Information Technology

Attributes of Requirements are the specific characteristics that each attribute has in common that you want to track and monitor as part of the requirements engineering process. Our overly cautious nature tells us that we want to track everything. Do not fall into that trap. We only need to track and monitor the data that is going to be useful to us. We should only be capturing the significant data that will help us monitor the progress of the project; the status of the requirements; and what items are still outstanding sorted by various criteria.

Of course in order to track and monitor these attributes they have to exist. So we have to create the attributes. You will first need to define the ones that you are going to need. You could start with a few key attributes, as long as you have a system in place that allows for expansion. In reality you should really get all the attributes in place upfront. Even if you cannot start capturing the information until later in the process. You are not going to try and capture unnecessary data this means that most of it should exist already.

A requirement is expected to have the following attributes:

1.  Clear and Understandable

     The stakeholder, End-User and project members must share athe same understanding of the requirement. 
     Requirements must not be open to different interpretations by the stakeholders. This is a difficult mistake to avoid but it can be mitigated.
     The validation process is where any ambiguity should be identified. When the draft . Requirements
     Document is issued it should include test cases and system requirements. This will ensure that the likelihood of the document being interpreted              differently by different stakeholders is minimized.

2.  Measurable and Testable

     One must be able to prove, using substentiating evidence,  that the requirement has been completely (i.e. 100%) fullfilled.

3. Traceable

     One must be able to trace the requirement to subsequent:

•      User Story (US);

•      Use Case (UC);

•      Business Scenarion (BSc);

•      Test Suite (TSu);

•      Test Case (TC);

•      Test Result of "PASS";

4.  Reasonable

     A requirement must be attainable using the technology available at the time of the implementation.

5.  Verifiable

     A Requirement must be verifiable using one of the following Primary Verification Method (PVM):

•      Test,;

•      Demonstration;

•      Inspection; or

•      Analysis.

The PVM helps to ensure the requirement characteristics ‘unambiguous’, ‘verifiable’, and ‘correct’ are true. This attribute can be used to build an SOI verification matrix. This attribute may also be classified under attributes associated with verification and system validation. For more information on the importance of planning ahead for system verification and system validation: