Effective Reporting Capabilities

The Software Requirements Specification (SRS) is a document that defines the functional and non-functional requirements for a software product. It outlines the scope of the project, general descriptions, specific requirements, analysis models, change management process, and appendices. The SRS should be concise, unambiguous, and easily understood by both technical and non-technical stakeholders. It provides a comprehensive overview of the software product's functionality, user interfaces, hardware interfaces, software interfaces, communications interfaces, functional requirements, use cases, classes/objects, non-functional requirements, design constraints, logical database requirements, and other relevant details.

Software Requirements Specification Template
The following annotated template shall be used to complete the Software Requirements
Specification (SRS) assignment
Template Usage:
Text contained within angle brackets (‘<’, ‘>’) shall be replaced by your project-specific
information and/or details.
Italicized text is included to briefly annotate the purpose of each section within this template.
This text should not appear in the final version of your submitted SRS.
This cover page is not a part of the final template and should be removed before your SRS is
submitted.
Acknowledgements:
Sections of this document are based upon the IEEE Guide to Software Requirements
Specification (ANSI/IEEE Std. 830-1984). .
CIS 520 Winter 2014 Software Requirements Specification Template

<Project Name>
Software Requirements Specification
<Version>
<Date>
<Name>
Lead Software Engineer
Prepared for
Monolithic Holdings

<Project Name>
)
Software Requirements Specification Page ii

<Project Name>
Table of Contents
REVISION HISTORY..................................................................................................................II
DOCUMENT APPROVAL...........................................................................................................II
1. INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................1
1.1 PURPOSE.................................................................................................................................1
1.2 SCOPE.................................................................................................................................... 1
1.3 DEFINITIONS, ACRONYMS, AND ABBREVIATIONS.............................................................................1
1.4 REFERENCES............................................................................................................................ 1
1.5 OVERVIEW.............................................................................................................................. 1
2. GENERAL DESCRIPTION........................................................................................................2
2.1 PRODUCT PERSPECTIVE..............................................................................................................2
2.2 PRODUCT FUNCTIONS................................................................................................................2
2.3 USER CHARACTERISTICS............................................................................................................. 2
2.4 GENERAL CONSTRAINTS............................................................................................................. 2
2.5 ASSUMPTIONS AND DEPENDENCIES..............................................................................................2
3. SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS.....................................................................................................2
3.1 EXTERNAL INTERFACE REQUIREMENTS..........................................................................................3
3.1.1 User Interfaces..............................................................................................................3
3.1.2 Hardware Interfaces.....................................................................................................3
3.1.3 Software Interfaces.......................................................................................................3
3.1.4 Communications Interfaces..........................................................................................3
3.2 FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS......................................................................................................3
3.2.1 <Functional Requirement or Feature #1>.....................................................................3
3.2.2 <Functional Requirement or Feature #2>.....................................................................3
3.3 USE CASES.............................................................................................................................. 3
3.3.1 Use Case #1...................................................................................................................3
3.3.2 Use Case #2...................................................................................................................3
3.4 CLASSES / OBJECTS................................................................................................................... 3
3.4.1 <Class / Object #1>....................................................................................................... 3
3.4.2 <Class / Object #2>....................................................................................................... 3
3.5 NON-FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS..............................................................................................4
3.5.1 Performance.................................................................................................................4
3.5.2 Reliability......................................................................................................................4
3.5.3 Availability....................................................................................................................4
3.5.4 Security......................................................................................................................... 4
3.5.5 Maintainability............................................................................................................. 4
3.5.6 Portability..................................................................................................................... 4
3.6 INVERSE REQUIREMENTS............................................................................................................4
3.7 DESIGN CONSTRAINTS............................................................................................................... 4
Software Requirements Specification Page iii

<Project Name>
3.8 LOGICAL DATABASE REQUIREMENTS.............................................................................................4
3.9 OTHER REQUIREMENTS..............................................................................................................4
4. ANALYSIS MODELS...............................................................................................................4
4.1 SEQUENCE DIAGRAMS............................................................................................................... 5
4.3 DATA FLOW DIAGRAMS (DFD)...................................................................................................5
4.2 STATE-TRANSITION DIAGRAMS (STD)..........................................................................................5
5. CHANGE MANAGEMENT PROCESS.......................................................................................5
A. APPENDICES........................................................................................................................5
A.1 APPENDIX 1............................................................................................................................ 5
A.2 APPENDIX 2............................................................................................................................ 5
Software Requirements Specification Page iv

<Project Name>
1. Introduction
The introduction to the Software Requirement Specification (SRS) document should provide an
overview of the complete SRS document. While writing this document please remember that
this document should contain all of the information needed by a software engineer to
adequately design and implement the software product described by the requirements listed in
this document. (Note: the following subsection annotates are largely taken from the IEEE
Guide to SRS).
1.1 Purpose
What is the purpose of this SRS and the (intended) audience that it is written for?
1.2 Scope
This subsection should:
(1) Identify the software product(s) to be produced by name; for example, Host DBMS, Report
Generator, etc.
(2) Explain what the software product(s) will, and, if necessary, will not do
(3) Describe the application of the software being specified. As a portion of this, it should:
(a) Describe all relevant benefits, objectives, and goals as precisely as possible. For example,
to say that one goal is to provide effective reporting capabilities is not as good as saying
parameter-driven, user-definable reports with a 2 h turnaround and on-line entry of user
parameters.
(b) Be consistent with similar statements in higher-level specifications (for example, the
System Requirement Specification), if they exist – then what is the scope of this software
product.
1.3 Definitions, Acronyms, and Abbreviations
This subsection should provide the definitions of all terms, acronyms, and abbreviations
required to properly interpret the SRS. This information may be provided by reference to one or
more appendixes in the SRS or by reference to other documents.
1.4 References
This subsection should:
(1) Provide a complete list of all documents referenced elsewhere in the SRS, or in a separate,
specified document.
(2) Identify each document by title, report number - if applicable - date, and publishing
organization.
(3) Specify the sources from which the references can be obtained.
This information may be provided by reference to an appendix or to another document.
1.5 Overview
This subsection should:
Software Requirements Specification Page 1

