Modeling User Requirements with a Front-End Analysis

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a front-end analysis approach to specifying vague requirements and identifying implicit user requirements for early validation. First, functional requirements are arranged into a function-subfunction hierarchy based on functional decomposition approach; whereas, nonfunctional requirements are decomposed into two types of hierarchy: a classification hierarchy through IS-A relationship, and an aggregation hierarchy using IS-PART-OF relationship. Second, constraint networks are built from the hierarchies. Propagation rules are then applied to derive implicit requirements. Finally, the derived requirements are represented using Zadeh's canonical forms14.