Requirements analysis: problems and the STARTS approach

In recognition of the importance of good software engineering technology to the prosperity of UK industry, the DTI funded the STARTS programme. The primary deliverables from the STARTS programme have been two documents providing comprehensive guidance on software engineering. One of these, the STARTS Handbook gives a general, management and procurement-oriented view of the problems of software development. However there are a number of areas where the handbook goes into technical detail and one of these is on general guidelines for requirements specification. The handbook gives guidelines for producing and validating specifications, and a set of checklists for assessing the completeness of the coverage of a requirements specification. The author gives an overview of the problems of requirements specification, and outlines the guidance given by the STARTS Handbook in terms of the checklists it presents for requirements. In this way the author clarifies what the fundamental difficulties in producing requirements are and summarises what is currently accepted by industry experts as being the fundamental contents of a requirements specification.<>