<Project Name>
(1) Describe what the rest of the SRS contains
(2) Explain how the SRS is organized.
2. General Description
This section of the SRS should describe the general factors that affect 'the product and its
requirements. It should be made clear that this section does not state specific requirements; it
only makes those requirements easier to understand.
2.1 Product Perspective
This subsection of the SRS puts the product into perspective with other related products or
projects. (See the IEEE Guide to SRS for more details).
2.2 Product Functions
This subsection of the SRS should provide a summary of the functions that the software will
perform.
2.3 User Characteristics
This subsection of the SRS should describe those general characteristics of the eventual users of
the product that will affect the specific requirements. (See the IEEE Guide to SRS for more
details).
2.4 General Constraints
This subsection of the SRS should provide a general description of any other items that will limit
the developer’s options for designing the system. (See the IEEE Guide to SRS for a partial list of
possible general constraints).
2.5 Assumptions and Dependencies
This subsection of the SRS should list each of the factors that affect the requirements stated in
the SRS. These factors are not design constraints on the software but are, rather, any changes
to them that can affect the requirements in the SRS. For example, an assumption might be that
a specific operating system will be available on the hardware designated for the software
product. If, in fact, the operating system is not available, the SRS would then have to change
accordingly.
3. Specific Requirements
This will be the largest and most important section of the SRS. The customer requirements will
be embodied within Section 2, but this section will give the D-requirements that are used to
guide the project’s software design, implementation, and testing.
Each requirement in this section should be:
 Correct
 Traceable (both forward and backward to prior/future artifacts)
Software Requirements Specification Page 2

<Project Name>
 Unambiguous
 Verifiable (i.e., testable)
 Prioritized (with respect to importance and/or stability)
 Complete
 Consistent
 Uniquely identifiable (usually via numbering like 3.4.5.6)
Attention should be paid to the carefuly organize the requirements presented in this section so
that they may easily accessed and understood. Furthermore, this SRS is not the software design
document, therefore one should avoid the tendency to over-constrain (and therefore design) the
software project within this SRS.
3.1 External Interface Requirements
3.1.1 User Interfaces
3.1.2 Hardware Interfaces
3.1.3 Software Interfaces
3.1.4 Communications Interfaces
3.2 Functional Requirements
This section describes specific features of the software project. If desired, some requirements
may be specified in the use-case format and listed in the Use Cases Section.
3.2.1 <Functional Requirement or Feature #1>
3.2.1.1 Introduction
3.2.1.2 Inputs
3.2.1.3 Processing
3.2.1.4 Outputs
3.2.1.5 Error Handling
3.2.2 <Functional Requirement or Feature #2>
…
3.3 Use Cases
3.3.1 Use Case #1
3.3.2 Use Case #2
…
3.4 Classes / Objects
3.4.1 <Class / Object #1>
3.4.1.1 Attributes
3.4.1.2 Functions
Software Requirements Specification Page 3

<Project Name>
<Reference to functional requirements and/or use cases>
3.4.2 <Class / Object #2>
…
3.5 Non-Functional Requirements
Non-functional requirements may exist for the following attributes. Often these requirements
must be achieved at a system-wide level rather than at a unit level. State the requirements in
the following sections in measurable terms (e.g., 95% of transaction shall be processed in less
than a second, system downtime may not exceed 1 minute per day, > 30 day MTBF value, etc).
3.5.1 Performance
3.5.2 Reliability
3.5.3 Availability
3.5.4 Security
3.5.5 Maintainability
3.5.6 Portability
3.6 Inverse Requirements
State any *useful* inverse requirements.
3.7 Design Constraints
Specify design constrains imposed by other standards, company policies, hardware limitation,
etc. that will impact this software project.
3.8 Logical Database Requirements
Will a database be used? If so, what logical requirements exist for data formats, storage
capabilities, data retention, data integrity, etc.
3.9 Other Requirements
Catchall section for any additional requirements.
4. Analysis Models
List all analysis models used in developing specific requirements previously given in this SRS.
Each model should include an introduction and a narrative description. Furthermore, each
model should be traceable the SRS’s requirements.
Software Requirements Specification Page 4

<Project Name>
4.1 Sequence Diagrams
4.3 Data Flow Diagrams (DFD)
5. Change Management Process
Identify and describe the process that will be used to update the SRS, as needed, when project
scope or requirements change. Who can submit changes and by what means, and how will
these changes be approved.
A. Appendices
Appendices may be used to provide additional (and hopefully helpful) information. If present,
the SRS should explicitly state whether the information contained within an appendix is to be
considered as a part of the SRS’s overall set of requirements.
Example Appendices could include (initial) conceptual documents for the software project,
marketing materials, minutes of meetings with the customer(s), etc.
A.1 Appendix 1
A.2 Appendix 2
Software Requirements Specification Page 5