When forming a technical task, it must necessarily list all the requirements for an information system, otherwise the developer will simply not know for what purpose the product is created, what it is intended to fulfill and how. The task of formulating requirements lies with the customer, although in practice the managers through whom the order is placed usually help with this. But students involved in writing term papers, dissertations, should be able to independently make such lists.
Common Understanding
The process of creating IP is quite complicated, consists of many successive stages. Specialists, working on the project, are forced to deal with a variety of difficulties. To some extent, this can be simplified by accurately formulating requirements for the information system. It is not always obvious why the problems arise, especially when working on innovative products, and the creation of a comprehensive description of all the actions for which the product is intended is often a difficult task.
Attention to all the details
A complete picture of the product’s functionality is the complete list of requirements for an information system. It also includes aspects that the customer suggests, and the programmer implements when creating the project. The process of capacity building, their analytical research, documentation, and performance testing is the development of requirements, during which it is possible to accurately identify all the limitations and come to a consensus between “I want” and “really feasible”. It is important to remember that modern engineers are not magicians, but people who use accessible technical tools, the capabilities of which, unfortunately, are also limited. The time aspect is no less significant, since work on the creation and implementation of requirements requires significant time costs - months, and sometimes years.
Which are there?
It is customary to talk about system and user requirements for an information system. Natural language describes those presented by a particular user. To clarify the wording, you can resort to diagrams of varying degrees of complexity. This allows you to make a general impression of the functions for which the IP is intended to be implemented, and the limitations that you will encounter in your work.
System requirements are those specific characteristics of the project, the knowledge of which allows you to translate the wishes of the client into reality. These technical requirements for the information system include a presentation about the features of the equipment, its power, as well as the choice in favor of a specific architecture option. Many other aspects can be attributed to the system ones, which are not obvious to the user, but regulating what the final product will be.
Requirements: where to get them?
The tasks of formulating and approving requirements for an information system are not as simple as it might seem at first glance. The term is used to denote such a complex structured process, within the framework of which documentation is created, confirmed by the customer, the contractor, which clearly regulates all product specifications. Development is divided into four consecutive steps:
- analytical activities to determine the degree of feasibility of the planned;
- creation, analytical study of the requirements directly;
- formulation of requirements for the formation of supporting documentation;
- certification of data system requirements for information, as well as other conditions, rules for project implementation.
Not so simple
If the requirements for the security of information systems, information content, format, management tasks and other aspects of the functioning of the project are once established, this does not mean that they will remain unchanged until the “victorious end”. The workflow is often accompanied by a change in established specifications and requirements. This happens not only at the initiative of the customer, but also of the contractor, who is faced with certain technical limitations that prevent the implementation of a number of planned aspects. It is important to consider the features of process control. Change management is one of the key aspects of developing requirements and their implementation within a specific IP.
An important aspect of working with requirements is the definition of those with subsequent versatile information analytics. For this, a generalized work model is used. Within the framework of a particular enterprise, a unique information system requirements management system is being implemented, which allows to formulate, adjust, accept, reject the selected conditions. Much depends on the qualifications of workers, the type of IP they are working on, the standards used in the workflow.
What does it look like?
In practice, the wording, analytics of the requirements for the security of information systems, data filling, structure (and other system and user ones) involve first identifying the features of a particular subject area. It is investigated by qualified analysts, determining the specific parameters of the application sector of the developed product in the future. After that, they begin to collect preliminary requirements, working with persons formulating such information. In parallel, they continue to work on the refinement of the subject area.
The next step in formulating requirements for municipal information systems, private, used in government agencies is to create a hierarchical system of identified information. If the initial collection of information gives a chaotic complex of data, then in the framework of systematization it is ordered, creating groups of elements that have logical connections with each other.
Continuing work
The next step in the specification of information requirements in information systems, the structure of the project, functional, internal features is to identify contradictions and resolve conflicts. When they receive information from a wide range of third parties about the work of the designed IP, they encounter the following problem: each person has their own unique ideas about the capabilities of the project and its purpose. Often, ideas received from different people come into conflict with each other, and also contradict the logic, the existing technical capabilities, through which the system is implemented. To streamline the situation, after a thorough analysis, it is necessary to identify all the contradictions and find the optimal compromise solution to resolve them.
