Software Requirements Management Working Group

Inadequate, incomplete, erroneous, and ambiguous system and software requirements are a major and ongoing source of problems in systems development. These problems manifest themselves in missed schedules, budget overruns, and systems that are, to varying degrees, unresponsive to the true needs of the customer. These manifestations are often attributed to the poorly defined and ill-understood processes used to elicit, specify, analyze, manage, and validate requirements.
The process described in this document provides information and guidance to personnel involved in the management of system and software requirements. This guidance is intended to satisfy the process activities described for requirements management in the Key Practices of the Capability Maturity Model, Version 1.1, February 1993. The requirements management process contained in this guidebook provides guidance to the practitioners so that each project may tailor the process as is appropriate for the specific site and/or project.