Requirements Engineering: A Good Practice Guide - Softcover

Sommerville, Ian; Sawyer, Pete

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0471974447 ISBN 13: 9780471974444

Publisher: Wiley, 1997

Synopsis

Requirements engineering is the process of discovering, documenting and managing the requirements for a computer-based system. The goal of requirements engineering is to produce a set of system requirements which, as far as possible, is complete, consistent, relevant and reflects what the customer actually wants. Although this ideal is probably unattainable, the use of a systematic approach based on engineering principles leads to better requirements than the informal approach which is still commonly used. This book presents a set of guidelines which reflect the best practice in requirements engineering. Based on the authors' experience in research and in software and systems development, these guidelines explain in an easy-to-understand way how you can improve your requirements engineering processes. The guidelines are applicable for any type of application and, in general, apply to both systems and software engineering. The guidelines here range from simple 'common sense' to those which propose the introduction of complex new methods. The guidelines and process improvement schemes have been organised so that you can pick and choose according to your problems, goals and available budget. There are few dependencies between guidelines so you can introduce them in any order in your organisation. Guidelines presented in the book

• are consistent with ISO 9000 and CMM
• are ranked with cost/benefit analysis
• give implementation advice
• can be combined and applied to suit your organisation's needs
• are supported by a web page pointing to RE tools and resources

About this title

Review

Defining what the customer wants is often a difficult aspect of creating successful software. However, Ian Sommerville and Pete Sawyer handle the topic with intelligence and depth in Requirements Engineering: A Good Practice Guide. The authors provide practical advice on how to make sure you deliver quality software that the customer wants and needs, all within budget.

The text first outlines what requirements engineering is and how it fits into the software engineering process. The authors then use a question-and-answer approach, short chapters, and highlighted tips to show how to define and develop a process for creating reliable software in your organization. Sommerville and Sawyer consider some ad hoc ways to improve your customer requirements documents and some more rigorous approaches, such as ISO 9000 standards for software engineering and formal specifications (where the correctness of software can be proved mathematically). Requirements Engineering can be a little dry, but it covers a vital area of software design that can benefit almost all developers.

From the Publisher

"A marvellous book...a unique focus on what practicing engineers need to know." - Watts Humphrey, Software Engineering Institute. This book presents a set of guidelines which reflect the best practice in requirements engineering. Based on the authors' experience in research and in software and systems development, these guidelines explain in an easy=to-understand way how you can improve your requirements engineering processes. The guidelines are appliable for any type of application and apply to both systems and software engineering. The guidelines presented in the book are consistent with ISO 9000 and CMM, are ranked with cost/benefit analysis, give implementation advice, can be combined and applied to suit your organization's needs, and are supported by a web page pointing to RE toools and resources.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0471974447
• ISBN 13: 9780471974444
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416