Requirements Specification for System Proposal

Stage 1: Requirements Specification

Stage 1: Requirements Specification

Before you begin this assignment, be sure you have read the Case Study and all assignments for this class, especially Stage 4:  Final System Report.  The feedback you received on your Stage 1 assignment should be reviewed and used as you proceed with Stage 2.

Purpose of this Assignment

This assignment gives you the opportunity to specify clear and concise requirements, including the use of data and process models, for a system that enables a productive change in a way the business is conducted.  This assignment specifically addresses the following course outcomes to enable you to:

• apply a systematic approach to translate requirements into an executable systems design
• effectively communicate with stakeholders to determine, manage, and document business requirements throughout the SDLC
• Perform modeling to assist with analysis and decision making 

Assignment

The results of your systems analysis and design work in this class will be documented in a Final System Report.  The purpose of the Report is to inform management of your system proposal and gain approval to proceed with the project.  The Report will be developed and submitted in stages, which will be compiled at the end of class into the Final System Report.  Review the outline of the Final System Report in the Stage 4 Assignment description.  Note that it contains the analysis of the problem(s) and requirements, and proposes what kind of a system solution is needed.  It does not propose a specific solution, but it does recommend why and how the organization should acquire the solution.

Following the Preliminary Investigation Report (Stage 1 assignment), the next step is to identify the requirements for a system, documenting them in the Requirements Specification document.  The purpose of the Requirements Specification is to clearly define what the proposed system will do in non-technical user-oriented language.  It should identify what data is entered into the system, what output is required, what processes the system should perform, what protections and controls are needed, what performance is expected, and what the business continuity needs are.  In order to clearly express the requirements, data and process models are used to communicate how the system should work.

All of the information you need to complete the projects in this class is not provided in the case study.  In the discussion area of the classroom, there is a discussion titled "Case Study Interview Questions" where you can pose questions about the case study, as if you were interviewing the people in the case study organization.  Any information that you need that is not included in the case study should be asked about in this discussion.  Responses from the faculty member on behalf of the case study organization will be available for everyone in the class.    

Requirements Specification
   
Background:  First, provide a brief description of your proposed system to establish the context for the Requirements Specification.

I. Functional Requirements.  The input-processing-output requirements must relate to each other.  Start with three outputs you expect from the system, then determine what inputs are needed to create each of those outputs, and finally specify what processing needs to occur for each input to create the output.  At least one of your processing requirements must have a decision associated with it so it can be used for the Process Models below. You should have a complete statement for each requirement, and each requirement should be numbered within the category. (introductory paragraph and list of 9 inter-related requirement statements) [Jawahar, p. 95 and the Week 3 Content, including reading on IEEE Software Requirements Specifications]   [another source of ideas and concepts is: 

i. Output #1
ii. Output #2
iii. Output #3

b. Input requirements.

i. List the main data elements required to create output #1
ii. List the main data elements required to create output #2
iii. List the main data elements required to create output #3

c. Processing requirements (at least one must have a decision associated with it)
i. Processing required to create Output #1
ii. Processing required to create Output #2
iii. Processing required to create Output #3

II. Technical Requirements (introductory paragraph and 3 requirement statements listed for each area below) [Jawahar, p. 95] 
a. Security requirements
b. System control requirements
c. Performance requirements
d. Business continuity requirements (backup, restart, recovery)