Suggestion about the choice of your system's purpose: a functionally correct, reliable, robust, usable, maintainable, portable software system for a webservice or control system.

In this class we will use a particular format called a Software Requirements Specification (SRS) for requirements description.  The standard we use is the IEEE 830-1998 Recommended Practice for Software Requirements Specifications (SRS spec ).  Your initial task, as a team, is to prepare an SRS according to this standard.  The SRS will serve as the contract between my organization and yours concerning what the final product will do and its required quality attributes.  While writing the requirements, keep in mind that you will have to demonstrate that your final product meets the stated requirements.  This means that it is important to write all of the requirements in a verifiable manner.  Each time you write a statement in the requirements document, ask yourself, "How will I demonstrate that this requirement has been met?" Also, keep in mind that requirements answer the questions "What would the system do ?" as opposed to "How would the system meet its requirements?".

For additional guidance, refer to the article "Writing Quality Requirements," by Karl S. Weigers (WritingReqs).  Other beneficial information can be found in the articles, "The Personal Software Process: Overview, Practice and Results," and "The Personal Software Process," by Watts S. Humphrey.  The books Introduction to the Personal Software Process and Introduction to the Team Software Process provide much more information and motivation for the collection of data in engineering notebooks but are not required reading.

The SRS must provide a Table of Contents.  The Table of Contents must be annotated to indicate which team member had been primarily responsible for which section(s).  The SRS must also provide an Index.  Appendices are optional and need only be used for supplemental material, copies of customer emails, pertinent group communications, etc. A sample of SRS content may look as follows: SRS sample content .