Quality Criteria for Requirements

The individual requirement must satisfy certain quality addition in particular:

Non-prescriptive only describe the outside behavior of the specified object, must refrain
from prescribing a specific technical solution.
Unambiguous do not use weak words without a precise meaning. A requirement is
unambiguous when it possesses a single interpretation.
List of weak words:
o a little, about, accordingly, actual, adequate, again, all but, almost, also, analogous,
another, anything, apparent, approximately, articulate, as a whole, at the most,
o basic, besides, best, better ,big, bit,
o certain, certainly, circa, clear, clearly, close by, closely, common, conditionally,
considerable,
o decided, dedicated, defined, definite, detailed, determinately, different, directly,
distinct, diverse,
o else, enough, especially, evidently, explicit, extensive, extremely, every
o few,
o grand, great,
o however, huge,
o if need, improved, in detail, in most instances, indeed,
o just,
o largely, later, like, likewise, limited, long-standing,
o maybe, mostly, much,
o nearly, necessarily, no case, no way, not exhaustive, obvious,
o of course, ongoing, or so, ordinary, other,
o particular, perhaps, persistent, possible, powerful, precise, presently, prodigious,
provisory,
o qualified, quite,
o related,
o satisfactory, seemingly, self-evident, separately ,several, shortly, similar, someday,
something, sometimes, soon, special, still, sufficient, sure, sustained,
o to be announced, to be confirmed, to be defined, to be desired, to be detailed, to
be determined, too,
o ultimate, uncommon, unique, unlike, usual,
o well, where

Verifiable The requirements must be verifiable in two ways: do the requirements satisfy
the sponsor's needs, and does the system satisfy the requirements. A requirement is
verifiable if it can be proved that the requirement was correctly implemented. Verification
may come via demonstration, analysis, inspection, or testing
o Are all of the requirements feasible? (I.e., possible to implement)
o Is each requirement testable or verifiable?
o Does each requirement use concrete terms and measurable quantities?

Consistent Consistency is obtained if the requirements do not contradict each other.

Inconsistency results when one requirement contradicts another.
o Is each requirement unique? (e.g. no redundancy)
o Are the characteristics of real-world objects consistent? E.g., if one requirement
specifies a report in tabular format but the user interface prototype shows it as text
format, there is a conflict.
o Is all terminology used consistently?
o Are the logical and temporal characteristics of required actions consistent? E.g., if
one requirement says the database is updated when the file is closed then it would
be inconsistent if another requirement said the data is saved when the upload is
completed.

Agreed analyzed and clarified Reviewed and accepted by all parties (customer, supplier,
developer, tester). The software development process should begin with supplier and
customer agreement on what the completed software must do.

Validated and up to date Each requirement should document something the customers
really need or something that is required for conformance to an external requirement, an
external interface, or a standard and to make sure that the newest version of customer
requirements is available for all users and used for writing the requirements.

Complete No requirements or necessary information should be missing. A requirement is

complete when it contains sufficient detail for those that use it to guide their work.
o Is each characteristic of the final product described?
o Are all the tasks the user wants to perform specified?
o Are all the inputs/outputs to the system specified including their source, accuracy,
range of values, and frequency?

Correct Each requirement must accurately describe the functionality to be delivered. The
reference for correctness is the source of the requirement, such as an actual customer or a
higher-level system requirements specification.

Realizable (feasible) It must be possible to implement each requirement within the known
capabilities and limitations of the system and its environment

Understandable use proper grammar, spelling and punctuation.

o Is each requirement simply stated in English?
o Is the document free of spelling errors?
o Is the writing grammatically correct?
o Does the writing use present tense, active voice with transitive verbs, and 3rd
person writing?

Traceable every aspect of the finished system should be able to be traced back to the
requirements.
o Is each requirement expressed separately, rather than intermixed with other
requirements
o Can each item be traced to its origin in the problem environment