Chapter 17. Developing the Software Requirements Specification

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Chapter 17. Developing the Software Requirements Specification Getting the requirements correct is perhaps the most important part of a software development project. Once a software development team begins to collect the project requirements, it is critical that the project have a consistent format for maintaining and presenting them. This chapter describes the construction of the software requirements specification (SRS), used for the ongoing maintenance and presentation of the project requirements. The SRS is critical to the entire software development life cycle. Not only is it the derivative document for the software design specification, but also it is the base document for generating the validation and acceptance tests. Validation is the determination of whether or not we as project managers have built the right product. Satisfying the requirements determines successful validation. The SRS is the mechanism for capturing those validation criteria�the system requirements. Barry Boehm defined the economics of software engineering in 1981.[1] Figure 17-1 shows that it costs more to fix a bug the later it is found in a project's life cycle. Most bugs in the later portions of the life cycle are caused by unclear or missing requirements. We cannot change the economics but we can lower the number of bugs that escape from the requirements phase of our life cycle by developing a complete SRS. This chapter describes recommended approaches for the specification of software requirements. Figure 17-1. Defects Found Late in the Life Cycle Cost More to Correct

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