Requirements management (RM or REQM), the first step in system development, has a considerable influence on the success or failure of a project.

Requirements management comprises all aspects of working with requirements. It includes requirements engineering (RE) and measures for the controlling, monitoring and management of requirements. Requirements engineering is a step-by-step process. The individual process steps - collecting & analyzing, structuring & refining, agreement, verifying and evaluating requirements - can be repeated in several iteration steps within this process.

Collecting & Analyzing Requirements

The systematic collection of requirements creates joint understanding between the client and the contractor about the system to be developed. This step also involves analyzing the requirements of superordinate levels to see whether these are understood in order to be able to refine them during the next step. This enables efficient and error-free development through re-use and traceability. Thanks to its experienced consultants, INVENSITY offers both methodological and content-related support for the collection and analysis of requirements. By relying on the methods and expertise bundled together in our center of excellence, you will receive extensive support when specifying systems. Our experience gained from extensive projects is fed directly into the project-related requirements.

Structuring & Refining Requirements

Once the requirements for a system have been collected and analyzed, these requirements must be refined in order to obtain step-by-step requirements that can be realized based on requirements that cannot be realized. In this way, each level complements information on the subordinate level.
The requirements created must then be structured or assigned, for example according to disciplines or according to elements from the system architecture.
Our experience gained from extensive projects is fed directly into the project-related requirements. Their experience and high methodological expertise enable INVENSITY consultants to show dependencies and structures within the drafted requirements and work on these correspondingly for the other phases.

Agreement

Agreeing on the requirements with all participating stakeholders and agreement between the client and the contractor are elementary steps when drafting specifications. Thanks to their technical expertise and strong soft skills, INVENSITY consultants are able to use any challenges that occur in this field as the starting point for creating optimal results. For example, we are happy to arrange workshops in which the requirements are agreed on with the relevant stakeholders.

Verification & Evaluation

Verifying and evaluating requirements is a key activity when developing high-quality requirements. Only on the basis of high-quality, exact requirements can precise test specifications be developed, whereby quality assurance and improvement, along with a reduction in development times can be realized.

To obtain high-quality requirements, verifying requirements with regard to defined quality criteria, in particular correctness, feasibility, necessity and prioritization, is an essential step.

Evaluating requirements represents the link to development. Evaluating the requirements results in the specification, which forms the basis for the further system development, for example in the form of a specification sheet in the case of external allocation.

Management of Requirements

Requirements management is a key discipline in system development, with many other disciplines also depending on the results of requirements management. To increase the quality and ease of drafting specifications, uniform standards and preformulated requirements on significant functional and non-functional aspects are of great benefit. Thanks to its consultants’ many years of experience in requirements management, INVENSITY can evaluate existing standards, highlight potential for improvement and assist in the implementation of (partially) automated solutions based on existing tools. The development of a holistic concept to manage requirements and the creation of transparency and traceability are significant aspects for INVENSITY in this regard.

The continuous traceability of requirements enables better communication within the project team and an increase in planning security by breaking the project aims down into requirements for the components to be developed. Well-structured requirements management forms an essential basis for achieving the aims of development projects on time and within budget, and is noticeable through increased transparency, reduced risks, less agreement work and better product quality.