Mapping Requirements Specification Standards (Activity)

Title	Mapping requirements specification standards
Overview	This activity lets students become familiar with the requirements engineering standards IEEE 830 and ISO 29148. This is the third activity used in the Requirements Engineering course. Both standards are introduced during the lecture. (Slides "Frameworks, templates, and standards")
Prerequisites
Learning Objectives	After successfully completing this activity, the learner should be able to: Identify elements from the IEEE 830 and ISO 29148 standards and analyze where they are applicable in a project.
Process Skills Practiced	Critical Thinking, Problem Solving

Background

• Background reading material: Slides "Frameworks, templates, and standards"
• Standard on Requirements Specifications IEEE 830
• ISO standard 29148 on Requirements engineering
• Rationale for this activity: Both standards are heavily used in industry and students should be familiar with them.

Directions

In this lab session, we will work with the standards IEEE 830 and ISO 29148. Start by reading through both standards provided in PDF form on BeachBoard.

1. IEEE 830
   1. Summarize the main purposes of the standard in your own words.
   2. Summarize the main drawbacks of the standard in your own words.
2. IEEE 29148
   1. Summarize the main purposes of the standard in your own words.
   2. Summarize the main drawbacks of the standard in your own words.
3. In OpenMRS, is there any application of either one of the standards?
   It may not even be mentioned explicitly, but can you find evidence or indicators of some sort that either standard has been or is being used?
4. How and where could OpenMRS benefit from the application of 29148?
   Identify places in their documentation or process description where the standard may be applied.
   Find 3 examples.
5. Which parts of 29148 are not useful or applicable to OpenMRS development or to Open Source Software development in general and why?
   Find 3 examples.

Assignment sheet with these directions.

Deliverables

• Students will hand in a PDF of the analysis results and their examples, about one text of page in total.

Notes for Instructors

The remaining sections of this document are intended for the instructor. They are not part of the learning activity that would be given to students.

Assessment

• How will the activity be graded?
  • This activity is usually not graded. It is intended to familiarize students with the standards.
• How will learning will be measured?
  • The quality of their answers indicates how well they understand the standards and can make use of them.
• How will feedback to the student be determined?
  • Written feedback to the written answers or discussion in class, according to the instructor's preference.

The form of the assessment is expected to vary by assignment. One possible format is the table:

Criteria	Level 1 (fail)	Level 2 (pass)	Level 3 (good)	Level 4 (exceptional)
Accurateness	The summaries of purposes and drawbacks are wrong.	The summaries of purposes and drawbacks are in general correct but lack important aspects.	The summaries of purposes and drawbacks are mostly correct.	The summaries of purposes and drawbacks are spot-on and well described.
Application	The examples of actual and envisioned application in OpenMRS (or chosen project) are wrong.	The examples of actual and envisioned application in OpenMRS (or chosen project) are partly correct.	The examples of actual and envisioned application in OpenMRS (or chosen project) are mostly correct and described in a conclusive way.	The examples of actual and envisioned application in OpenMRS (or chosen project) are all correct and described well.

Comments

• What should the instructor know before using this activity?
  • Standards are not so exciting to read, so finding examples in where they have been applied and where they may be applied make them more interesting to engage with.
• What are some likely difficulties that an instructor may encounter using this activity?
  • Examples may be given in a very generic manner. Best to ask for specific references to where in the project documentation there is a plug for the specific standard contents to be used.

Suggestions for Open Source Community

Documentation may benefit from standards, so the results of the exercise can give feedback to the community on where standards may be applied more effectively.