1

563 - The Mandvi Education Society

Institute of Computer Studies – MCA

Subject Code : 3640003

Subject Name : Software Engineering
Unit 2 – Requirement Engineering Task
Prepared By: Dr. Vikas S. Chomal
 2

The seven distinct tasks encompassed in requirement engineering.

Following are the seven distinct tasks that are encountered during
requirement engineering:
1. Inception
2. Elicitation
3. Elaboration
4. Negotiation
5. Specification
6. Validation
7. Requirement management

Prepared By: Dr. Vikas S. Chomal

 Prepared By: Vikas S. Chomal 3

1. Inception: Requirement engineering begins with inception – a

task that defines the scope and nature of the problem to be
solved. Inception in other words means, understanding of
application domain to be developed.
At project inception, you establish a basic understanding of the
problem, the people who want a solution, the nature of the
solution that is defined and the effectiveness of preliminary
communication and collaboration between the other
stakeholders and the software team.
 Prepared By: Vikas S. Chomal 4

2. Elicitation: From inception it moves onwards to elicitation – a

task that helps stakeholders define what is required. It is the
procedure of interacting with customers and users to discover
the requirements for the system. The following are the number of
problems that are encountered as elicitation occurs (Christel and
Kang):
(a) Problem of scope: The boundary of the system is ill defined
or the customer/users specify unnecessary technical detail that
may confuse, rather than clarify, overall system objectives.
 Prepared By: Vikas S. Chomal 5

(b) Problems of understanding: The customers/users are not

completely sure of what is needed, have a poor understanding of
the capabilities and limitations of their environment, don’t have a
full understanding of the problem domain, have trouble
communicating needs to the system engineers, omit information ,
specify requirements that are conflicting or creating confusion.
(c) Problems of volatility: The requirements change over time. To
over these problems, proper requirement gathering or elicitations
methods must be followed.
 Prepared By: Vikas S. Chomal 6

3. Elaboration: The information obtained from customer during

inception and elicitations is expanded and refined during
elaborations. This task focuses on developing a refined
requirements model that identifies various aspects of software
function, behaviour, and information.

Elaboration is driven by the creator and refinement of user

scenarios that describe how the end user and other actors will
interact with the system. The relationship and collaboration
between classes are identified and a variety of supplementary
diagrams are produced.
 Prepared By: Vikas S. Chomal 7

4. Negotiation: It is common that software involves various

stakeholders, as a result there may be possibility that customer
or users (stakeholders) propose conflicting requirements, and
each stakeholder have their own view of requirements to be
included in software.
As a software engineer/ analyst it is necessary to resolve these
conflicts through a process of negotiation.
There should be no winner or loser in an effective negotiation.
Customers, end users and other stakeholders are asked to rank
requirements and then discuss conflicts in priority.
 Prepared By: Vikas S. Chomal 8

5. Specification: In the context of computer based system

(software), the term specification means different things to
different people. A specification can be a written document, a
set of graphical models, a formal mathematical model, a
collection of usage scenario, a prototype or any combination of
these.
A standard template should be developed and used for
specification so that requirements are presented in a consistent
and understandable manner. The Software Requirement
Specification (SRS) is a standard template for writing
specification of system.
 Prepared By: Vikas S. Chomal 9

6. Validation: The work product produced as a consequence of

requirements engineering are assessed for quality during a
validation step.
Requirements validation examines the specification to ensure that
all software requirements have been stated unambiguously
(clearly/explicitly); that inconsistencies, omissions, and errors have
been detected and corrected; and that the work product conforms
to the standards established for the process, the project and the
product.

The primary requirements validation mechanism is the technical

review.
 Prepared By: Vikas S. Chomal 10

7. Requirements Management: Requirements for software

(system) and the desire to change requirements persists
throughout the life of the system. Requirements management is a
set of activities that help the project team identify, control, and
track requirements and changes to requirements at any times as
the project proceeds.