1. Introduction to Software Engineering
Dr. Basem Alkazemi

2. Objectives Describe what is Software Requirements and its main types.
Identify what need to be elicit and the elicitation techniques.
Explore requirement analysis techniques
Define the structure of the requirement document.
Introduce some System modeling techniques.

3. What is Requirement?
Requirements are the set of things that a customer requires with a number of constraints that must be satisfied on the final system.
It can be represented in high-level abstract statement of a service or a detailed mathematical functional specification.
Requirements may serve as:
The basis for a bid for a contract - therefore must be open to interpretation;
The basis for the contract itself - therefore must be defined in detail;

4. Examples of Requirements
“Fire Alarm must go off when a movement is detected before 06:00 and after 19:00”
“The system must dial 999 to inform the Police”
“Customers should be able to view their remaining balance”
“The system should identify employee by face”

5. Requirements Engineering
The process of establishing the activities for interpreting customer requirements to build a complete working system.
Include the following processes:
Elicitation
Analysis and negotiation
Specs generation
System modeling
Validation
Management

6. Why Reqs are non-tech? User cannot understand technical details
Maybe they could after system Launched!
Reduce restrictions on code developers
Satisfy requirements using whatever possible techniques and tools.
Customer may specify details that might confuse more than clarify!
Fast system, large size, easy to use … etc
Requirement might change over time

7. Characteristics of good Spec.
Implementation Free
Omit technical details.
Complete
Should include descriptions of all facilities required.
Consistent
There should be no conflicts or contradictions in the descriptions of the system facilities.
Unambiguous
Common vocabularies are used.
Ambiguous requirements may be interpreted in different ways by developers and users
Concise and Minimal
No duplication or unnecessary contents.
Clear and Understandable
Measurable
Example: “Experienced controllers shall be able to use all the system functions after a total of two hours training. After this training, the average number of errors made by experienced users shall not exceed two per day”.

8. Exercise Are The following statements right or wrong Specs?
“Write a Java program to provide a personal telephone directory. It should implement functions to look up a number and to enter a new telephone number. The program should provide a friendly user interface.”
“ Data should be stored in Magnetic Disk and the system must retrieve data in 1ms”

9. Forms of requirement User requirements System requirements
Statements in natural language plus diagrams of the services the system provides and its operational constraints. Written for customers.
System requirements
A structured document setting out detailed descriptions of the system’s functions, services and operational constraints. Defines what should be implemented so may be part of a contract between client and contractor.

10. Types of Requirements Functional Requirements
Non-Functional Requirements
Domain Requirements

11. Functional requirements
Describe functionality or system services.
Depend on the type of software, expected users and the type of system or environment where the software is used.
Functional user requirements may be high-level statements of what the system should do but functional system requirements should describe the system services in detail.

12. Non-functional requirements
Define system properties and constraints e.g. reliability, response time and storage requirements. Constraints are I/O device capability, system representations, etc.
Process requirements may also be specified authorizing a particular CASE system, programming language or development method.
Non-functional requirements may be more critical than functional requirements. If these are not met, the system is useless.

13. Example of Non-Functional Reqs
The user interface for LIBSYS shall be implemented as simple HTML without frames or Java applets.
The system development process and deliverable documents shall conform to the process and deliverables defined in XYZCo-SP-STAN-95.
The system shall not disclose any personal information about customers apart from their name and reference number to the operators of the system.

14. Elicit Requirements
The activity of eliciting requirements involves the engineer and users talking together, with the former trying to understand the latter by asking questions and writing notes.

15. Elicitation Techniques
Background reading
Documents inspection
Interviews
Questionnaires
Brainstorming
Ethnography
Prototyping
Use-cases and scenarios

16. What to Elicit? Description of problem domain. List of Problems.
medical, chemistry, math … etc.
List of Problems.
Any client-imposed constraints upon behavior or structure of the system.
The main motivation behind the development.

17. Sources of Information
Client
Documentation of Pre-exiting system
Users of pre-existing system
Possible users of the new system
Competitor’s product
Domain Expert
Relevant standards

18. Guidelines for writing requirements
Invent a standard format and use it for all requirements.
Use language in a consistent way. Use shall for mandatory requirements, should for desirable requirements.
Use text highlighting to identify key parts of the requirement.
Avoid the use of computer terminology.

19. Problems with natural language
Lack of clarity
Precision is difficult without making the document difficult to read.
Requirements confusion
Functional and non-functional requirements tend to be mixed-up.
Requirements amalgamation
Several different requirements may be expressed together.

20. Requirement Document Structure
Preface
Introduction
Objectives
Scope statement
Glossary
User Requirement definition
System Architecture
System Specification
System Models
DFD, STD, SD ..
System Evolution
Appendices

21. Sequence diagrams
These show the sequence of events that take place during some user interaction with a system.
You read them from top to bottom to see the order of the actions that take place.
Cash withdrawal from an ATM
Validate card;
Handle request;
Complete transaction.

22. Sequence diagram of ATM withdrawal

23. System Behavior Modeling
Data Flow Diagram (DFD)
Graphical representation of the flow of data throughout a system.

24. System Behavior Modeling
State Transition Diagram (STD)
Describes the possible states of an object as events occur

25. Key points
Requirements set out what the system should do and define constraints on its operation and implementation.
Functional requirements set out services the system should provide.
Non-functional requirements constrain the system being developed or the development process.
User requirements are high-level statements of what the system should do. User requirements should be written using natural language, tables and diagrams.