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Enterprise Business Requirements 32569
Autumn 2017
Assignment 2
Inspection of Software Requirements Specifications (SRS)
Submission Deadline: 10.00am Monday 22 May 2017
Maximum Mark: 10% of the overall assessment for this subject
Objectives: 1, 2, and 3 in the subject outline
Estimated Work load: For a team of 3 to 4 students, 5-7 hours per student
Introduction
This assignment will be carried out in teams that were formed for assignment 1. Each team will
conduct a formal inspection of an existing software requirements specification (SRS) that will be
sent to the group by the subject coordinator. The team will submit an inspection report as described
below.
Doing the assignment
Your team will follow the steps below to perform the assignment:
1. Select an inspection method - The lecture notes offer a number of ways of organizing an
inspection (e.g. see Slide 40 in Lecture 7). You will also need to gather any supporting
documents, including checklists, role descriptions, defect recording forms, etc. While most
of these will be made available on UTS online, you may have to conduct some research and
make your own selection.
2. Familiarize yourselves with the inspection forms - There are forms for documenting the
defects discovered before and during the inspection meeting, and forms for summarizing
the findings afterwards. These forms will be available on UTS online under assignment 2
link.
3. Choose the roles for your team members - One person will need to chair the meeting
(leader or moderator). Another person will need to document the findings during the
meeting (recorder or scribe). Other roles (e.g. reader, inspectors) may be needed
depending on your chosen inspection process.
4. Set a date, time, and place to conduct the inspection meeting - Make sure all team
members are available, allocate at least 2 hours uninterrupted time, and a quiet place to
work.
5. Prepare for the inspection - Each team member should prepare for the inspection meeting
by carefully reading the specification before the meeting, and compiling an initial list of
defects.
6. Conduct the inspection meeting - If your team is not prepared at the start of the meeting,
or if a member of the team is not present, the leader should postpone the meeting, and
arrange an alternative date.2
7. Summarize the findings after the meeting - Make sure someone (you may select a person
who did not play a specific role as specified in 3 above for this task), collects all the forms
together, and summarizes the defects discovered.
8. Write an inspection report – This report describes the inspection process you used, your
key findings, and discusses any insights you gained, both on the SRS, and the nature of the
inspection process. For example, if you had to do it again, what would you do differently?
Resources
To help you conduct an inspection you may need to use the following documents that are available
on UTS online:
• A Sample Inspection Process Description (inspection_process_model.pdf)
• Inspections Moderator's Checklist (inspection_moderator_clist.pdf)
To help you record the results of your inspection (and the preparation for it), you will need the
following forms:
• Inspections Typo Log (inspection_typo_log.pdf)
• Inspections Issue Log (inspection_issue_log.pdf)
• Inspections Summary Report Form (inspection_summary_report.pdf)
• Inspections Lessons Learnt Questionnaire (inspection_lessons_learnt.pdf)
Example checklists were covered in slide 43 of lecture 6:
• Wiegers' Checklist for Inspecting Requirements
http://www.processimpact.com/pr_goodies.shtml
• NASA JPL's Checklist for Requirements
• NASA JPL's Checklist for Functional Requirements
• Firesmith's Checklist for Requirements Specifications
You may wish to use the University of Maryland definition of defect classes (UMaryland-defectclasses.pdf) if you don’t like the defect types specified in Wiegers’ Inspection Issue Log form
(inspection_issue_log.pdf).
Submission Details
You are required to submit the following deliverables for the inspection of the SRS that you were
allocated:
1. Entry and Exit Criteria check list (1 Mark)
2. A description of the inspection process you used. This description must include: (a) what
roles did your team members take on? (b) How did you structure the inspection meeting?
(c) What activities were included in your process and why? (2 Marks)
3. The result of the inspection exercise. Use the relevant forms provided on UTS online and
listed below to document your inspection results. Make sure that you use the relevant parts.
Use continuation sheets if you run out of space on a form. (5 Marks)3
4. A reflection of your inspection practice and a discussion of the lessons learnt from your
inspection exercise. What went well?, what went wrong?, what would you do differently?
