Table Of ContentPractitioner Series
Springer-Verlag London Ltd.
Series Editor
Ray Paul BruneI University, Uxbridge, UK
Editorial Board
Richard Baskerville Georgia State University, Atlanta, USA
FrankBott UWA, Aberystwyth, UK
NicHolt ICL, Manchester, UK
Kay Hughes QinetiQ, Malvern, UK
Elizabeth Hull University of Ulster, Newtownabbey, N Ireland
Richard Nance Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, USA
Russel Winder OneEighty Software, Croydon, UK
SionWyn Conformity, Llanrwst, UK
Published in association with the British Computer Society
Other Titles in This Series:
The Project Management Paradigm Forensic Computing
KBurnett T. Sammes and B. Jenkinson
3-540-76238-8 1-85233-299-9
Key Java The Component-Based Business
]. Hunt and A. McManus R. Veryard
3-540-76259-0 1-85233-361-8
Distributed Applications Engineering Developing IT Staff: A Practical Approach
l. Wijegunaratne and G. Fernandez M. Clarkson
3-540-76210-8 1-85233-433-9
Software Design: Cognitive Aspects
The Renaissance of Legacy Systems
F. Detienne (Translator: F. Bott)
l. Warren
1-85233-253-0
1-85233-060-0
The Usability Business
Java for Practitioners
]. Bawa, P. Dorazio and L. Trenner
]. Hunt
1-85233-484-3
1-85233-093-7
Practical Software Reuse
Computer-Based Diagnostic Systems
M. Ezran, M. Morisio and C. Tully
C. Price
1-85233-502-5
3-540-76198-5
Managing Software Quality
The Unified Process for Practitioners
R.E. Nance and J.D. Arthur
J.Hunt
1-85233-393-6
1-85233-275-1
Coping with IS/IT Risk Management
Managing Electronic Services T.Moynihan
A. Gronlund 1-85233-555-6
1-85233-281-6
Middleware and Enterprise Application
Real-Time and Multi-Agent Systems Integration
A. Attoui (Translator: S. Ingram) D. Serain (Translator: l. Craig)
1-85233-252-2 1-85233-570-X
Elizabeth Hull, Ken Jackson
and Jeremy Dick
Requirements Engineering
, Springer
Elizabeth Huli, BSc, PhD, CEng, FBCS
Faculty of Informatics, University of Ulster, Newtownabbey, Co Antrim, BT37 OQB,
Northern Ireland, UK
Ken Jackson, BSc, MSc, MBCS
Jeremy Dick, BSc (Eng), ACGI, DPhil, MA
Telelogic UK Ltd, Northbrook House, Oxford Science Park, Oxford, OX4 4GA, UK
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Huli, Elizabeth
Requirements engineering
approach. - (Practitioner series)
1. Systems engineering 2. Software engineering
1. Title II. Jackson, Ken III. Dick, Jeremy
620'.0011
ISBN 978-1-85233-577-9
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Huli, Elizabeth 1953-
Requirements engineering: a structured project information
approach/Elizabeth Huli, Ken Jackson, and Jeremy Dick.
p. cm.-(Practitioner series)
ISBN 978-1-85233-577-9 ISBN 978-1-4471-3730-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4471-3730-6
1. Systems engineering.l. Jackson, Ken, 1942-Il. Dick, Jeremy, 1955-
111. Title. N. Series.
TA168 .H84 2002
620'.001'171-dc21 2002021737
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as per
mitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced,
stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publish
ers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms oflicences issued by the
Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent
to the publishers.
Practitioner series ISSN 1439-9245
ISBN 978-1-85233-577-9
http:/ /www.springer.co.uk
© Springer-Verlag London 2002
Originally published by Springer-Verlag London Berlin Heidelberg in 2002
The use of registered names, trademarks etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence
of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant laws and regulations and
therefore free for general use.
The publisher makes no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy ofthe infor
mation contained in this book and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or
omissions that may be macte.
Typeset by Gray Publishing, Tunbridge Wells, Kent
34/3830-543210 Printed on acid-free paper SPIN 10861220
Dedications
We would like to dedicate this book as follows:
To my late parents, John and Edna Hull
Elizabeth Hull
To my late parents, Fred and Amy Jackson
To my wife, Chris
and to my children, Kate, Andrew and Peter
Ken Jackson
To my wife, Yvonne
and to my children, Sebastian, Timothy,
Angus, Robin and Felicity
Jeremy Dick
• v.
Series Editor's Foreword
We live in a commercial world where much of our work is undertaken
through a project -oriented approach. This has the advantage of determining
the cost and time of the project to be undertaken, which in their turn are
based on the knowledge of what the project is to deliver. Computing is no
different in this regard, and so in order to organize our activities, we need to
know what it is that is to be delivered. Hence Requirements Engineering, an
organized approach to determining what is required in the project/ system
that is being undertaken.
