Requirements analysis

For broader coverage of this topic, see Requirements engineering.
A systems engineering perspective on requirements analysis[1]
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In systems engineering and software engineering, requirements analysis focuses on the tasks that determine the needs or conditions to meet the new or altered product or project, taking account of the possibly conflicting requirements of the various stakeholders, analyzing, documenting, validating, and managing software or system requirements.[2]

Requirements analysis is critical to the success or failure of a systems or software project.[3] The requirements should be documented, actionable, measurable, testable,[4] traceable,[4] related to identified business needs or opportunities, and defined to a level of detail sufficient for system design.

  1. ^ Systems Engineering Fundamentals Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine Defense Acquisition University Press, 2001
  2. ^ Kotonya, Gerald; Sommerville, Ian (1998). Requirements Engineering: Processes and Techniques. Chichester, UK: John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 9780471972082.
  3. ^ Alain Abran; James W. Moore; Pierre Bourque; Robert Dupuis, eds. (March 2005). "Chapter 2: Software Requirements". Guide to the software engineering body of knowledge (2004 ed.). Los Alamitos, CA: IEEE Computer Society Press. ISBN 0-7695-2330-7. Retrieved 2007-02-08. It is widely acknowledged within the software industry that software engineering projects are critically vulnerable when these activities are performed poorly.
  4. ^ a b Project Management Institute 2015, p. 158, §6.3.2.