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2/9/2010 10:17 PM

	Manish
1 posts

Executable requirements

“Ambiguity” in requirements means a requirement can have different interpretations. This leads to incorrect developed software which in turn leads to substantial amount of rework as most of them are uncovered during testing phase. The paradigm of executable requirements is an attempt to remove such ambiguities.

A requirement is called executable if it can be verified. In agile model driven development, acceptance tests, defined in the form of unit tests, constructs the executable requirements. Traditionally, acceptance tests are considered as testing artifacts. But actually, they are the core requirements artifacts as they describe the criteria by which the stakeholders will determine if the system meets their needs. Moreover, they are the unit tests written in functional code. Hence, acceptance tests are executable requirements. Business rules, features, non-functional requirements or GUI requirements can be captured in the form of executable requirements (acceptance tests). Few advantages of executable requirements are listed below:

Executable requirements are specific. General/unclear description will not serve the purpose as defining test cases require specific data and values.
The developer easily understands the workflow the user expects. This can greatly enhance the usability of the application by taking the guesswork out of UI and workflow design. This, in turn, helps design of the data transformation and flow. By understanding the sequence in which the user wants to interact with the system, the developer can assure that the software not only works but is usable as well.
This approach merges requirements, use cases and test cases. This results in removing discreet documents or systems and maintains traceability.

Executable requirements emphasizes on binary outcome of whether the tests are satisfied or not. This eliminates the scope of discussions with the stakeholders whether the requirement is satisfied or not. Run the automated acceptance tests and verify if the software meets the requirements or not.

Thanks !
Manish Kumar,Requirements Engineering Researcher,
[email protected]
http://researchmanish.blog.co.in/