Requirement - Requirements in Systems and Software Engineering

Requirements in Systems and Software Engineering

In systems engineering, a requirement can be a description of what a system must do, referred to as a Functional Requirement. This type of requirement specifies something that the delivered system must be able to do. Another type of requirement specifies something about the system itself, and how well it performs its functions. Such requirements are often called non-functional requirements, or 'performance requirements' or 'quality of service requirements.' Examples of such requirements include usability, availability, reliability, supportability, testability and maintainability.

A collection of requirements define the characteristics or features of the desired system. A 'good' list of requirements as far as possible avoids saying how the system should implement the requirements, leaving such decisions to the system designer. Specifying how the system should be implemented is called "implementation bias" or "solution engineering". However, implementation constraints on the solution may validly be expressed by the future owner, for example for required interfaces to external systems; for interoperability with other systems; and for commonality (e.g. of user interfaces) with other owned products.

In software engineering, the same meanings of requirements apply, except that the focus of interest is the software itself.