Chapter 4: Requirements Elicitation

Chapter 4: Requirements Elicitation
Qutaibah Malluhi Software Engineering Qatar University Based on slides by Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit

Overview

Agenda Overview What is requirement elicitation?
Requirements are challenging Concepts Problem statement Types of requirements Requirements validation Types of requirement elicitation Scenarios Use cases Requirements elicitation activities

Where are we right now? Three ways to deal with complexity:
Abstraction Decomposition (Technique: Divide and conquer) Hierarchy (Technique: Layering) Two ways to deal with decomposition: Object-orientation and functional decomposition Functional decomposition leads to unmaintainable code Depending on the purpose of the system, different objects can be found What is the right way? Start with a description of the functionality (Use case model). Then proceed by finding objects (object model). What activities and models are needed? This leads us to the software lifecycle we use in this class The identification of objects and the definition of the system boundary are heavily intertwined with each other.

Software Lifecycle Definition
Set of activities and their relationships to each other to support the development of a software system Typical Lifecycle questions: Which activities should I select for the software project? What are the dependencies between activities? How should I schedule the activities? What is the result of an activity

Example: Selection of Software Lifecycle Activities for a specific project
The Hacker knows only one activity Implementation Activities used this course Requirements Elicitation Analysis System Design Object Design Implemen- tation Testing Each activity produces one or more models

Software Lifecycle Activities
Requirements Elicitation Requirements Analysis System Design Object Design Implemen- tation Testing Implemented By Expressed in Terms Of Structured By Realized By Verified By class... ? class.... ? Application Domain Objects Use Case Model Solution Domain Objects SubSystems Source Code Test Cases

What is Requirement Elicitation?

Requirements Elicitation: What does the customer want?

Requirements Elicitation
I want you to build a game ... client game developer

I want an RPG better than anything seen before! RPG: Role Playing Game– user chooses and controls a role in the game. client game developer

Ok ... off you go! Call me when its done. client game developer

Requirements Problem Statement: What does the customer say they want?
Elicitation: What does the customer really want?

Oh yeah ... Here is the description of the game. client game developer

BTW, it needs to be done in 3 months and I only want to pay you $3000 to build it. client game developer

Elicitation: What does the customer really want? Analysis: Formalize, analyze  What can provide?

I want an RPG better than anything seen before! client game developer

Oh yeah ... Here is the description of the game. client game developer

It needs to be ready in 3 months! client game developer

So how much will it cost? client game developer

Requirements Analysis
Just write a blank check. I’ll fill in the amount when I’m done! client game developer

Elicitation: What does the customer really want? Analysis: Formalize, analyze  What can provide? System Requirements Specification: What do we agree to provide?

Requirements Specification
Game Design Document game developer client System Requirements Specification

First Step in Establishing the Requirements: System Identification
The development of a system is not just done by taking a snapshot of a scene (domain) Important requirement process questions: How can we identify the purpose of a system? How to define of the system boundary What is inside, what is outside the system? Two general requirement activities: Requirements Elicitation: Definition of the system in terms understood by the customer “Problem Description” and “System Specification” Requirements Analysis: Technical specification of the system in terms understood by the developer “Analysis model” The identification of objects and the definition of the system boundary are heavily intertwined with each other.

System Specification vs. Analysis Model
Both models focus on the requirements from the user view of the system. System specification uses natural language (derived from the problem statement) The analysis model uses formal or semi-formal notation (for example, a graphical language like UML) The starting point is the problem statement

Products of Requirements Process
(Activity Diagram) Problem Statement Problem Statement Generation Requirements Elicitation system specification: Model Requirements Analysis analysis model: Model

Specifying Requirements is Challenging

Requirements are Hard “The hardest single part of building a software system is deciding precisely what to build. No other part of the conceptual work is as difficult as establishing the detailed technical requirements, including all interfaces to people, to machines, and to other software systems. No other part of the work so cripples the resulting system if done wrong. No other part is more difficult to rectify later.” Frederick P. Brooks Jr. in “No Silver Bullet: Essence and Accidents of Software Engineering.”

Requirement Errors are Common
1992 Iowa State study of safety-critical errors in software systems for Voyager and Galileo: The majority of safety-critical software errors were not caused in the design or implementation process. They were due to errors in the requirements specification. The systems as specified were flawed. Voyager and Galileo are spacecrafts for exploring the outer space.

