2004

Jäälinoja, Juho

Development of correct requirements at the beginning of a software project is considered an important precondition for successful software development. Moreover, implementing these requirements correctly during the software development is arguably just as important. Rigorous implementation of requirements in embedded software development is especially critical, since requirements affect both software and hardware. The goal of this research is to identify elements for effective requirements implementation in embedded software development. A conceptual-theoretical research approach is applied to analyse previous research on requirements implementation and to construct a new theory which integrates requirements implementation related elements into a holistic framework. These elements include requirements implementation processes, methods, and roles. The developed framework describes relations among these elements and furthermore their relation to software development activities. The framework can be used as a basis for improving software development areas that are related to requirements implementation. To validate the feasibility of the developed framework, two case studies were carried out within embedded software development organisations. The validation was conducted by making a current state analysis and by suggesting improvements based on the developed requirements implementation framework. The results from the case studies indicated that the framework was a useful foundation for improving the organisations' requirements implementation practices.