Requirement engineering is a very complex and time-consuming process. This process is divided into four parts

1. Requirement specification

2. Requirement elicitation and analysis

3. Requirement validation

4. Requirement Management

Now let us understand each of these in detail

1. Requirement specification:- Requirement specification is the process of writing down the user and system requirements in a requirement document. In recruitment specification, the user requirements for a system should be described the functional and non-functional so that they can be understood by the system user who doesn’t have detailed technical knowledge. If you are writing user requirements, you should not use software jargon, structural notation, or formal notation. You should write user requirements in natural language with simple tables, forms and diagrams.

   Ideally, user and system requirements should be :

   1. Clear

   2. Easy to understand

   3. Unambiguous

   4. Complete and consistent

Ways of writing a system requirement specification are:

1. Natural language sentences:-The requirements are written using numbered sentences in natural language. Each sentence should express one requirement.

2. Structural natural language:- the requirements are written in natural language on standard form or template. Each field provides information about a specific requirement.

3. Design description language:- This approach uses a language like programming language, but with more abstract features to specify requirements by defining an operational model of the system. This approach is now rarely used altogether. It can be useful for interface specification.

4. Graphical notations:- graphical notations supplemented by text annotations are used to define the functional requirement for the system; UML use and sequence diagrams are commonly used.

5. Mathematical specifications:- these notations are based on mathematical concepts such as finite state machines or sets. Although these unambiguous specifications can reduce ambiguity In a requirement document, most customers don’t understand formal specifications.

This is all about the requirement specification, we will learn about the further processes in our next blog.