Requirement Engineering

Software Engineering – Requirements Engineering

“The hardest single part of building a software system

is deciding what to build.
No part of the work so cripples the resulting system if
done wrong.
No other part is more difficult to rectify later.” Fred
Brooks

2
 What Are the Real Problems?
the customer has only a vague idea of what is
required

the developer is willing to proceed with the

"vague idea" on the assumption that "we'll fill in
the details as we go"

the customer keeps changing requirements

the developer is "dragged" by these changes,

making errors in specifications and development

and so it goes ...

Dr. Arshad A Shahid FAST-NU Islamabad Spring 2009 3

 Software Requirements
‰ knowledge area is concerned with the acquisition,
analysis, specification, validation and management of
software requirements.
‰ Its importance has led to the widespread use of the term
‘requirement engineering’ to denote the systematic
handling of requirement.
‰ Express the needs and constraints that are placed upon a
software product that contribute to the satisfaction of
some real world application [Kot00]
‰ Except where the problem is motivated by technology, it is
an artifact of the problem domain and is generally
technology-neutral.
Dr. Arshad A Shahid FAST-NU Islamabad Spring 2009 4