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LAST UPDATED: 21 April 2006 |
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| A Springer book for practitioners and students of system engineering, addressing processes for the management and engineering of requirements. |
Preface to the Second EditionThis second edition follows quickly on the first edition and is an indication of how fast the subject is changing and developing. In the past two years there have been significant advances and these are reflected in this new edition.Essentially, this is an update that places more emphasis on modelling by describing a greater range of approaches to system modelling. It introduces the UML2, which is the recent standard approved by the OMG. There is also an enhanced discussion on the relationship between requirements management and modelling, which relates well to the concept of rich traceability. The chapter on the requirements management tool DOORS has been revised to use Version 7 of the tool and this is complemented with examples taken from the DOORS/Analyst tool which demonstrates how the concepts of modelling can be captured and created within DOORS. The text is still aimed at students and practitioners of systems engineering who are keen to gain knowledge of using requirements engineering for system development. As before, a web site supporting additional material is available at: http://www.requirementsengineering.info
Preface to the First EditionRequirements Engineering is common sense, but it is perceived to be difficult and is not well understood. For these reasons it is generally not very well done. The ever-increasing pressures on an organisation are often given as the main reasons for not introducing a more disciplined approach to requirements engineering. However, it is these very pressures that make it even more important for the requirements engineer to help the organisation do the job properly.Systems engineering is critical in today's industry and requirements engineering is an important aspect of that overall process. A good process is key to requirements engineering - it determines how efficiently and rapidly products can be generated. This is particularly important in a global competitive market where the 'time to market' and meeting stakeholder requirements are the key success factors. Requirements engineering is also about management and hence issues in relation to requirements and management blend to show how requirements can be used to manage systems development. The book is concerned with engineering requirements and how systems engineers may be helped to create better requirements. A generic process is presented which assists the reader in gaining a good understanding of the essence of requirements engineering. The process is then instantiated for the problem and solution domains of development. The book also addresses the concept of system modelling and presents various techniques and methods which are widely used. An important feature of the book is the presentation of approaches to traceability, the way in which it is captured and metrics which can be derived from traceability. Finally the book presents an overview of DOORS which is a tool for requirements management. A case study is used to illustrate the process presented in the book and the features of the tool. This book should be read by those systems and requirements engineers in industry, who, as practitioners, are keen to gain knowledge of using requirements engineering for system development. The book will also be of interest to final year undergraduate students in Computer Science, Software Engineering and Systems Engineering studying a course in Requirements Engineering and also to postgraduate research students in Computer Science or and other flavours of Engineering. The approach taken in the book is based on current research in Requirements Engineering, however it has not only taken the academic view but has also built substantially on current experience of working in industry to enable system engineers to manage requirements (and projects) more successfully. It provides a snapshot, in this rapidly evolving subject, of what we see as best practice in Requirements Engineering today.
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