Identifying contradictions and analyzing the feasibility of all requirements, it is also necessary to draw up a system of priorities. There are always more important and less significant among the general set of requirements. The task of the developers is to work closely with those who create requirements in order to identify which of the established aspects of the product’s functioning are the most significant and which can wait or be completely canceled if negative external conditions contribute to this (for example, lack of time). Having created a system of priorities, we can begin to check the identified aspects for completeness, compatibility among themselves, and consistency.
Step by step
Requirements for information systems (personal data, information about the work of the enterprise and any other) are formulated as part of a cyclical process. All stages are connected both directly and inversely. The steps are described above: first you need to identify the features of the subject area, then gradually go to the step of determining the compatibility of requirements among themselves, as well as their completeness and other parameters, allowing us to talk about the applicability of the obtained conditions in practice to developers. If you manage to create a full-fledged picture of the subject area, it already sets the working conditions, especially the functioning. The repetition of the cycle gives a more accurate, in-depth view of the area, the third cycle will make it possible to formulate requirements even more clearly. Repetition is necessary until all participants in the workflow understand exactly what the system is designed for and how it will work, what needs to be implemented when working on a project.
In order for the process of forming requirements to be effective, and its results to be applicable in the work, it is necessary to follow generally accepted algorithms for formulating conditions.
Reference points
This is the basic method for identifying requirements for state information systems, in particular - in short, absolutely anyone, regardless of where they are used. As part of the definition of conditions, it is necessary to recognize as an initial condition that the points of view on the issue under consideration may differ. They are identified and used as the basis for the formulation of the first process of collecting requirements, and then the actual conditions.
The point of view is a rather vague concept, so several approaches have been developed that interpret it differently. The simplest interpretation of the concept is a source of data describing how the IP will work. Reference points become the basis for modeling IP and using information within the product. The collection of requirements involves the identification of all significant reference points that are further used in the process of building the product. It also takes into account how the techniques will be used to process the data.
Alternative approach
Another interpretation of the concept of “point of view” involves the perception of the term as a structure of representation. In fact, this is an element of the product model. Different points of view allow you to create numerous models of finite state machines, interactions of entities and the relationships between them within a specific project. The specifics of the scope of the project are taken into account.
The point of view may mean the opinion of the external recipient of the service implemented through the IP. Based on TK, it is possible to identify data that are used in the implementation of system services, their management. This approach is considered the most effective. It formed the basis of the Viewpoint-Oriented Requirements Definition - a specific method for identifying requirements that allows you to determine information and effectively analyze it.
Work with points of view
First, they need to be identified, as well as to determine all the services that are associated with a particular point. Then the system is structured in a hierarchical manner, grouping points of view among themselves, revealing common services for IP. Those ranked as the highest hierarchical level. They will be inherited by all TK of a lower level.
Supporting TK needs to be documented. For this information is clearly described, given the results of identification. After that, it is possible to draw up a TK system in which all IP objects identified from the collected information will be reflected.
Do not rush!
As a rule, work on IP begins with a large-scale brainstorming session designed to determine all the possible requirements for a project. It is necessary to be aware in advance that it is almost impossible to determine all possible requirements with one procedure. The more complex the system, the more such procedures will be required.Only if repeated brainstorming sessions involving both the customer and the contractor do not provide useful information, they reasonably assume that the supporting TORs have been identified and the requirements have been formulated, can we start implementing them by technical means.
Certification requirements
This procedure allows you to understand the extent to which the requirements correspond to the customer’s ideas about the final product. Verification is one of the most important steps in detecting an erroneous specification and eliminating it in advance. Otherwise, the alteration will have to be carried out at the stage when the system is already designed and constructed, which entails both temporary and other resource losses. The biggest problems bring errors discovered after the introduction of the product in the enterprise.
In the general case, the work on making adjustments to the system is rated much higher than the detection and correction of inaccuracies at the stage of designing IP, coding functionality. Changing requirements in most cases provokes impressive structural changes, including a basic level. This means that after making the changes, you will have to go through a full range of verification and testing to make sure that all designed tools are functioning correctly.