Software requirements engineering is a process of discovery, refinement, modeling, and specification. The system requirements and role allo...
Software requirements engineering is a process of discovery, refinement, modeling, and specification. The system requirements and role allocated to software—initially established by the system engineer—are refined in detail. Models of the required data, information and control flow, and operational behavior are created. Alternative solutions are analyzed and a complete analysis model is created. Donald Reifer describes the software requirement engineering process in the following way:
Requirements engineering is the systematic use of proven principles, techniques, languages, and tools for the cost effective analysis, documentation, and on-going evolution of user needs and the specification of the external behavior of a system to satisfy those user needs. Notice that like all engineering disciplines, requirements engineering is not conducted in a sporadic, random or otherwise haphazard fashion, but instead is the systematic use of proven approaches.
Both the software engineer and customer take an active role in software requirements engineering—a set of activities that is often referred to as analysis. The customer attempts to reformulate a sometimes nebulous system-level description of data, function, and behavior into concrete detail. The developer acts as interrogator, consultant, problem solver, and negotiator.
