Course 7: Defining the Requirements

In course 7 we examine how between 60 and 70% of project failures can be attributed to poor requirements definition. The formal process of requirements engineering is the IT industry’s response to such issues and provides a formal framework for identifying and analyzing requirements and ensuring that requirements support the business need.

In this course we examine different types of information (tacit and explicit), sources of requirements, and how the requirements engineering process ensures that the appropriate degree of rigour and control is maintained across the requirements lifecycle.

Upon completion of this course you will be able to:

• Understand the Engineering Framework of elicitation, analysis, validation, documentation
• Determine the actors who contribute to the process, the project context for requirements engineering, and each of the process stages
• Understand the different approaches to systems modelling as a way to help visualize and clarify our understanding of requirements and how aspects of the solution will support the required data processing