IEEE Recommended Practice For Software Requirements Speci ...

1 The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, East 47th Street, New York, NY 10017-2394, USAC opyright 1998 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, rights reserved. Published 1998. Printed in the United States of 0-7381-0332-2 No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, in an electronic retrieval system or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. IEEE Std 830-1998 (Revision ofIEEE Std 830-1993) IEEE Recommended Practice for Software Requirements Specifications Sponsor Software Engineering standards Committeeof theIEEE Computer Society Approved 25 June 1998 IEEE-SA standards Board Abstract: The content and qualities of a good Software Requirements specification (SRS) are de-scribed and several sample SRS outlines are presented.

2 This Recommended Practice is aimed atspecifying Requirements of Software to be developed but also can be applied to assist in the selec-tion of in-house and commercial Software products. Guidelines for compliance with are also provided. Keywords: contract, customer, prototyping, Software Requirements specification, supplier, systemrequirements specifications IEEE standards documents are developed within the IEEE Societies and the standards Coordinat-ing Committees of the IEEE standards Association (IEEE-SA) standards Board.

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8 The IEEE shall not be responsible for identifying patents forwhich a license may be required by an IEEE standard or for conducting inquiries intothe legal validity or scope of those patents that are brought to its attention. Copyright 1998 IEEE. All rights reserved. iii Introduction (This introduction is not a part of IEEE Std 830-1998, IEEE Recommended Practice for Software Requirements Specifi-cations.) This Recommended Practice describes Recommended approaches for the specification of Software require-ments.

9 It is based on a model in which the result of the Software Requirements specification process is anunambiguous and complete specification document. It should helpa) Software customers to accurately describe what they wish to obtain;b) Software suppliers to understand exactly what the customer wants;c)Individuals to accomplish the following goals:1)Develop a standard Software Requirements specification (SRS) outline for their own organiza-tions;2)Define the format and content of their specific Software Requirements specifications.

10 3)Develop additional local supporting items such as an SRS quality checklist, or an SRS writer the customers, suppliers, and other individuals, a good SRS should provide several specific benefits, suchas the following: Establish the basis for agreement between the customers and the suppliers on what the softwareproduct is to do. The complete description of the functions to be performed by the Software specifiedin the SRS will assist the potential users to determine if the Software specified meets their needs orhow the Software must be modified to meet their needs.