10 Questions
What is a limitation of testing non-functional requirements?
They can only be tested with a large test set.
What is the primary focus of requirements validation?
Checking the final draft of the requirements document for conflicts, omissions and deviations from standards.
What are the inputs to the validation process?
The requirements document, organisational standards and implicit organisational knowledge.
What is one way to reduce review costs?
By checking the requirements before the review for deviations from organisational standards.
What is an effective way to validate systems models?
By paraphrasing them.
What can designing tests for requirements reveal?
That the requirement is unclear.
What is the purpose of a review?
To make a detailed analysis of the requirements.
What can be used to drive a requirements review process?
Checklists of what to look for.
When is prototyping effective for requirements validation?
During the requirements elicitation stage.
What is the output of the validation process?
A list of requirements problems and agreed actions to address these problems.
Study Notes
Validation Objectives
- Certifies that the requirements document is an acceptable description of the system to be implemented
- Checks a requirements document for completeness and consistency, conformance to standards, requirements conflicts, technical errors, and ambiguous requirements
Analysis and Validation
- Analysis works with raw requirements as elicited from system stakeholders, answering "Have we got the right requirements?"
- Validation works with a final draft of the requirements document, answering "Have we got the requirements right?"
Validation Inputs and Outputs
- Inputs: Requirements document, organisational knowledge, organisational standards
- Outputs: List of problems, agreed actions
Validation Inputs
- Requirements document: a complete version, formatted and organised according to organisational standards
- Organisational knowledge: implicit knowledge of the organisation used to judge the realism of the requirements
- Organisational standards: local standards, e.g., for the organisation of the requirements document
Validation Outputs
- Problem list: a list of discovered problems in the requirements document
- Agreed actions: a list of agreed actions in response to requirements problems
Requirements Reviews
- A group of people read and analyse the requirements, look for problems, meet, and discuss the problems, and agree on actions to address these problems
Requirements Review Process
- Plan review: select the review team, choose a time and place for the review meeting
- Distribute documents: distribute the requirements document to the review team members
- Prepare for review: individual reviewers read the requirements to find conflicts, omissions, inconsistencies, deviations from standards, and other problems
- Hold review meeting: discuss individual comments and problems, agree on actions to address the problems
- Follow-up actions: check that agreed actions have been carried out
- Revise document: revise the requirements document to reflect the agreed actions
Review Activities
- Plan review: select the review team, choose a time and place for the review meeting
- Distribute documents: distribute the requirements document to the review team members
- Prepare for review: individual reviewers read the requirements to find conflicts, omissions, inconsistencies, deviations from standards, and other problems
- Hold review meeting: discuss individual comments and problems, agree on actions to address the problems
- Follow-up actions: check that agreed actions have been carried out
- Revise document: revise the requirements document to reflect the agreed actions
Problem Actions
- Requirements clarification: clarify badly expressed or omitted information
- Missing information: discover missing information from system stakeholders
- Requirements conflict: negotiate to resolve conflicts between requirements
- Unrealistic requirement: make the requirement more realistic with stakeholder consultation
Pre-review Checking
- Reduce review costs by checking the document before the review for deviations from organisational standards
Prototyping for Validation
- Demonstrate requirements and help stakeholders discover problems
- Validation prototypes should be complete, reasonably efficient, and robust
- User documentation and training should be provided
Prototyping Activities
- Choose prototype testers: select users who are fairly experienced and open-minded
- Develop test scenarios: plan scenarios that provide broad coverage of the requirements
- Execute scenarios: users work individually to try the system by executing the planned scenarios
- Document problems: define a problem report form for users to fill in when they encounter a problem
Key Points
- Requirements validation focuses on checking the final draft of the requirements document
- Inputs to validation: requirements document, organisational standards, and implicit organisational knowledge
- Outputs: list of requirements problems and agreed actions to address these problems
- Reviews involve a group of people making a detailed analysis of the requirements
- Review costs can be reduced by checking the requirements before the review for deviations from organisational standards
Validate the requirements document by identifying problems and agreeing on corrective actions. Review the list of discovered problems and associated actions.
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