Requirements Management is the process of documenting, analyzing, tracing, prioritizing and controlling changes to requirements. It’s a continuous process and is conducted throughout a systems life cycle and confirmed at each technical review. The purpose is to assure that the requirements continue to meet the needs and expectations of its customers and stakeholders. [2]
Documenting
Requirements should be documented throughout a program from concept development thru disposal. Requirements in the DoD are documented in the:
- Initial Capabilities Document (ICD)
- Capability Development Document (CDD)
- Capability Production Document (CPD)
- Weapons System Specification (WSS)
Requirements should be maintained in a relational database, numbering standards, or other methods that show relationships. There are a number of relational databases on the market that systems engineers can use that include:
Analyzing
The goal of requirements analysis is to determine the needs that make up a system to satisfy an overall need from the customer. It examines, evaluates, and translates needs into a set of functional and performance requirements that are the basis for the Functional Analysis and Allocation.
Tracing
DoD Requirements Management provides traceability back to user-defined capabilities documented in the Initial Capabilities Document (ICD), Capability Development Document (CDD) and Capability Production Document (CPD). A good requirements management system should allow for traceability from the lowest level component in the Weapons System Specification (WSS) all the way back to the ICD. Relational databases are a good tool in doing this. The Program Manager (PM) and Chief Systems Engineer should institute a Requirements Management process to do the following: [1]
- Maintain the traceability of all requirements from capabilities needs through design and test,
- Document all changes to those requirements, and
- Record the rationale for those changes
Prioritizing
One characteristic of excellent requirements management is that the requirements are prioritized. When customer expectations are high, timelines are short, and resources are limited, a program manager wants to make sure the system contains the most essential requirements. These requirements are expressed as:
- Key Performance Parameters (KPP)
- Key System Attributes (KSA)
- Other System Attributes
AcqLinks and References:
- [1] Defense Acquisition Guidebook (DAG)
- [2] Website: Wikipedia – Requirements Management
Updated: 6/01/2018