Cost of Delay in Fixing Requirements Errors
Data: Boehm & Papaccio (1988) IEEE Trans. Software Eng. 200-fold increase after delivery Nominal unit cost 20-fold increase

Why Hard? Customer’s don’t usually know what they want/need
Even if they do know what they want/need, they are likely to change their minds Requires bridging communication gap between user, client and developer

Growth in requirements
% increase in requirements during project life Source: Applied Software Measurement, Capers Jones, Based on 6,700 systems.

Communication Gap Requires collaboration and communication of people with different backgrounds Users with application domain knowledge Developers with solution domain knowledge (design knowledge, implementation knowledge) Client with constraints (time, budget, etc.) (can be different than the user’s entity) Bridging the gap between user and developer: Scenarios: Example of the use of the system in terms of a series of interactions with between the user and the system Use cases: Abstraction that describes a class of scenarios

Problem Statement

Problem Statement The problem statement is developed by the client as a description of the problem addressed by the system Other words for problem statement: Statement of Work

Ingredients of a Problem Statement
Current situation: The Problem to be solved Description of one or more scenarios Requirements Functional and Nonfunctional requirements Constraints (“pseudo requirements”) Deliverables Project Schedule Major milestones that involve interaction with the client including deadline for deliverables Target environment The environment in which the delivered system has to perform a specified set of system tests Client Acceptance Criteria Criteria for the system tests

Current Situation: The Problem To Be Solved
There is a problem in the current situation Examples: The response time when playing letter-chess is far too slow. I want to play Go, but cannot find players on my level. What has changed? Why can address the problem now? There has been a change, either in the application domain or in the solution domain Change in the application domain A new function (business process) is introduced into the business Example: We can play highly interactive games with remote people Change in the solution domain A new solution (technology enabler) has appeared Example: The internet allows the creation of virtual communities.

ARENA: The Problem The Internet has enabled virtual communities
Groups of people sharing common of interests but who have never met each other in person. Such virtual communities can be short lived (e.g people in a chat room or playing a multi player game) or long lived (e.g., subscribers to a mailing list). Many multi-player computer games now include support for virtual communities. Players can receive news about game upgrades, new game levels, announce and organize matches, and compare scores. Currently each game company develops such community support in each individual game. Each company uses a different infrastructure, different concepts, and provides different levels of support. This redundancy and inconsistency leads to problems: High learning curve for players joining a new community, Game companies need to develop the support from scratch Advertisers need to contact each individual community separately.

ARENA: The Objectives Provide a generic infrastructure for operating an arena to Support virtual game communities. Register new games Register new players Organize tournaments Keeping track of the players scores. Provide a framework for tournament organizers to customize the number and sequence of matchers and the accumulation of expert rating points. Provide a framework for game developers for developing new games, or for adapting existing games into the ARENA framework. Provide an infrastructure for advertisers.

Requirement Types FURPS+:
Functional, Usability, Reliability, Performance, and Supportability (+ constraints)

Types of Requirements Functional requirements:
Describe the interactions between the system and its environment independent from implementation Examples: An ARENA operator should be able to define a new game. Nonfunctional requirements: User visible aspects of the system not directly related to functional behavior. The response time must be less than 1 second The ARENA server must be available 24 hours a day Constraints (“Pseudo requirements”): Imposed by the client or the environment in which the system operates The implementation language must be Java The system must interface to the dispatcher system written in 1956

Functional Requirements for SatWatch
SatWatch is a wrist watch that displays the time based on its current location. SatWatch uses GPS satellites to determine its location and internal data structure to convert the location into a time zone. The information stored in SatWatch and its accuracy measuring time is such that the watch owner never needs to reset the time. SatWatch adjusts the time and date displayed as the watch owner crosses time zones and political boundaries. For this reason, SatWatch has no buttons or controls available to the user. SatWatch determines the location using GPS satellites and, as such, suffers from the same limitations as all other GPS devices (e.g., inability to determine location at certain times of the day in mountainous regions). SatWatch has a two-line display showing, on the top line, the time (hour, minute, second, time zone) and on the bottom line, the date (day, date, month, year). The display technology used is such that the watch owner can see the time and date even under poor light conditions. When the political boundaries change, the watch owner may upgrade the software of the watch using the WebifyWatch device (provided with the watch) and a personal computer connected to the Internet. Focus on interactions between SatWatch and external world (owner, GPS, WebifyWatch). No implementation details (language, display tech, etc.)

