A comprehensive guide to write Software Requirements Specification document

Have you ever tried to assemble a car? Suppose you have all the necessary components & final image of a car- still, you can’t get it right without a perfect plan. The lack of a detailed plan makes the process not only slower but also complicated. The same thing goes for developing software without a proper Software Requirements Specification (SRS).

There are many ways to develop software, but SRS gives you an extra edge. To develop a perfect project- you need to write clear, precise, and easy to follow SRS. For that, you have to understand your project first. A question raised in your head- when will I get to know that SRS is ready for development? Your all questions get the answers as we’re going to dig deeply into the SRS.

What Software Requirements Specifications document contains?

An SRS is a document that narrates what the software does & how it is expected to function or perform. Tor make things smoother- a typical Software Requirements Specification includes:

• A strong purpose

• An overall description

• An overall description

Define Who’ll have the access to the SRS

A business analyst is a person who writes the SRS documentation. But the document should be that simple to read because the SRS document lays out functional & non-functional requirements of a system that is used to represent the user interactions. To ensure things are on track you have to define who’ll have access to the SRS document in the organization. This list may include developers, testers, project managers & other stakeholders ( whether it’s leading team members, sales, or marketing).

Specific requirements of SRS

• External Interface

The requirement involves an interaction with another system. It’s identified on a context diagram, elaborate in report details, UI prototype, and storyboards. There are some key interfaces that must be required while creating an SRS document. Here we gonna discuss the top external interfaces, which are:

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• User Interfaces-

Fonts, icons, button labels, images, color schemes, commonly used controls.

Screen layout or resolution constraints.

Standard buttons, functions, or navigation links, Shortcut keys.

Message display conventions.

Layout standards to facilitate software localization.

Accommodations for visually impaired users.

• Hardware Interfaces-

Data types

Device types

Control interactions

Communication protocols

• Software Interfaces-

Operating system, Tools & Libraries

Integrated commercial components

Connections between product and other software components

Identify the purpose of the messages

Data, and control items

• Functional capabilities

It indicates how software products must function. Mainly authentication, authorization & audit tracking are the functional capabilities that a decent SRS contains.

• System Attributes

As we go for system attributes for software development- the main requirements are more focused on reliability, security, portability, and maintainability.

• Performance

Although performance is an important part of software development, it can be a tough challenge. The three major problems in performance requirements are scope, skills & stability.

Features

Although every document has the top features that make it superior. In the case of the SRS document, performance relies on various features like:

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• Correctness

User review is important. It is used to ensure the correctness of the requirements stated in the SRS document. The document is correct if it covers all the requirements expected from the system.

• Completeness

Completeness of SRS means each completion including the page numbering, resolving the to be determined parts to as much extent as possible as well as properly covering all the functional and non-functional requirements.

• Consistency

Another necessary feature is consistency in SRS. Examples of conflict include differences in terminologies used at separate places, logical conflicts like the time period of report generation, etc.

• Unambiguousness

An SRS is unambiguous only if all the requirements stated have only a single interpretation. Modeling techniques like ER diagrams, proper reviews, and buddy checks are ways to prevent unambiguousness.

• Verifiable

An SRS is verifiable enough that anyone from the team can easily understand it. Requirements need to be verifiable that team members don’t have to ask for more details.

• Flexible

An SRS should be made as flexible as possible and should be capable of easily accepting changes. Modifications in SRS documents should be followed properly & cross-referenced.

• Traceable

An SRS should be able to trace a requirement to design components. For corresponding test cases, one should be able to trace a requirement. After all, it’s all about the code segment in the program.

Verdict

Without any doubt, SRS is an important part of completing a software project. It is like navigation to everyone connected to the project. You can figure out the estimated time & cost of the project and assign tasks efficiently- thanks to the SRS document! Creating the best SRS document can be a daunting/ challenging task, but blobstation has helped many organizations create decent SRS documents & launch the actual product. We’re here to help you, just drop a message!

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