Surfacing root requirements interactions from inquiry cycle requirements documents

Abstract

Systems requirements errors are numerous, persistent, and expensive. To detect such errors, and focus on critical ones during the development of a requirements document, we have defined Root Requirements Analysis. This simple technique is based on: generalizing requirements to form root requirements, exhaustively comparing the root requirements, and applying simple metrics to the resultant comparison matrix. Root Requirements Analysis is effective. In the case study described, the technique finds that 36 percent of the case's root requirements interactions result in problems which require further analysis. Moreover, the technique provides a specific operational procedure to guide the efficient iterative resolution of identified requirements conflicts. The process of Root Requirements Analysis itself is not specific to a particular methodology. It can be applied directly to requirements in a variety of forms, as well as to the documentation of requirements development. We took this latter approach in the case study illustrating how Root Requirements Analysis can augment the Inquiry Cycle model of requirements development. Finally, the technique is amenable to support through collaborative CASE tools, as we demonstrate with our DEALSCRIBE prototype.