TH Köln

Master Digital Sciences

Documents for Study Program Accreditation

Module »Requirements Engineering« (RE)

Organizational Details

Responsible for the module
Prof. Dr. Irma Lindt (Faculty F10)
Language
English
Offered in
Summer Semester (Duration 1 Semester)
Location
Campus Gummersbach, or remote
Number of participants
minimum 4, maximum 20
Precondition
none
Recommendation
none
ECTS
6
Effort
Total effort 180h
Total contact time
48h (36h seminar / 12h project supervision)
Time for self-learning
132h (containing 90h self-organized project work)
Exam
Project (during semester) in conjunction with expert talk
Competences taught by the module
Develop Visions, Analyze Domains, Model Systems
General criteria covered by the module
Interdisciplinarity, Digitization, Transfer

Mapping to Focus Areas

Below, you find the module's mapping to the study program's focus areas. This is done as a contribution to all relevant focus areas (in ECTS, and content-wise). This is also relevant for setting the module in relation to other modules, and tells to what extent the module might be part of other study programs.

Focus Area ECTS (prop.) Module Contribution to Focus Area
Architecting and Coding Software 4

Knowing, selecting, and applying the appropriate methods for gathering requirements for software systems, as the first step in the software development life cycle

Empowering Business 2

Being able to understand and analyze a given business domain; gathering stakeholder information for functional and non-functional requirements, and so assessing the business impact of IT decision making

Learning Outcome

  • As a requirements engineer or a business analyst on Master level, I can …
    • analyse stakeholders, constraints, and goals for a planned IT system,
    • obtain requirements for an IT system using observations, conversations, and documents; all of which will be based on natural-language, and may contain implicit, potentially incomplete, and contradictory information,
    • structure and formalize these information as requirements in a complete und consistent way,
    • prioritize these requirements for software design and implementation,
    • and document the requirements as a specification for a waterfall or agile project
  • by doing the following:
    • knowing, selecting, and applying the appropriate method(s) für requirements engineering, analysis, documentation, testing, and management
    • consciously deciding which method(s) are applicable in a given context with its stakeholder and boundary conditions,
    • acting as a multiplicator with regard to requirements engineering methods, and instructing colleagues and teams on their usage,
    • moderating the requirements engineering process with customers and development teams,
    • documenting the results as a specification,
    • and keeping my stakeholders informed by concise presentations,
  • so that I can instruct a (potentially external) development team in implementing the software system according to the requirements specification

Module Content

The module consists of two parts, which are executed in parallel.

  • In the method training part, the students learn to decide when to use which method in which context. They also reflect on how to recombine and adapt methods for specific situations
  • Parallel to the method training, the students conduct a real-life case study (ideally in collaboration with an industry partner).

The method trainings follow a process model consisting of the following steps:

  1. Analysis of goals and system context (Ermittlung Ziele und Systemkontext)
  2. Requirements engineering techniques, personas, scenarios (Erhebungstechniken, Personas, Szenarien)
  3. Domain glossary and domain model (Fachliches Glossar und Domänenmodell)
  4. Functional requirements (funktionale Anforderungen)
  5. Non-functional requirements (nicht-funktionale Anforderungen)
  6. Priorization and conflict resulotion (Priorisierung und Konfliktlösung)
  7. Use Cases
  8. Quality assurance and editing (Qualitätssicherung und Redaktion)
  9. Agile backlog creation / management (Erstellung und Pflege eines agilen Backlogs)

Forms of Teaching and Learning

  • Self-study of methods in a flipped classroom approach, using videos
  • Discussion and exercises for the content
  • Project work on a real-life case study
  • Reflection

Learning Material Provided by Lecturer

  • Videos on requirement engineering methods
  • Script for those methods
  • Literature

Literature

  • Broadbent, Ellen (2004): The New CIO Leader: Setting the Agenda and Delivering Result. Harvard Business Review Press
  • Calabria, Tina (2004): An introduction to personas and how to create them. Step Two Design
  • Cockburn, Alistair (2000): Writing Effective Use Cases. Addison WesleyBoston
  • Cohn, Mike (2004): User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development. Addison-Wesley Professional
  • Cooper, Alan (1999): The Inmates are Running the Asylum: Why High-tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity. SamsIndianapolis, Ind
  • Ebert, Christof (2014): Systematisches Requirements Engineering: Anforderungen ermitteln, dokumentieren, analysieren und verwalten. dpunkt.verlag GmbH Heidelberg
  • Evans, Eric (2003): Domain-Driven Design: Tackling Complexity in the Heart of Software. Addison-Wesley Professional Boston
  • Evans, Eric (2015): Domain-Driven Design Reference - Definitions and Pattern Summaries. Selbstverlag (unter Creative Commons Lizenz)
  • Gürtler, Jochen; Meyer, Johannes (2013): 30 Minuten Design Thinking. GABAL Offenbach
  • Leffingwell, Dean; Widrig, Don; Yourdon, Ed (2003): Managing Software Requirements: A Use Case Approach. Addison Wesley Pub Co Inc Boston
  • Leffingwell, Dean (2010): Agile Software Requirements: Lean Requirements Practices for Teams, Programs, and the Enterprise. Addison Wesley Upper Saddle River, NJ
  • Meuser, Michael; Nagel, Ulrike (2002): ExpertInneninterviews - Vielfach erprobt, wenig bedacht. In: A. Bogner, B. Littig, & W. Menz (Eds.), Das Experteninterview: Theorie, Methode, Anwendung. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.
  • Pohl, Klaus (2008): Requirements Engineering: Grundlagen, Prinzipien,Techniken. dpunkt.Verlag GmbH Heidelberg
  • Pohl, Klaus; Rupp, Chris (2011): Basiswissen Requirements Engineering: Aus- und Weiterbildung nach IREB-Standard zum Certified Professional for Requirements Engineering Foundation Level. dpunkt.verlag GmbH
  • Rupp, Chris; SOPHISTen, die (2014): Requirements-Engineering und -Management: Aus der Praxis von klassisch bis agil. Carl Hanser Verlag GmbH & Co. KG München
  • Schienmann, Bruno (2001): Kontinuierliches Anforderungsmanagement . Prozesse - Techniken - Werkzeuge. Addison-Wesley München ; Boston u.a.