Requirements Analysis – Part 1 Overview

Requirements analysis in software development encompasses those tasks that go into determining the needs or conditions to meet for a new or altered product, taking account of the possibly conflicting requirements of the various stakeholders, such as beneficiaries or users.

• Requirements analysis is the first stage in the systems engineering process and software development process.
• Systematic requirements analysis is also known as requirements engineering.
• Requirements analysis is sometimes referred as requirements gathering, requirements capture, or requirements specification. The term requirements analysis can also be applied specifically to the analysis proper (as opposed to elicitation or technical documentation of the requirements, for instance).

Requirements analysis is critical to the success of a development project. Requirements must be actionable, measurable, testable, related to identified business needs or opportunities, and defined to a level of detail sufficient for system design.