SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS SPECIFICATION DOCUMENT

1. Introduction
1.1 Purpose
Identify the product whose software requirements are specified in this document, including the
revision or release number. Describe the scope of the product that is covered by this SRS,
particularly if this SRS describes only part of the system or a single subsystem.

1.2 Intended Audience and Reading Suggestions

Describe the different types of reader that the document is intended for, such as developers,
project managers, marketing staff, users, testers, and documentation writers. Describe what the
rest of this SRS contains and how it is organized. Suggest a sequence for reading the document,
beginning with the overview sections and proceeding through the sections that are most pertinent
to each reader type.

1.3 Project Scope

Provide a short description of the software being specified and its purpose, including
relevant benefits and objectives. Relate the software to corporate goals or business strategies. If
a separate vision and scope document is available, refer to it rather than duplicating its contents
here. An SRS that specifies the next release of an evolving product should contain its own scope
statement as a subset of the long-term strategic product vision.

2. Overall Description
2.1 User Classes and Characteristics
Identify the various user classes that you anticipate will use this product. User classes may be
differentiated based on frequency of use, subset of product functions used, technical expertise,
security or privilege levels, educational level, or experience. Describe the pertinent
characteristics of each user class. Certain requirements may pertain only to certain user classes.
Distinguish the favored user classes from those who are less important to satisfy.

2.2 Operating Environment

Describe the environment in which the software will operate, including the hardware platform,
operating system and versions, and any other software components or applications with which it
must peacefully coexist.

2.3 Design and Implementation Constraints(limitations)

Describe any items or issues that will limit the options available to the developers. These might
include: corporate or regulatory policies; hardware limitations (timing requirements, memory
requirements); interfaces to other applications; specific technologies, tools, and databases to be
used; parallel operations; language requirements; communications protocols; security
considerations; design conventions or programming standards (for example, if the customer’s
organization will be responsible for maintaining the delivered software).

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2.4 User Documentation
List the user documentation components (such as user manuals, on-line help, and tutorials)
that will be delivered along with the software. Identify any known user documentation delivery
formats or standards.

2.5 Assumptions and Dependencies

List any assumed factors (as opposed to known facts) that could affect the requirements stated in
the SRS. These could include third-party or commercial components that you plan to use, issues
around the development or operating environment, or constraints. The project could be affected if
these assumptions are incorrect, are not shared, or change. Also identify any dependencies the
project has on external factors, such as software components that you intend to reuse from
another project, unless they are already documented elsewhere (for example, in the vision and
scope document or the project plan).

3. Functional Requirements
These are the software capabilities that must be present in order for the user to carry out the
services provided by a certain feature, or to execute the use case. Include how the product should
respond to anticipated error conditions or invalid inputs. Requirements should be concise,
complete, unambiguous, verifiable, and necessary.
Each requirement should be uniquely identified with a sequence number or a meaningful tag of
some kind.
REQ-1:
REQ-2:

3.1 System Features

System features are system components that will be used to meet the identified requirements or
provide major services specified by the user. Examples are database, login screen/page, payment
module etc. You may prefer to organize this section by use case, mode of operation, user class,
object class, functional hierarchy, or combinations of these, whatever makes the most logical
sense for your product.

3.1.1 System Feature 1

Don’t really say “System Feature 1.” State the feature name in just a few words. e.g. Database,
login page etc.

Description and Priority

Provide a short description of the feature and indicate whether it is of High, Medium, or Low
priority. You could also include specific priority component ratings, such as benefit, penalty,
cost, and risk (each rated on a relative scale from a low of 1 to a high of 9).

Stimulus/Response Sequences

List the sequences of user actions and system responses that stimulate the behavior defined for
this feature. These will correspond to the dialog elements associated with use cases.

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3.1.2 System Feature 2
……………
………………… etc.

3. External Interface Requirements

3.1 User Interfaces
Describe the logical characteristics of each interface between the software product and the users.
This may include sample screen images, any GUI standards or product family style guides that
are to be followed, screen layout constraints, standard buttons and functions (e.g., help) that will
appear on every screen, keyboard shortcuts, error message display standards, and so on. Define
the software components for which a user interface is needed. Details of the user interface design
should be documented in a separate user interface specification.

3.2 Hardware Interfaces

Describe the logical and physical characteristics of each interface between the software product
and the hardware components of the system. This may include the supported device types, the
nature of the data and control interactions between the software and the hardware, and
communication protocols to be used.

3.3 Software Interfaces

Describe the connections between this product and other specific software components (name
and version), including databases, operating systems, tools, libraries, and integrated commercial
components. Identify the data items or messages coming into the system and going out and
describe the purpose of each. Describe the services needed and the nature of communications.
Refer to documents that describe detailed application programming interface protocols. Identify
data that will be shared across software components. If the data sharing mechanism must be
implemented in a specific way (for example, use of a global data area in a multitasking
operating system), specify this as an implementation constraint.

3.4 Communications Interfaces

Describe the requirements associated with any communications functions required by this
product, including e-mail, web browser, network server communications protocols, electronic
forms, and so on. Define any pertinent message formatting. Identify any communication
standards that will be used, such as FTP or HTTP. Specify any communication security or
encryption issues, data transfer rates, and synchronization mechanisms.

4. Other Nonfunctional Requirements

4.1 Performance Requirements
If there are performance requirements for the product under various circumstances, state them
here and explain their rationale, to help the developers understand the intent and make suitable
design choices. Specify the timing relationships for real time systems. Make such requirements
as specific as possible. You may need to state performance requirements for individual functional
requirements or features.

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4.2 Safety Requirements
Specify those requirements that are concerned with possible loss, damage, or harm that could
result from the use of the product. Define any safeguards or actions that must be taken, as well as
actions that must be prevented. Refer to any external policies or regulations that state safety
issues that affect the product’s design or use. Define any safety certifications that must be
satisfied.

4.3 Security Requirements

Specify any requirements regarding security or privacy issues surrounding use of the product or
protection of the data used or created by the product. Define any user identity authentication
requirements. Refer to any external policies or regulations containing security issues that affect
the product. Define any security or privacy certifications that must be satisfied.

4.4 Software Quality Attributes

Specify any additional quality characteristics for the product that will be important to either the
customers or the developers. Some to consider are: adaptability, availability, correctness,
flexibility, interoperability, maintainability, portability, reliability, reusability, robustness,
testability, and usability. Write these to be specific, quantitative, and verifiable when possible.
At the least, clarify the relative preferences for various attributes, such as ease of use over ease of
learning.

5. Other Requirements.
Define any other requirements not covered elsewhere in the SRS. This might include database
requirements, internationalization requirements, legal requirements, reuse objectives for the
project, and so on. Add any new sections that are pertinent to the project.

7. References
List any other documents or Web addresses to which this SRS refers. These may include user
interface style guides, contracts, standards, system requirements specifications, use case
documents, or a vision and scope document. Provide enough information so that the reader could
access a copy of each reference, including title, author, version number, date, and source or
location.

Appendix A: Glossary.
Define all the terms necessary to properly interpret the SRS, including acronyms and
abbreviations. You may wish to build a separate glossary that spans multiple projects or the
entire organization, and just include terms specific to a single project in each SRS.