There are some problems with the idea of Requirements Engineering, which
I have on previous occasions encapsulated in a single sentence called 'The
Mock Theorem of Information Systems' which states
'There exists some point in time when everyone involved in the system
knows what they want and agrees with everyone else'
Clearly nonsense (how would you know what everyone is agreeing to for
example?). But in order to build a system on a project basis, this sentence
has to be assumed to be true (either explicitly, or even worse, implicitly).
Then Requirements Engineering can be made to work, and the correct prod
uct/ system delivered by the project.
However, we do not have an established alternative to the project approach,
and the business world is used to projects. So Requirements Engineering is
necessary, but it needs tempering to allow for the desired certainty actually
being unknown.
This book addresses our current understanding of how to deal with the cer
tainties and uncertainties of the project based approach. All the traditional
material associated with Requirements Engineering is covered (Lifecycle,
Modeling, Testing etc) as well as emphasis on Traceability, Problem and
Solution Domains, case study examples and discussion of a package to man
age Requirements. The authors utilize a wealth of practical experience to
bring the Practice of Requirements Engineering to the Practitioner.
• vll.
. .. . .
.
~
Traceability is one good example, where the problem of uncertainty is
addressed through a search for a means of communication that allows peo
ple at all levels in the project to effectively participate - no mean task when
this group can include users, managers, designers, developers, program
mers et al. Here the authors excel in explaining the rhythm of compromise,
level of detail, communication and so on that can contribute to the success
of the project. The book is of similar quality throughout.
Practitioners requiring a comprehensive coverage of Requirements Engi
neering will find their needs met in this excellent new addition to the
Practitioner Series. And because of its coverage, so will any reader. The prob
lems associated with system development, encapsulated in the Fixed Point
Theorem above, are beyond resolution at the moment. This book success
fully addresses what can effectively be done in the meantime.
Ray]. Paul
• vIII •
Preface
Requirements Engineering is common sense, but it is perceived to be diffi
cult and is not well understood. For these reasons it is generally not very well
done. The ever-increasing pressures on an organization are often given as
the main reasons for not introducing a more disciplined approach to
requirements engineering. However, it is these very pressures that make it
even more important for the requirements engineer to help the organization
do the job properly.
Systems engineering is critical in to day's industry and requirements engi
neering is an important aspect of that overall process. A good process is key
to requirements engineering - it determines how efficiently and rapidly
products can be generated. This is particularly important in a global com
petitive market where the 'time to market' and meeting stakeholder require
ments are the key success factors.
Requirements engineering is also about management and hence issues in
relation to requirements and management blend to show how requirements
can be used to manage systems development.
The book is concerned with engineering requirements and how systems
engineers may be helped to create better requirements. A generic process is
presented which assists the reader in gaining a good understanding of the
essence of requirements engineering. The process is then instantiated for
the problem and solution domains of development. The book also addresses
the concept of system modelling and presents various techniques and meth
ods which are widely used. An important feature of the book is the presenta
tion of approaches to traceability, the way in which it is captured and
metrics which can be derived from traceability. Finally the book presents an
overview of DOORS which is a tool for requirements management. A case
study is used to illustrate the process presented in the book and the features
of the tool.
This book should be read by those systems and requirements engineers in
industry, who, as practitioners, are keen to gain knowledge of using require
ments engineering for system development. The book will also be of interest
-Ix-
to final year undergraduate students in Computer Science, Software Engi
neering and Systems Engineering studying a course in Requirements
Engineering and also to postgraduate research students in Computer
Science or and other flavours of Engineering.
The approach taken in the book is based on current research in Require
ments Engineering, however it has not only taken the academic view but has
also built substantially on current experience of working in industry to
enable system engineers to manage requirements (and projects) more suc
cessfully. It provides a snapshot, in this rapidly evolving subject, of what we
see as best practice in Requirements Engineering today.
A web site supporting additional material for the book can be found at:
http://www.requirementsengineering/ info
Elizabeth Hull, Ken Jackson
and Jeremy Dick
(May 2002)
.x.
Acknowledgements
Thanks are due to a number of individuals and organisations who helped in
various ways
Richard Stevens, who inspired us with his work in requirements manage
ment and who laid the foundation for the work in this book. He was a
founder of QSS Ltd, which developed the DOORS tool.
Les Oliver of Astrium for assistance in the development of statecharts for
agreement, qualification and satisfaction.
Praxis Critical Systems Ltd for the initial concept of design justification
which became Rich Traceability.
Keith Collyer, Jill Burnett and other colleagues ofTelelogic Ltd for contribu
tions to ideas presented in this book; for reviews, comments, suggestions
and encouragement.
. xI •
