project-managementRequirementsrequirements managementterminology
I have done tasks based on Java, but my seniors assigned me to collect requirements for creating a globalized bug tracking tool.
I have read many types of requirements from Wikipedia
and the mindtools website, but it was very confusing.
What are the exact differences between functional requirements, operational requirements and technical requirements?
Great Question.
It is important to distinguish between 'Development' and 'R&D.'
R&D = experimenting with ideas/technology that may never actually become a product.
Software Development = working on a product/service desired by a real customer.
R&D is all about developing new solutions for a specific problem domain. The end result of this endeavor is something that I call "research toys".
To be a software product, the research toy has to be completely re-implemented. Failure to do so will result in a product that appeals to an increasingly elite and erudite user base. The problem here is that this elite and erudite user base typically has no money to spend.
To be a successful, the software product must be a faithful re-implementation of the research toy, accessible and loved by the commodity user. To be truely remarkable, the software product must simultaneously appeal to the elite and erudite user.
Research implies scholarly or scientific inquiry and tends to be aimed at the greater good of an industry or society at large. Product development has different motivations and outcomes: it is driven by the potential for profit. The state of product development is healthy. The state of lighting research is not.
We need a collective commitment to the greater good to answer such questions. But this is not just philanthropy; the answer would address a practical goal. Light sources that are spectrally tuned to the visual system will be more sustainable. They will use less energy by generating their output in regions of the spectrum where the visual system responds most strongly, resulting in better seeing for building users. This example reinforces the difference between research and product development.
All development of new products to be R&D. I think some of you are confusing pure, abstract science with R&D. They aren't the same. R&D can be very product oriented. Scientists may be looking for a vaccine to cure AIDs. That is a very specific task to create a product to sell and it is certainly R&D and not just guys sitting around messing about with whatever they feel like.
R&D in the technical world = finding ways to do something interesting or important, using known techniques and technology as a starting point.
Software development = finding ways to do something interesting or important, using known techniques and technology as a starting point.
Virtually all software development is the D part of R&D. Some times, there are very little R in Software 'R&D'. Some times, there are pretty large R in Software 'R&D'.
It depends on several measurement. For example,
Managing software development for various sized companies, R&D takes on different meanings depending on the size of the company, customer base, etc.
In a small software company, with only a hand full of employees, the line between R&D software and Production software is usually very small. What one day is a software R&D project, may the next day be shipping as production software to customers.
As software companies grow, and they have one or more production software lines, they tend to create greater separation between R&D software projects and Production software products (for obvious reasons). This R&D gap is typically created to create greater diversification in their software products for tomorrow, while allowing the production software development to continue to produce today.
This is not to say that the production software products won't get innovative new features. The production software developers are typically just as "sharp" as the R&D developers. In fact, at one company, we had an enrichment program that allowed production software developers to rotate in and out of R&D projects. This not only added fresh brain power to the R&D teams, but in many cases, the production developers came back with new ideas on producing better production level software.
D = "knowing where you want to be at the end", and R is because "at the beginning of the project, you don't know what will be required to get there"
R&D are the lucky folks who get to do anything they want without accountability.
Good research/resource on this topic :
The two are closely related. For small efforts, the requirements can be developed to a level of detail where they can also be used as the specification. In general, Functional Requirements are the customer-centric statement of what a system should do. Functional Specifications are a more detailed description of the Functional Requirements. For example:
Functional specifications are still in the realm of describing what a system does, not how it does it. Because of this, QA teams should be interested in the Functional Specifications for several reasons, among them are:
Whether or not QA signs off on a product that deviated from the specification depends in part on what process was followed when decisions were made to make changes. If the development team followed the change processes, QA would not have any problems. (Note -- these processes should insure that proper communications about these changes occur). However if a development team goes off and decides on their own there are a lot of risks that even though their efforts satisfy the requirements, their efforts may be rejected by QA, other business units in their organization, and even the end users.
That is not to say that a development team is bound by the specifications. It is OK for a development team to deliver something that deviates from the original specifications. However making decisions to implements something different that what is in the specifications should be made unilaterally. Mature organizations will have some defined change control processes to accommodate changes. QA will be making sure such processes are followed.
Best Answer
Functional requirements: What the system is supposed to do, process orders, send bills, regulate the temperature etc. etc.
Operational requirements: These are about how to run the system. Logging, startup/shutdown controls, monitoring, resource consumption, back up, availability etc.etc.
Technical requirements: These are about how the system is built. Which language, which OS, standards to be adhered to etc.
These days "operational' and "technical" requirements are usually bundled together as "non-functional requirements"—mainly to stop silly arguments as to whether "system will respond to a user request within 1 second" is an operational or technical requirement.