Illustrate system requirements

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System Fundamentals[1]

Once you have understood and chosen a system, you must diagram how the system works. This works prevents problems in the future by ensuring you understand all inputs and outputs, AND how a system is organized.

There are several ways to represent system requirements, including:

  1. Use Cases: A use case is a description of a system's behavior as it responds to a request from one of its users. Use cases can be used to represent the functional requirements of a system.
  2. User Stories: A user story is a short, simple description of a feature written from the perspective of the user. User stories can be used to represent both functional and non-functional requirements of a system.
  3. Requirements Specification: A requirements specification is a detailed document that describes the requirements for a system. It can include functional and non-functional requirements, as well as constraints, assumptions, and dependencies.
  4. Requirements Traceability Matrix: A requirements traceability matrix is a table that shows the relationships between different requirements in a system. It can be used to track the progress of the development of a system and ensure that all requirements have been addressed.
  5. Prototypes: Prototypes are simplified versions of a system that are used to test and refine the requirements. Prototypes can be used to represent both functional and non-functional requirements.
  6. Flowcharts: Flowcharts are diagrams that show the steps in a process. They can be used to represent the logic and flow of a system, and can be useful in representing functional requirements.


Real-world practical advice[edit]

This step is especially important when you are working with many different interdependent systems.


Standards[edit]

These standards are used from the IB Computer Science Subject Guide[2]

  • Construct suitable representations to illustrate system requirements


References[edit]

  1. http://www.flaticon.com/
  2. IB Diploma Programme Computer science guide (first examinations 2014). Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom: International Baccalaureate Organization. January 2012.