Validating software requirements is critical to the success of any software development project. While it can be overwhelming, ensuring that all requirements are accurately captured, understood, and agreed upon by all parties involved can help avoid costly delays and rework. This process is particularly critical for custom business application development to ensure that the finished product meets your business’s unique needs.
While there are many different techniques that can be used to validate software requirements, this blog post will discuss some of the most common phases of software validation.
Creating a Validation Plan
To start the requirements validation process, you must craft a plan that outlines who will be involved in the process, what needs validating, and where efforts should be focused.
This plan outlines the components for a successful system, including environment specifications, assumptions, limitations, and testing and acceptance criteria. It also designates who is on the validation team, their respective duties, and any procedures and documentation needed to ensure success.
All relevant stakeholders must be involved in the requirements process. This includes business analysts, developers, testers, end users, and any other party with a vested interest in the project’s success.
Requirements Elicitation
The requirements elicitation process should be conducted using various techniques, such as interviews, focus groups, workshops, and document analysis. The goal is to gather as much information as possible about the user’s needs and expectations for the system.
Once all the information has been compiled, the requirements must be documented clearly and concisely. The requirements should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). They should also be traceable back to the original source material. That is, where does this requirement really come from? Who requested it and why?
Requirements Analysis
After the requirements have been gathered and documented, it is time to start the analysis process. The goal of this phase is to ensure that all requirements are necessary for the project and that they are compatible with each other.
This is typically done by creating a requirements traceability matrix (RTM). The RTM traces each requirement back to its source material (e.g., interview transcripts and user stories) and its downstream dependencies (e.g., test cases). This traceability ensures that no requirement is forgotten or left out during testing or development.
When evaluating system requirements, it is essential to consider both infrastructure and functional requirements. Infrastructure requirements include network and server specifications, security needs, and coding languages.
Functional requirements refer to the actual application or system itself. This can include user interface design, performance and reliability targets, inputs and outputs (I/O), and data storage requirements.
It is also essential to perform a risk analysis during this phase. This will help you identify any potential risks that could impact the successful completion of the project. These risks should be documented and monitored throughout the life of the project.
Requirements Review
After the analysis phase is complete, it is time for a formal review of the requirements with all relevant stakeholders. In an ideal world, this review would be conducted by an independent party not involved in the elicitation or analysis phases, though that’s obviously not always practical.
The goal of this review is to ensure that all stakeholders agree with what the final set of requirements mean and that there are no gaps or inconsistencies. (This is why it’s handy to have a third party do the review. They don’t bring any preconceptions to the table.) Any disagreements should be resolved before moving on to development or testing.
Creating Validation Protocol & Test Specifications
Test specifications are detailed instructions for testing each requirement. This typically includes both functional and non-functional requirements, as well as any dependencies or constraints. The purpose of the test specifications is to provide a clear roadmap for testing so that no critical details are overlooked.
Validation
Once these documents are in place, it is time to conduct the actual validation process. This involves user testing, load and stress testing, and security testing. It is important to use metrics and performance indicators to measure the effectiveness of the validation process and identify any key issues or areas for improvement.
After validating software requirements individually, it is also important to validate them collectively. This requires a high-level analysis of the entire system and how individual requirements interact. This can help uncover unforeseen issues or dependencies that may not have been identified during the individual validation process.
Validating Software Requirements – The Devil Is in The Details
As you can see, many different steps are involved in requirements validation. It requires careful planning, collaboration with key stakeholders, and attention to detail throughout the entire process.
By following these best practices – creating a plan, requirements elicitation, documentation, analysis, testing, and review – you can avoid costly delays and rework and ensure that your custom application will meet the needs of your employees and your business goals.
Working with a custom application partner like Traust will ensure that your requirements validation process is executed completely and effectively. We’d love to discuss your needs and how partnering with us can transform your business. Contact us today to learn more!
