich constrain the service.

Provider: Reference to a list of systemobjects which provide theservice.

Viewpoint identification

Querybalance

Gettransactions

Cashwithdrawal

Transactionlog

Machinesupplies

Cardreturning

Remotesoftwareupgrade

Ordercheques

Userinterface

Accountinformation

Messagelog

Softwaresize Invalid

userSystem cost Printe

r Security

Cardretention

Stolencard

Orderstatement

Remotediagnostics

ReliabilityUpdateaccount

Fundstransfer

Messagepassing

Cardvalidation

Customerdatabase

Manager

Accountholder

Foreigncustomer

Hardwaremaintenance

Bankteller

Viewpoint service information

FOREIGNCUSTOMER

Withdraw cashQuery balance

Service list

Withdraw cashQuery balanceOrder chequesSend messageTransaction listOrder statementTransfer funds

Service list

Run diagnosticsAdd cashAdd paperSend message

Service list

ACCOUNTHOLDER

BANKTELLER

Viewpoint data/control

Start transactionCancel transactionEnd transactionSelect service

Card detailsPINAmount requiredMessage

Control input Data inputACCOUNTHOLDER

Viewpoint hierarchy

EngineerManagerTellerForeign

customerAccountholder

Services

Order chequesSend messageTransaction listOrder statementTransfer funds

Customer Bank staff

All VPs

Services

Query balanceWithdraw cash

Customer/cash withdrawal templates

Customer

Account numberPINStart transactionSelect serviceCanceltransactionEnd transaction

Cash withdrawalBalance enquiry

Account holderForeigncustomer

Reference:

Attributes:

Events:

Services:

Sub-VPs:

Cash withdrawal

To improve customer serviceand reduce paperwork

Users choose this service bypressing the cash withdrawalbutton. They then enter theamount required. This isconfirmed and, if funds allow,the balance is delivered.

Customer

Deliver cash within 1 minuteof amount being confirmed

Filled in later

Reference:

Rationale:

Specification:

VPs:

Non-funct.requirements:

Provider:

Scenarios

• Scenarios are descriptions of how a system is used in practice

• They are helpful in requirements elicitation as people can relate to these more readily than abstract statement of what they require from a system

• Scenarios are particularly useful for adding detail to an outline requirements description

Scenario descriptions

• System state at the beginning of the scenario• Normal flow of events in the scenario• What can go wrong and how this is handled• Other concurrent activities• System state on completion of the scenario

Event scenarios• Event scenarios may be used to describe how a system

responds to the occurrence of some particular event such as ‘start transaction’

• VORD includes a diagrammatic convention for event scenarios. – Data provided and delivered– Control information– Exception processing– The next expected event

Event scenario - start transaction

Validate user

Request PIN

Selectservice

Timeout

Return card

Invalid card

Return card

Stolen card

Retain card

Incorrect PIN

Re-enter PIN

Incorrect PIN

Return card

Card

PIN

Card present

Accountnumber

PIN

Accountnumber

Valid card

User OK

Notation for data and control analysis

• Ellipses. data provided from or delivered to a viewpoint.

• Control information enters and leaves at the top of each box.

• Data leaves from the right of each box.• Exceptions are shown at the bottom of each

box.• Name of next event is in box with thick edges

Exception description

• Most methods do not include facilities for describing exceptions

• In this example, exceptions are– Timeout. Customer fails to enter a PIN within the

allowed time limit– Invalid card. The card is not recognised and is

returned– Stolen card. The card has been registered as

stolen and is retained by the machine

The requirements analysis process

Requirementsvalidation

Domainunderstanding

Prioritization

Requirementscollection

Conflictresolution

Classification

Requirementsdefinition andspecification

Processentry

System models

• Different models may be produced during the requirements analysis activity.

• Requirements analysis may involve three structuring activities which result in these different models.

– Partitioning. Identifies the structural (part-of) relationships between entities.

– Abstraction. Identifies generalities among entities.– Projection. Identifies different ways of looking at a problem.

Requirements Verification

• Concerned with demonstrating that the requirements define the system that the customer really wants

• Requirements error costs are high so validation is very important– Fixing a requirements error after delivery may cost

up to 100 times the cost of fixing an implementation error

Requirements checking

• Validity. Does the system provide the functions which best support the customer’s needs?

• Consistency. Are there any requirements conflicts?• Completeness. Are all functions required by the customer

included?• Realism. Can the requirements be implemented given

available budget and technology

Requirements management

• Requirements management is the process of managing changing requirements during the requirements engineering process and system development

• Requirements are inevitably incomplete and inconsistent– New requirements emerge during the process as business needs

change and a better understanding of the system is developed– Different viewpoints have different requirements and these are often

contradictory

Problems of requirements analysis

• Stakeholders don’t know what they really want• Stakeholders express requirements in their own terms• Different stakeholders may have conflicting requirements• Organisational and political factors may influence the system

requirements• The requirements change during the analysis process. New

stakeholders may emerge and the business environment change

Key points

• The requirements engineering process includes a feasibility study, requirements elicitation and analysis, requirements specification and requirements management

• Requirements analysis is iterative involving domain understanding, requirements collection, classification, structuring, prioritisation and validation

• Systems have multiple stakeholders with different requirements

Key points

• Social and organisation factors influence system requirements

• Requirements validation is concerned with checks for validity, consistency, completeness, realism and verifiability

• Business changes inevitably lead to changing requirements

• Requirements management includes planning and change management