User Requirements for Software Development

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Course Overview

Requirements gathering is the cornerstone of any software development project. Failing to obtain proper user and system needs can result in an ineffective software project burdened by increased costs.

In this course, you gain the knowledge and skills needed to capture software requirements using clearly defined processes. You learn to specify user and system requirements, match the process to the size of your project and apply quality and consistency tests to the requirements model.

Audience

This course benefits those involved in development of software and user requirements. UML experience is not required. Those responsible for identifying user requirements in a non-software development environment should take Course 315, " Developing User Requirements ".

Skills Gained

• Capturing stakeholder input from video scenarios that put you at the meeting table
• Modelling requirements with UML diagrams using a leading CASE tool
• Capturing, structuring and refining use cases in a realistic simulated environment
• Developing screen mock-ups with an interface simulation
• Producing a UML requirements data model
• Validating requirements using IEEE standard checklists
• Performing inspections on real-world use case documents

Course Outline

The Importance of Software Requirements

The software development life cycle

• Defining and differentiating between requirement types
• Locating requirement sources
• Development approaches

Presenting software requirements

• Structuring the requirements document
• Requirements components: text, diagrams, data

Structuring Your Project

Tuning your methodology to your project size

• Matching the process to small, medium and complex systems
• Differentiating agile from standard techniques

Analysing stakeholder input

• Identifying and prioritising stakeholders
• Eliciting initial requirements from input documents
• Iterating requirements collaboratively

Applying the requirements process

• Elicitation
• Analysis
• Specification
• Validation
• IEEE
• SWEBOK
• The Unified Process

Capturing and Refining Use Cases

Creating use cases

• Use cases as behavioural requirements
• Identifying stakeholders and actors
• Naming and scoping use cases
• Writing scenarios
• Adding preconditions and guarantees

Iterating use cases

• Refining use cases with stakeholders
• Factoring common steps
• Discovering extension scenarios
• Verifying use case completeness

Organising use cases

• Diagramming scenarios with UML
• Choosing between free text and formal use case notation

Generating Interface Requirements

Integrating interface requirements

• Supporting use cases with user interface mock-ups
• Comparing types of interface

Producing interface models

• Storyboarding and prototyping
• Modelling interfaces with UML state diagrams and navigation maps

Data and Non-Functional Requirements

Analysing data requirements

• Representing data models with UML class diagrams
• Entities
• Attributes
• Associations
• Maintaining the glossary
• Determining data business rules

Documenting non-functional requirements

• Obtaining volumetrics
• Addressing the "-ilities"

Validating Requirements and Producing Test Scenarios

Performing requirements validation

• Achieving well-formed requirements through validation
• Reviewing requirements with walkthroughs
• Verifying requirements with inspections

Generating use case tests from requirements

• Ensuring testability of requirements
• Extrapolating test scripts and test scenarios from requirements
• Relating requirements to system and UA testing

Managing Changing Requirements

• Developing a process for managing requirements
• Negotiating changes using a Change Control Board (CCB)
• Confirming requirements through a traceability matrix

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