3 A Proven Approach to Requirements Baseline Management

Abstract

ABSTRACTRequirements baseline management can be the single most effective method used to guide system development and test. This paper presents a proven approach to requirements baseline management, requirements traceability, and processes for major system development programs. Effective baseline management can be achieved by providing: effective team leadership to guide and monitor development efforts; efficient processes to define what tasks needs to be done and how to accomplish them; and adequate tools to implement and support selected processes.As in any but the smallest organization, effective engineering leadership is essential to provide a framework within which the rest of the program's engineering staff can function to manage the requirements baseline. Once a leadership team is in place, the next task is to establish processes that cover the scope of establishing and maintaining the requirements baseline. These processes will form the basis for consistent execution across the engineering staff. Finally, given an appropriate leadership model with a forward plan, and a collection of processes that correctly identify what steps to take and how to accomplish them, consideration must be given to selecting a tool set appropriate to the program's needs.