Evaluation method for user requirements documents

The specification generated during the requirements specification phase acts as a cornerstone for the entire software development process. The quality of this document directly influences the overall quality of the resulting software product. The process of requirements specification uses as its input a natural language requirements document, generated by the system's users. This document serves as a guide to the actual specification process. A method is presented for the evaluation and analysis of this document. This analysis permits improvements to be made in the initial requirements document before its use in a formalized specification paradigm. By improving the quality of this document, the input to the specification process is enhanced. This enhancement strengthens not only the developed specification, but also the entire software development process.