4. System requirements specification

This document sets out the detail required of the new system. It includes

• Data capture methods for the system
• Data inputs to the system
• Data outputs from the system
• Data processing within the system
• The file structure for data storage
• The user interface i.e. screen layouts, buttons, error messages
• How information is accessed and indexed or sorted.
• The operating system to be used
• The hardware to be used to run the new system

This is quite an extensive list of things to be done, but a good system requirements document will hopefully guide developers to a successful conclusion.

An ambiguous or poorly written system requirements document will cause confusion, mistakes and most likely time and cost over-runs.

So it is worth the effort that goes into this task