Nonfunctional Requirements
URPS categories of nonfunctional requirements Usability: ease of use E.g. GUI guidelines by client, color schemes, fonts, logos, help, documentation Reliability E.g. acceptable MTBF, ability to detect certain faults or to withstand specific security attacks Performance Response time, throughput, availability, accuracy Supportability: ease of change after deployment Portability, adaptability (deal with additional application concepts), maintainability (deal with new technology, fix defects), internationalization (additional conventions, languages, etc.)

URPS Requirements Example (SatWatch)
Any user who knows how to read a digital watch and understands international time zone abbreviations should be able to use SatWatch without the user manual As the SatWatch has not buttons, no software faults requiring the resetting of the watch should occur Satwatch should display the correct time zone within 5 minutes of the end of a GPS blackout period SatWatch should measure time within 1/100th second over 5 years SatWatch should display time correctly in all 24 timezones SatWatch should accept upgrades to its onboard via the Webify Watch serial interface Usability Reliability Performance Performance Performance Supportability

Constraints (Pseudo Nonfunc. Reqs.)
Implementation Requirements Tools, Programming Lang., hardware platforms Interface Requirements Imposed by external systems E.g., Formats, standards, legacy systems Operations Requirements E.g. sys administration and management req. Packaging Requirements E.g., installation media, internet download, etc. Legal Requirements Licensing, government regulations, certification issues

Constraints Example (SatWatch)
All related software associated with SatWatch , including the onboard software, will be written using Java, to comply with the current company policy SatWatch complies with the physical, electrical, and software interfaces defined by the WebifyWatch API 2.0 Implementation Requirement Interface Requirement

What is usually not in the requirements?
It is desirable that none of the following is constrained by the client. Fight for it! System structure, implementation technology Development methodology Development environment Implementation language Reusability Notice: we are considering budget and schedule to be project attributes rather than software requirements

Requirements Validation
Critical step in the development process Usually after requirements elicitation or requirements analysis. Also at delivery (client acceptance test). Requirements validation criteria: Correctness: The requirements represent the proper client’s view. Completeness: All possible scenarios, in which the system can be used, are described, including exceptional behavior by the user or the system Consistency: There are functional or nonfunctional requirements that contradict each other Realism: Requirements can be implemented and delivered within constraints Traceability: Each system function can be traced to a corresponding set of functional requirements

Types of Requirements Elicitation
Greenfield Engineering Development starts from scratch, no prior system exists Triggered by user needs Requirements extracted from the end users and the client Re-engineering Re-design and/or re-implementation of an existing system using newer technology Triggered by technology enabler Requirements extracted from existing system + users and client Interface Engineering Provide the services of an existing system in a new environment Triggered by technology enabler or new market needs Requirements extracted from existing systems + users and client

Scenarios and Use Cases

Key concepts: Use cases and scenarios
abstract / general descriptions I’d like it to blah blah When ABC, the system shall XYZ John, the Dispatcher, is alerted to the emergency by a beep of his workstation. The system queries everyone’s online and . . . Blah’ing concrete / specific descriptions

Scenarios “A narrative description of what people do and experience as they try to make use of computer systems and applications” [M. Carrol, Scenario-based Design, Wiley, 1995] A concrete, focused, informal description of a single feature of the system used by a single actor. A single instance (of a use case) Does not attempt to describe all possible situations Expresses a specific occurrence of the use case a specific actor ... at a specific time ... with specific data. Can have many different uses during software lifecycle Requirements Elicitation: As-is scenario, visionary scenario Client Acceptance Test: Evaluation scenario System Deployment: Training scenario

Types of Scenarios As-is scenario: Visionary scenario:
Used in describing a current situation. Usually used in re-engineering projects. The user describes the system. Example: Description of Letter-Chess Visionary scenario: Used to describe a future system. Usually used in greenfield engineering and reengineering projects. Can often not be done by the user or developer alone Example: Description of an interactive internet-based Tic Tac Toe game tournament. Evaluation scenario: User tasks against which the system is to be evaluated Example: Four users (two novice, two experts) play in a TicTac Toe tournament in ARENA. Training scenario: Step by step instructions that guide a novice user through a system Example: How to play Tic Tac Toe in the ARENA Game Framework.