You may use the “Inspection lessons Learnt Questionnaire” document only as a guide to
help you. But please note that you must write a full reflection of the entire assignment, not
just answering those questions. (2 Marks)
Your group will submit a soft copy of assignment on UTS-online (subject line should be
[Assignment 2 - Group X] where X is your group number) and one hard copy to the Assignment
boxes 57 or 58 on level 5 next to the Learning precinct) on 10 am Monday 22 May 2017. Your
assignment will be marked and returned after 2 weeks.
All submission for every development group will be in the following format:
1. The front page of every submission should include the “Assignment_submission” template
provided on UTS Online.
2. The second page will consist of a checklist as identified below. An item that is “ticked” in the
checklist indicates that this item is included in the submission. It is the group’s responsibility to
ensure submissions are complete and all documents are secure. Groups who fail to provide all
material in the checklist will be awarded a zero for that submission as it will not be marked.
Checklist
• The front page
• Entry Criteria check list
• Exit Criteria check list
• A full description of the inspection process you used.
• The result of the inspection exercise.
• A discussion of the lessons learnt from your inspection exercise.
• The SRS document that you have inspected.
Penalties
Failure to submit complete set: incomplete submissions will not be assessed and will result in the
group being assigned zero for that submission. It is essential that groups ensure their submission is
complete.
Late submissions and presentation: Up to three marks will be deducted from the total assignment
mark for unclear or untidy presentation. One mark per day will be deducted from the total
assignment mark for late submissions, more than seven days late the assignment will receive zero.
Special consideration, for late submission, must be arranged beforehand with the subject
coordinator.
Special Consideration
If your performance in an assessment item has been affected by extenuating or special
circumstances beyond your control you may apply for Special Consideration. Information on how
to apply can be found at http://www.sau.uts.edu.au/assessment/consideration.html4
Extensions will only be considered if a group member is unable to attend meeting or submit work
for more than one week because of legitimate misadventure (such as work problem, health
problem or family problem) and the group has notified the subject coordinator at least one week in
advance of the submission date.
Overcoming Group Work Challenges
It is not uncommon for groups to have difficulties working together, in both industry and at
university. It is therefore necessary for students to behave in a professional manner while working
on their assignments. If your group is having difficulty working together, the groups should follow
the guideline detailed below:
1. Approach the person with whom you are having a problem and attempt to solve the problem
individually.
2. Attempt to resolve the problem as a group.
3. If there is still a problem, then the group should approach the lecturer and ask her to arbitrate.
You must do this as soon as it is apparent that the problem cannot be resolved by the group.
4. If the member continues to cause problems then the other members must write and sign a formal
statement describing problem(s) and present it to the lecturer. She will then review the statement
and a decision will be made on the most appropriate course of action to take (e.g. Normally, each
group member will score the same mark, problem member may be given a lower mark than the
rest of the group, or zero, for the assignment).
Academic Standards
All text written in assignments must be your own words, except for short, quoted, and clearly
referenced sections. Text copied from web pages, articles or other sources, and not referenced, will
be viewed as plagiarism and forwarded to the Faculty Conduct Committee as misconduct. More
information is available in the subject outline.
The Faculty penalty for proven and serial misconduct of this nature is zero marks for the Subject.
For more information go to: .
Bibliography
Karl E. Wiegers, "Peer Reviews in Software: A Practical Guide", Addison-Wesley, 2001. (All the
above forms were adapted from Karl Wieger's book, and are all available at
http://www.processimpact.com/pr_goodies.shtml)
The NASA Formal Inspections Guidebook and Standard are available from the NASA Software
Technology Assurance Center at http://satc.gsfc.nasa.gov/fi/fipage.html
The NASA Instructional Handbook for Formal Inspections
http://sw-eng.larc.nasa.gov/process/documents/pdfdocs/inspection.pdf
Philip Johnson's archive of formal technical review materials:
http://www2.ics.Hawaii.Edu/%7Ejohnson/FTR/