Understanding Requirements - Requirements Engineering and Management for Software Development Projects - page 20

2.4 Classification of Requirements Based on Source
of Requirements

Yet another way to look at requirements is based on the source from where it is
obtained. There are many sources from which we can garner requirements for the
proposed software product. Enumerated below are the possible sources for

establishing the requirements for a software product.

1. End users—These people are those that use the end product to perform their
individual business processes. The software product is basically aimed at
fulfilling their needs. These people provide the core functionality especially
relating to the aspects of inputs, process and outputs at working level. End
users may not be able to provide the management requirements expected from
the software. End users can be located in the case of project scenario (intended
for use within one organization) in the departments funding the software
development. In the case of a COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) product
scenario, end users are scattered across the target market for the product. We
may perhaps need to conduct market surveys to get their needs or select
randomly some end users and interview them to obtain their needs and the
core functionality for the product.
2. Management of customer organization—These people provide the MIS
(Management Information System) portion of the core functionality. They
provide what information they need to extract from the software so that they can
manage the organization effectively. These may include the special analyses,
special reports, audit trails, security concerns, safety concerns and so on,
necessary from the software product. In a project scenario, these people can be
located in the organization looking at the organization chart. But in the case of
COTS product development, we really need to put in efforts to locate such
experts. They can be found in the domain experts, academia, and through market
surveys selecting the senior management personnel to provide the information.
3. Domain experts—These individuals are those that have worked for long
years in the business domain in which the proposed software product would be
developed. These individuals are especially useful and extensively used in
COTS product development. These people may or may not be IT (Information
Technology) experts but they would have the knowledge of systems and
procedures or the domain. They would know the detailed procedures, formats,
templates, guidelines, standards and checklists used by the end users in the
domain. Additionally they would be experts in the process that is used to
convert the inputs to outputs as well as the legal issues involved with the
domain. These people would be occasionally used in project scenarios to
obtain information about industry best practices or when the requirements
provided by the end users and their management are perceived to be either
incomplete

or ambiguous. Domain experts can provide end-to-end core

functionality or clarify any issues thereof.