Application Requirements allow business users to describe requirements for an application in their business language.

Requirements are simply an inventory of events, conditions, or functions that need to be satisfied and tracked in a project. They can be classified as non-functional while others articulate specific business rules that must be satisfied when an application is built. For example:

• “System needs to have 2-3 seconds screen to screen interaction” is a non-functional requirement tied to the overall application
• “First Name should not be longer than 20 characters” is an a business rule requirement tied a specific use case

A good application requirement:

• Describes the need in business terms so that it is easily understood by the implementation team
• Specifies the type and importance of the requirement
• Indicates its development status
• Optionally links to an external requirement in another system or document

Creating Requirement rules

Requirements are keyed to an application. Requirement rules allow users to version them and directly tie them to specific implementation rules when building and extending applications. Like use cases, this approach allows them to become "change aware" and more accurately reflect the intent and requirements of the particular implementation.

Using the Direct Capture tools, requirements are specified in the Application Profiler and transferred to the Application Accelerator to create requirement rules.

After the initial requirement rules are built and throughout a project lifecycle, you can add new and update existing requirement rules to reflect the evolution of your implementation.

The requirement rule contains the following sections:

• Definition tab — describes the requirement; specifies the type and development status
• Implementation tab — adds and deletes requirement links to application, flow, and use case rules
• Attachments tab — used to display, add, and delete attachments associated with the requirement  such as UML diagrams, Power Point presentations, or other project documents that provide additional details about the requirement

For details about completing the sections and fields of the requirements form, see the help topic About Application Requirement rules.

Rules that Reference Requirement Rules

Requirement rules are referenced on the Requirements tab of the following rules to provide a comprehensive view of requirements for an application and its process flows.

• Application rules
• Use case rules
• Flow rules

To display and update a list of requirements linked to these rules:

1. 1. Click the Requirements tab. Requirements specifically linked to a use case rule are listed in the Linked Requirements section of the tab while all requirements linked to the application are listed in the All Requirements section.

1. 1. Click Edit Links to add or delete individual requirements referenced by a use case. Use the drop-down lists to select an application and a requirement for that application.

1. Click Delete All Links to delete all links on the list.
2. Click a row to display the requirement rule.
3. Click Export to Excel to export the list to Microsoft Excel.

Running Requirement Reports

You can run a list view report of requirements associated with your application from the Application menu.

• Select Direct Capture of Objectives > List Requirements to run a report of requirements by application and work type.
  • Expand an application to drill down to the list of requirements associated with that application
  • Click a row to display the rule
• Select Direct Capture of Objectives > Requirements Matrix to run a report that lists rules containing links to requirements.
  • Click a row to display the rule

This article links to the following articles about the capabilities available in the DCO 3.2 and 3.1 releases.

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