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to the needs of the process, projects, products and the people doing the work. It is an activity that starts at inception until a base model of the software can be used at the
design and construction phase.
3.2 Requirements Engineering Tasks
There are seven distinct tasks to requirements engineering, namely, inception, elicitation, elaboration, negotiation, specification, validation and management.
It is important to keep in mind that some of these tasks occurs in parallel and all are adapted to the needs of the project. All strive to define what customer wants, and all
serve to establish a solid foundation for the design and construction of what the customer needs.
3.2.1 Inception
In general, most software projects begin when there is a problem to be solved, or an opportunity identified. As an example, consider a business that discovered a need, or a
potential new market or service. At inception, the problem scope and its nature is defined. Software engineer asks a set of context free questions with the intent of
establishing a basic understanding of the problem, people who want the solution, the nature of the solution, and the effectiveness of the preliminary communication and
collaboration between end-users and developers.
Initiating Requirements Engineering
Since this is a preliminary investigation of the problem, a QA Question and Answer Approach or Interview is an appropriate technique in understanding the problem and its
nature. Enumerated below are the recommend steps in initiating the requirements engineering phase.
STEP 1: Identify stakeholders.
A stakeholder is anyone who benefits in a direct or indirect way from the system which is being developed. The business operations managers, product managers, marketing
people, internal and external customers, end-users, and others are the common people to interview. It is important at this step to create a list of people who will contribute input
as requirements are elicited. The list of users will grow as more and more people get involved in elicitation.
STEP 2: Recognize multiple viewpoints. It is important to remember that different stakeholder would have a different view of the
system. Each would gain different benefits when the system is a success; each should have different risks if the development fails. At this step, categorize all stakeholder
information and requirements. Also, identify requirements that are inconsistent and in conflict with one another. It should be organized in such a way that stakeholders can
decide on a consistent set of requirements for the system.
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STEP 3: Work toward collaboration. The success of most projects would rely on collaboration. To achieve this, find areas
within the requirements that are common to stakeholders. However, the challenge here is addressing inconsistencies and conflicts. Collaboration does not mean that a
committee decides on the requirements of the system. In many cases, to resolve conflicts a project champion, normally a business manager or senior technologist, decides
which requirements are included when the software is developed.
STEP 4: Ask the First Question. To define the scope and nature of the problem, questions are asked to the customers and
stakeholders. These questions may be categorized. As an example, consider the following questions:
Stakeholders or Customers Motivation: 1. Who is behind the request for this work?
2. Why are they requesting such a work? 3. Who are the end-users of the system?
4. What are the benefits when the system has been developed successfully? 5. Are there any other ways in providing the solution to the problem? What are the
alternatives. Customers and Stakeholders Perception:
1. How can one characterized a good output of the software? 2. What are the problems that will be addressed by the software?
3. What is the business environment to which the system will be built? 4. Are there any special performance issues or constraints that will affect the way the
solution is approached? Effectiveness of the Communication:
1. Are we asking the right people the right questions? 2. Are the answers they are providing official?
3. Are the questions relevant to the problem? 4. Am I asking too many questions?
5. Can anyone else provide additional information? 6. Is there anything else that I need to know?
Inception Work Product The main output or work product of inception task is a one- or two- pages of product
request which is a paragraph summary of the problem and its nature.
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3.2.2 Elicitation
