<div dir="ltr"><div><div><i>A software project has been completed and the software solution has been running successfully for a few months. Simon is collecting all the documentation that was created during the project. In one of the documents he notices this statement: 'When executed, the program must occupy no more than 10 MB of main memory.'</i></div>
<div><i>During which stage of the problem-solving methodology was this statement most probably written?</i></div><div><i>A. design</i></div><div><i>B. analysis</i></div><div><i>C. evaluation</i></div><div><i>D. development</i></div>
</div><div><br></div>A student wrote asking why I said 'analysis' (because it's a non-functional requirement) rather than 'design' (because it's an evaluation criterion.)<div><br></div><div>This made me think...</div>
<div><br></div><div>How <b>do</b> you tell the difference between a solution's non-functional requirement (e.g. 'it must be easy to use') and an evaluation criterion (e.g. 'Is it easy to use?') </div>
<div><br></div><div>Surely one depends on the other... and one is produced during analysis, the other during design.</div><div><br></div><div>The question does not give any clue about when the statement was written. The fact that the statement was <b>noticed </b>after implementation does not mean it was intended to apply to the evaluation phase of the PSM. </div>
<div><br></div><div>It could just as easily have been written during analysis in the SRS's solution requirements and meant to be formally tested at the end of development. </div><div><br></div><div>I still believe the answer is analysis, because as a non-functional requirement its success of failure can be tested immediately during development (does it run in 10M RAM?) whereas an evaluation criterion would usually be evaluated over time (e.g. costs/reliability over several months.)</div>
<div><br></div><div>I believe a non-functional requirement is more a measure of 'Is the solution working properly?' (ie. determined during testing... i.e. it's a functional requirement... i.e. it was written in the analysis phase) rather than 'Is it meeting the organisational goals that led to its creation?' (i.e. determined during evaluation... i.e. it's an evaluation criterion... i.e. it was written in the design phase.)</div>
<div><br></div><div>Has the question shot itself in the foot?</div><div><br></div><div>Ideas?</div><div><br><div dir="ltr">--<div>Mark Kelly</div><div>mark AT vceit DOT com</div><div><a href="http://vceit.com" target="_blank">http://vceit.com</a></div>
<div><br></div><div><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;background-color:rgb(253,253,255)"><font size="1">Day 19, I have successfully conditioned my master to smile and write in his book every time I drool.- Pavlov's Dog</font></span><br>
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