MES3023 Software Requirements & Specification

01 Introduction, Concepts and

Fundamentals (Part 1)
Week 1 - A181
Dr. Azniah Ismail | MIT lab
You shall learn…

The Importance of Software Requirements,

Dilemma in Getting Requirements
How bad is bad?
 Is this bad?
Customer requirements:
1. Have one trunk.
2. Have four legs.
3. Can carry loads both passenger and cargo.
4. Dark grey or black in color.
..if what you
give …
1. Have one trunk.
2. Have four legs.
3. Can carry loads
both passenger
and cargo.
4. Dark grey or
black in color.
5. Our value added:
also gives MILK
 A Blue Line train moving with doors open
Monday, June 16, 2014
CHICAGO (WLS) -- A CTA passenger captured cell phone video of a train moving along the Blue Line track
with its doors wide open. CTA investigators say they are as puzzled as passengers.

Riders reacted, quickly moving away from the open doors as the Blue Line train increased speed with the
doors wide open. The train continued to the California stop and the doors stayed open. "I was shocked,
but I don't think the operator knew," that passenger only identified as Karolina said. "I don't think there
was any indication there was this problem occurring."

The tracks between Western and California are electrified and elevated, making a dangerous situation
potentially deadly. "It was Friday the 13th at 4:30 p.m. Usually a packed train, but luckily it wasn't like
that," Karolina said.

A CTA spokesman called the incident a "rare occurrence" on the last car of an eight-car train. After a
passenger complained, the train car was taken out of service and inspected. A CTA review of the train's
onboard camera shows someone pulled the emergency exit lever, causing the doors to open. But that
still does not explain why the train was able to keep moving with the doors open. "Even if he went to
power it up, if that light's not on indicating all the doors are closed, that train will not move or should not
move," said the spokesman. ABC7 Eyewitness News has been told it wasn't a CTA operator, but a
passenger who finally got the door to close by jiggling the emergency release switch.

In March, a failsafe stop trigger wasn't enough to stop a dozing CTA operator from smashing into the
O'Hare station. In September at the other end of the line, another crash happened when an out-of-
service train rolled out of the yard and collided with another full of passengers.
We need Requirement Engineering to
get the Software Requirements
• To Avoid: Issues like the requirements being too
subjective, misunderstood, not enough/incomplete,
incorrect, gold plated, dangerous all (over extension),
scope creep, inconsistent, hazard, undesirable
• Remember the elephant-buffalo problem? Which issues it
refers to?
• The Risks: top down design is impossible, testing is
impossible, poor project management, project failure…
– Cost vs. Errors
NOT ENOUGH EFFORT

(An excerpt from Laplante, 2013)

Let’s Play a Game
Want to Play another Game?
End of PART 1