The most difficult task in many projects is getting the specification right. The next most difficult is keeping it so. Specification faults, if not corrected, become accepted requirements that can lead to ineffective products, inefficient development, and even failed projects. As they can be extremely costly, it is important to get the specification right. Yet, this is a difficult task - and one that is often not well understood.
This course lays down the principles of the process. It first addresses the infrastructure that must be put into place as a prerequisite to good requirements engineering. Then it provides guidance on the capture, expression, verification and analysis of requirements, and the writing and validation of specifications. The principles presented in this course are general to all projects and are not exclusive to those in any one domain or industry sector.
