The COSMIC Measurement Practices Committee is pleased to announce the publication of a new ‘Guideline on Non-Functional & Project Requirements. How to consider non-functional and project requirements in software project performance measurement, benchmarking and estimating’. The Guideline is available for free download from the Knowledge Base on www.cosmic-sizing.org .
The Guideline includes the definitions, classification scheme and glossary of Non-functional Requirement (NFR) and Project Requirement and Constraint (PRC) terms as they appear in the ‘NFR Glossary’ that was recently published as a result of a joint COSMIC/IFPUG collaboration.
However, the Guideline goes well beyond the joint Glossary, dealing with the following topics.
– Practical advice on how to deal with NFR and PRC in recording project data, comparing project performance, establishing internal benchmarks and estimating for new projects
– Examples of quality requirements for a software system or product that initially appear as non-functional, but that evolve as a project progresses to requirements for software functionality. Most such functionality can be measured by the standard COSMIC method.
– An introduction to standard ways of recording and measuring each of the NFR and PRC terms.
This Guideline has been developed over the last 18+ months, with input from around the world, including of course the contributions of IFPUG to the definitions, classification and glossary of NFR and PRC terms. We hope you find it valuable.