Analysis is the process of maximising problem domain understanding. Only through complete understanding can an analyst comprehend the responsibilities of a system. The modelling of these responsibilities is a natural way of expressing system requirements. The simplest way for an analyst to increase understanding is through interaction with the customer and potential users of the system, where one of the most common problems is that an interrelated set of requirements must be incorporated into one coherent and consistent framework. Interaction with the customer is an example of informal communication. It is an important part of analysis and, although it cannot be formalised, it is possible to add rigour to the process. A well-defined analysis method can help the communication process by reducing the amount of information an analyst needs to assimilate. By stating the type of information that is useful, it is possible to structure the communication process. Effective analysis for building requirements models is dependent on knowing the sort of information that is required, extracting it, and recording it in some coherent fashion.
Clearly, a document which proposes a set of standards for a general problem domain has a key role to play in the analysis and requirements capture during the development of a particular system within that domain. The nature of the standards dictates how they should be used in improving analysis and requirements capture, and hence in addressing the major issues that often arise when building any complex computer system: will the user trust it enough to use it, will the customer be able to ensure that the system being procured meets the needs of the users, will a delivered system be amenable to independent verification (test) against that which was agreed during procurement, and will the manufacturers be able to better design their product based on the shared knowledge of the common required standards?
We propose that the CoE standards should be judged on how well they answer the questions posed above.