This paper presents an overview of the field of software
systems requirements engineering (RE). It describes the
main areas of RE practice, and highlights some key open
research issues for the future.
the annual report of the Standish Group, “The Scope of Software Development Project Failures”. About half of all projects examined in the report fail to achieve their set goals because of a lack of requirements engineering.
Requirements Definition and Management for DummiesSmart businesses know that high-quality requirements are the cornerstone of any successful software development project. This fun and friendly ebook is an introduction to the role that is central to requirements: the Business Analyst. It explains why the role is so critical and how Business Analysts are transforming software projects.
In 2008 Forrester proclaims MKS as the leader in requirements management in the
independent research report
MKS positioned in the 'Leaders' quadrant in Gartner's first ever Magic Quadrant
for Software Change and Configuration Management (SCCM) for Distributed
Platforms
Gartner positioned MKS as a leader in the 2009 Magic Quadrant for Software
Change and Configuration Management (SCCM) for Distributed Platform
Is a use case a requirement or just a story?
Is a scenario just another name for a use case?
Is a use case a formal, semi-formal, or informal structure?
Is there a linking structure for use cases, or do they just come in piles?
make use cases “rigorous
People want a fairly informal medium in which to express their early thoughts
Using these semi-formal structures, we can both
Assert that use cases really are requirements and need a basic structure, and also
Allow people to write whatever they want when they need to.
Here is the semi-formal structure
Linking use cases to actors’ goals
If the software supports those goals, the software will yield the greatest business value.
goals sometimes fail
failure handling
Therefore, a use case is structured into two sections: the sequence of actions when everything goes well, followed by various small sequences describing what happens when the various goals and subgoals fail.
Why do we write things in the use case that are not externally visible behaviors?
contract between stakeholders
there remained a split between those who still wanted to keep use cases short and informal and those who wanted them to be detailed
Here are four key pieces of advice that you should note from the evolution of use cases.
readable use cases might actually get read
Prepare for Multiple Formats
Only Use Them When the Form is Appropriate
Be Aware of Use Case Limits
Use cases should not be used to describe UI designs
use case is normally intended as a requirements document, and the UI design is a design
The same system feature is likely to show up as a line item in multiple use cases
Use cases have a basic mismatch with feature lists
Use cases are not test plans or test cases
Avoid the Standard Mistakes in Use Cases
The two most common and most costly to the project are including too many details and including UI specifics
it’s just that by the time I get subgoals at a good level and remove the design specifics, the task is less than nine step
The greatest value of the use case does not lie in the main scenario, but in alternative behaviors
If the main scenario is between three and nine steps long, the total use case might only be two or three pages long, which is long enough.
The Stakeholders and Interests model fills the holes in the Actors and Goals model
Originally published in STQE magazine, Mar/Apr 2002
Requirements.net is home of the industry consortium for business analysis. Through focus on requirements definition, visualization, and management, the companies behind Requirements.net are driven to share and sponsor best practices and technologies to improve industry requirements practices
re-focuses on the essentials and offers a slimmed down, leaner way of working, for software teams seeking the benefits of iterative, incremental development at an enterprise level
Author: Ivar Jacobson, Ian Spence, Kurt Bittner
Based on several years of work with many of our customers around the world, we have revamped use cases to provide a scalable approach to managing requirements for agile projects and programs.