Chapter 02
Overall Description
While making an SRS you need to ensure that the descriptive part is as per the requirement and it is not stretched unnecessarily. At the same time, you must ensure the prime pointers are covered. Here is a list of the top sections that you must include in the description of an SRS.
Product Perspective
This area of the SRS should compare and contrast the product with similar items. It should be specified here if the product is completely self-contained and autonomous.
If the SRS defines a product that is a component of a larger system, as is often the case, this paragraph should link the bigger system's requirements to the software's capabilities and specify interfaces between the two systems. A block diagram illustrating the bigger system's primary components, linkages, and external interfaces can be useful
Product Features
This part should list out the features you expected from a product. For instance, if you are going to develop a food delivery app, then this part should include all the key features related to browsing through restaurants, choosing products, placing order, tracking or canceling order, taking customer support, rating restaurants, and others.
Always be specific about the product features and the related goals to avoid any type of ambiguities in the future. This also helps in developing an effcient product with the required functionalities.
User Classes and Characteristics
As the name suggests, user classes simply refer to the target audience and their types. It is significant to classify and document the target users to optimize the effectiveness of your product.
A single product can have diverse audiences from diverse sectors. And it is important to segregate the audience based on their purposes of using the product, the sector they are operating in, the key features/solutions they are looking for, and others. Also, it is a good practice to include their purchase patterns, what kind of permissions or user experience they require and other important factors.
Operating Environment
The place where users run application software or programmes is referred to as the operating environment. It is not a full operating system (OS), rather it functions as middleware, or software that allows the OS to interact with a specific application.
Initially, operating environments assisted an operating system in improving and expanding its capabilities beyond just providing a dependable user interface (UI). The underlying concept is straightforward: the more unique or separate machines and apps you have to manually manage, the more effort you'll expend, not just during initial deployment and configuration, but also during ongoing maintenance.
Everything from provisioning and deployment to patching and other operational procedures can benefit from standardization. And it is an unskippable part while documenting your SRS.
Design and Implementation Constraints
Design restrictions can have a big impact on the product design, so they should be thoroughly tested before being imposed on the solution. To handle design constraints, categorize them (e.g., hardware, software, method, algorithm), determine the specific limitations for each category, and capture them as system requirements in the Requirements package along with their justification.
The physical architecture is then merged with the design limitations. Physical requirements, performance requirements, software development standards, and software quality assurance standards are examples of appropriate design restrictions. And all related design and implementation constraints should be documented in the SRS to overcome them during the development and implementation phases and avoid any complexities in the future.
User Documentation
The section where you define how you'll deliver your documentation to your customers and product users is called User Documentation. Assumptions and Dependencies - include any assumptions that may have an impact on the SRS's requirements.
The User Requirements Specification outlines the business requirements for the system's users. User Requirements Specifications are written early in the validation process, usually prior to the creation of the system. They are written with feedback from Quality Assurance by the system owner and end-users.
Assumptions and Dependencies
It's critical to state the assumptions you're working with right away. It's just as vital to make a list of the variables that are beyond your control but could have an impact on the project's outcome.