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Business Analyst Blogs | Adaptive US

Non-Functional Requirements - The Hidden Iceberg

by Ann P on Oct 3, 2018 12:00:00 AM

Slide15

The discussion on non-functional requirements, popularly abbreviated as NFR, is a pretty controversial topic.

Sometimes, we hear that the technical team provides the non-functional requirements. It's a bit strange as a system is built for stakeholders and stakeholders should be the providers of the same.

Why do stakeholders find it difficult to provide NFRs?

What makes a requirement non-functional?

Why do we need them?

Is there any easy way to identify them?

Are they too technical for our stakeholders? 

NFRs mean those requirements that are not related to the functionality of the system as the name says it.

Then what exactly are these and why do we need them?

Let's imagine a system where it publishes results for 10 graders school certification examination in a country, say USA. What kind of load it will have when the results are declared? Hundred thousand students and parents will log into the system within 30 minutes of the results being declared. The system must be able to handle such a large spike in load.

This is the kind of requirements which is generally referred to as Non-functional requirements, the requirements which are important for the user community or for the smooth functioning of the system like usability, reliability etc.

It is actually interesting to know that the non-functional requirements have a significantly higher impact on the system architecture than functional requirements.

Failure to capture non-functional requirements can lead to complete re-designing of a solution.

 

Non-functional requirements should always be described in clear terms, such as

  1. The system should be able to handle 0.1 million users simultaneously.
  2. The response time has to be less than 2 seconds for each user.

Here is a good list of common non-functional requirements:

 

NFR Category Non-functional Requirements Short explanation Applicable to situation Can be tested by
Constraint Price The target price for the solution Most Checklist
Constraint Resource constraints Constraints imposed on development such as constraints imposed due to the small screen size of mobile devices. Most Checklist
Compliance Compliance Regulatory compliance. Healthcare (HIPAA, FDA) Integration testing across systems
Compliance Documentation Documentation requirements. Healthcare, Aviation, Automotive Test cases for color blindness
Compliance Legal and licensing issues or patent-infringement-avoidability Adhering to compliance requirements. Most Test cases verification of record data update
Maintainability Analyzability Ability to investigate a failure Most Backup recovery test
Maintainability Changeability Ability to change one component without affecting others, and without causing unexpected failures Most Review the application code
Maintainability Deployment The ease with which an application can be deployed and upgraded. Most Review the application code
Maintainability Escrow The source code of an application is kept securely and available to the buyer under certain conditions Purchased an out-sourced product Checklist
Maintainability Extensibility / Modifiability Ability to extend the product easily Most Consumer feedback
Maintainability Supportability Ability to support applications for a specific period, locations etc. Most Checklist
Maintainability Testability Ease of test automation Most Checklist

 

NFR Category Non-functional Requirements Short explanation Applicable to situation Can be tested by
Performance

Performance/
response time (performance engineering)

 Time taken to respond
to a user request.		 Most Checklist
Performance Resource utilization % of available
capacity used		 Most Checklist
Performance Scalability Ability to support a
specified number of
users/transactions		 Systems supporting a large number of users Review the application code
Portability Interoperability Ability to work with
existing systems.		 Most Review the application code
Portability Platform compatibility Ability to work with
stated platforms.		 Most Review the application code
Portability Replaceability   Most Review the application code
Reliability Availability % of the time the
system is available.		 Critical systems Latency testing
Reliability Backup The frequency
at which data must
be backed-up.		 Universal Test on desired platforms
Reliability Disaster recovery Time taken to restore
the application
after a disaster.		 Most Multiple browser tests
Reliability Failure management
(Fault tolerance)		 Ability to manage
failures.		 Most Checklist
Reliability Quality (e.g. faults discovered, faults delivered, fault removal efficacy) Target defect density Mission-critical applications Code and Design Review
Reliability

Recovery / recoverability
(e.g. mean time
to
recovery - MTTR)

 Ability to recover
quickly		 Mission-critical applications Review the application code
Reliability Reliability (e.g. mean time between
failures - MTBF)		 Ability to provide
service when needed		 Mission-critical applications Review the application code
Reliability Replaceability Ability to replace a
faulty part on the fly		 Mission-critical applications Review the application code
Reliability Resilience Ability to withstand
attacks		 Mission-critical applications Checklist
Reliability Robustness

Ability to operate
continuously even under adverse conditions.

 Most Simulation of internet attack
If the hardware is present, heat cycle testing
Reliability Stability   Most Checklist
Security Audit and
control aka
Accountability		 To track changes
made to data.		 Finance, Healthcare Review the application code
Security Authenticity   Most Review the application code
Security Confidentiality Protect data from
being exposed to
unauthorized users		 Most Review the application code
Security Integrity Maintaining correctness
of data		 Most Penetration test
Security Privacy Ability to keep personal
data secure.		 Health care Penetration test
Usability Accessibility The application being
usable by persons with
special needs such
as color blindness.		 Government Review the application code
Usability Ease of use Limit the number of
clicks to maximum
3 clicks to complete
any transaction		 Most Review the application code
Usability Emotional factors (like fun or absorbing) Making application
likable by
a certain audience.		 Education Checklist
Usability Internationalization Ability to operate the application in different countries such as
handling
multiple time zone,
currency, languages etc.		 Most Review the application code
Usability Learnability Different user
groups should be able to
use the product with
or without training		 Most Review the application code
Usability Safety Ensure safe usage of the product and prevent damages caused by the application. For example, safety features for a navigation system. Where there are dangers to human life. Aviation, Automotive, Health care etc.. Keyboard control test
  Certification Certification on a particular technology such as
certified on Azure.		 Most Untrained user test
  Localization Ability to satisfy the
needs of a particular
country or domain (say petroleum industry)		 Most Review the application code
  Re-usability Ability to re-use existing components and create
new reusable components		 Most Review the application code
Portability Installability Ability to install or uninstall easily Most Review the application code

 

Advantages

  • Makes the system user-friendly/easy to use and acceptable
  • Absence of them makes it lot more difficult to use for users
  • The system may get abandoned due to the absence of these features

Disadvantages

  • Gets missed out often in requirements gathering exercise
  • Difficult to articulate or define quantitatively

We will be happy to receive comments on other types of non-functional requirements that you may have come across in your projects.

 

 Spot the similarities - NFRs and building foundation

 Enterprise Analysis vs Strategy Analysis – Why the Shift?

 
Topics: Business analysis Requirement engineering #AdaptiveUS #BusinessAnalysis #NFR

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