Scenario Example: Warehouse on Fire
Bob, driving down main street in his patrol car notices smoke coming out of a warehouse. His partner, Alice, reports the emergency from her car. Alice enters the address of the building, a brief description of its location (i.e., north west corner), and an emergency level. In addition to a fire unit, she requests several paramedic units on the scene given that area appear to be relatively busy. She confirms her input and waits for an acknowledgment. John, the Dispatcher, is alerted to the emergency by a beep of his workstation. He reviews the information submitted by Alice and acknowledges the report. He allocates a fire unit and two paramedic units to the Incident site and sends their estimated arrival time (ETA) to Alice. Alice received the acknowledgment and the ETA.

Documentation schema for the scenario
Scenario name: warehouse0nFire Participating actor instances: bob, alice : FieldOfficer john: Dispatcher Flow of events : Bob, driving down main street in his patrol car notices smoke coming out of a warehouse. His partner, Alice, activates the “Report Emergency” function from her FRIEND laptop. Alice enters the address of the building, a brief description of its location (i.e., northwest corner), and an emergency level. In addition to a fire unit, she requests severa1 paramedic units on the scene, given that the area appears to be relatively busy. She confirms her input and waits for an acknowledgment. John, the Dispatcher , is alerted to the emergency by a beep of his workstation. He reviews the information submitted by Alice and acknowledges the report. He creates allocates a fire unit and two paramedic units to the Incident site and sends their estimated arrival time (ETA) to Alice. Alice receives the acknowledgment and the ETA.

Observations about Warehouse on Fire Scenario
Concrete scenario Describes a single instance of reporting a fire incident. Does not describe all possible situations in which a fire can be reported.

Next goal, after the scenarios are formulated:
Find all the use cases in the scenario that specifies all possible instances of how to report a fire Example: “Report Emergency “ in the first paragraph of the scenario is a candidate for a use case Describe each of these use cases in more detail Participating actors Describe the Entry Condition Describe the Flow of Events Describe the Exit Condition Describe Exceptions Describe Special Requirements (Constraints & Nonfunctional)

Use Cases A use case is a flow of events and actions that a user performs in order to complete a given task It is initiated by an actor The objective of use cases is to model the system from the point of view of how users interact with this system when trying to achieve their objectives. A use case model consists of a set of use cases an optional description or diagram indicating how they are related

Example: Use Case Model for Incident Management
ReportEmergency FieldOf f icer Dispatcher OpenIncident AllocateResources

Use Case Example: ReportEmergency
Use case name: ReportEmergency Participating Actors: Field Officer (Bob and Alice in the Scenario) Dispatcher (John in the Scenario) Exceptions: The FieldOfficer is notified immediately if the connection between her terminal and the central is lost. The Dispatcher is notified immediately if the connection between any logged in FieldOfficer and the central is lost. Flow of Events: See next slide

Use Case Example: ReportEmergency (Cont.)
Flow of Events The FieldOfficer activates the “Report Emergency” function of her terminal. FRIEND responds by presenting a form to the officer. The FieldOfficer fills the form, by selecting the emergency level, type, location, and brief description of the situation. The FieldOfficer also describes possible responses to the emergency situation. Once the form is completed, the FieldOfficer submits the form, at which point, the Dispatcher is notified. The Dispatcher reviews the submitted information and creates an Incident in the database by invoking the OpenIncident use case. The Dispatcher selects a response and acknowledges the emergency report. The FieldOfficer receives the acknowledgment and the selected response.

Use Case Example: ReportEmergency (Cont.)
Entry Condition Field Officer his logged in to the system Exit Condition The Field Officer has received an acknowledgemetn and the selected response from the dispatcher, OR The Field Officer has received an explanation indicating why the transaction could not be processed Special Requirements: The FieldOfficer’s report is acknowledged within 30 seconds. The selected response arrives no later than 30 seconds after it is sent by the Dispatcher.

Use Case Associations A use case association is a relationship between use cases Important use case association types: Include Used to represent functional decomposition Helps in reusing existing functionality Extends Make optional interactions explicit Handle exceptional cases. Generalization An abstract use case has different specializations

<<Include>>: Functional Decomposition
Problem: A function in the original problem statement is too complex to be solvable immediately Solution: Describe the function as the aggregation of a set of simpler functions. The associated use case is decomposed into smaller use cases ManageIncident <<include>> <<include>> <<include>> HandleIncident CloseIncident CreateIncident

<<Include>>: Reuse of Existing Functionality
Problem: There are already existing functions. How can we reuse them? Solution: The include association from a use case A to a use case B indicates that an instance of the use case A performs all the behavior described in the use case B (“A delegates to B”) Example: The use case “ViewMap” describes behavior that can be used by the use case “OpenIncident” (“ViewMap” is factored out) OpenIncident <<include>> ViewMap AllocateResources <<include>> Base Use Case Supplier Use Case Note: The base case cannot exist alone. It is always called with the supplier use case

<Extend>> Association for Use Cases
Problem: The functionality in the original problem statement needs to be extended. Solution: An extend association from a use case A to a use case B indicates that use case B is an extension of use case A. Example: The use case “ReportEmergency” is complete by itself , but can be extended by the use case “Help” for a specific scenario in which the user requires help ReportEmergency FieldOfficer f Help <<extend>> Note: The base use case can be executed without the use case extension in extend associations.

Generalization association in use cases
Problem: You have common behavior among use cases and want to factor this out. Solution: The generalization association among use cases factors out common behavior. The child use cases inherit the behavior and meaning of the parent use case and add or override some behavior. Example: Consider the use case “ValidateUser”, responsible for verifying the identity of the user. The customer might require two realizations: “CheckPassword” and “CheckFingerprint” ValidateUser CheckPassword Parent Case Child Use Case CheckFingerprint

How to Specify a Use Case (Summary)
Name of Use Case Actors Description of Actors involved in use case) Entry condition “This use case starts when…” Flow of Events Free form, informal natural language Exit condition “This use cases terminates when…” Exceptions Describe what happens if things go wrong Special Requirements Nonfunctional Requirements, Constraints

Requirements Elicitation Activities
Identify actors Identify scenarios Identify use cases Identify relationships among use cases Refine use cases Identify nonfunctional requirements Identify participating objects

Summary The requirements process consists of requirements elicitation and analysis. Requirements elicitation is a challenging activity Scenarios: Great way to establish communication with client Different types of scenarios: As-Is, visionary, evaluation and training Use cases: Abstraction of scenarios Pure functional decomposition is bad: Leads to unmaintainable code Pure object identification is bad: May lead to wrong objects, wrong attributes, wrong methods The key to successful analysis: Start with use cases and then find the participating objects If somebody asks “What is this?”, do not answer right away. Return the question or observe the end user: “What is it used for?”

Additional Slides

Defining the System Boundary is Often Difficult
What do you see here? Another interesting issue with finding objects is to define which objects are inside the application domain and which ones are outside of it. Sometimes it helps you to get a clearer understanding of the overall system. Look at the figure in this slide. What does it show? A bunch of black and white dots? Given that I will tell you that it contains a system (that is an object model can be found) how would you start with looking for objects? Turn the slide around. Turn it upside down. Look at the “problem domain” from all angles. And suddenly you might experience what I would call the “gestalt experience”. You will see the application domain. Now there is no recipe for finding it. You might find a very low level object, such as an ear or you might find a high level object such as the shape of a dog. In fact, if you look carefully you will find a Dalmatian dog. Once you understand that you are looking at a dog, a lot of the black and white pixels in the total figure are not part of your system and you can easily find the boundary of the system by trying to trace the outline of the Dalmatian. However, don’t be lured into thinking that this is the system you have been looking for. Always be alert that the real system might be something totally different. For example, if you turn the dog upside down, you might be able to see an eagle taking off from a river, with a poor dead victim in its claws!

Where are the System Boundaries?
Animal Ear?

Dalmatian Dog?

Flying Eagle?

Chapter 4: Requirements Elicitation

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