University of TorontoDepartment of Computer ScienceCSC340F - Information Systems Analysis and Design!!September 17, 2004Prof. Steve EasterbrookAssignment 1: Formal Inspection of a Requirements SpecificationDue Date: 9:20am, Friday, October 8(i.e. within 10 minutes of the start of the tutorial)This assignment counts for 10% of the final gradeConduct a formal inspection of an existing requirements specification. This project is!designed to giveyou exposure real specifications, and some practice at critiquing specifications. In particular, it is a chanceto apply the ideas covered in the lectures to see how well requirements are specified in practice.The project is to be carried out in teams of three. Each team will submit one report.I. Doing the AssignmentThis assignment has ten steps.! They are:1. Select a Specification to inspect. Several sample specifications will be made available on thecourse website within a few days of the release of this assignment. You should choose one ofthese for your team to inspect. You will also need to decide which portions of the specification toinspect, if you don’t think it is feasible to inspect the entire document in one meeting.2. Select an inspection process. The course notes offer a number of ways of organizing aninspection. You will also need to gather any supporting documents, including checklists, roledescriptions, defect recording forms, etc.3. Familiarize yourself with the inspection forms. There are forms for documenting the defectsdiscovered before and during the inspection meeting, and forms for summarizing the findingsafterwards. These forms will be available on the course website.4. Choose the roles for your team members. One person will need to chair the meeting. Anotherperson will need to document the findings during the meeting. Other roles may be neededdepending on your chosen inspection process.5. Set a date, time, and place to conduct the inspection meeting. Make sure all team members areavailable, have at least 2 hours uninterrupted time, and a quiet place to work.6. Prepare for the inspection. Each team member should prepare for the inspection meeting byreading the specification, and compiling an initial list of defects.7. Conduct the inspection meeting. If your team is not prepared at the start of the meeting, thechairperson should postpone the meeting, and arrange an alternative date.8. Summarize the findings after the meeting. Make sure someone collects all the forms together, andsummarizes the defects discovered.9. Write a report that describes the inspection process you used, your key findings, and a discussesany insights you gained, both on the nature of requirements specifications, and the nature of theinspection process. For example, if you had to do it again, what would you do differently?10. Document your teamwork and complete a team report (see attached form)II. What to Hand InHand in your report at the start of your tutorial on the due date. Reports not handed in within the first tenminutes of the tutorial will be treated as late.The report describing your inspection should not exceed eight (8) pages (not counting references,appendices, forms or tables). It should include information on the following items:1. A brief description of the specification you chose to inspect, with a brief rationale for why youselected it. Include any general observations of the quality of the specification that you madeprior to the inspection process.2. A description of the inspection process you used. What roles did your inspectors take on? Howdid you structure the inspection meeting?3. The results of the inspection. Use the forms on the course website to document your inspectionresults. Use continuation sheets if you run out of space on a form.4. A discussion of the lessons learnt from your inspection meeting. Use the “Inspection LessonsLearnt Questionnaire” as a guide to help you think about what you learnt.Written Presentation RequirementsBe sure to include a cover page indicating the name of your team, the names of all team members, title ofwork, course, date and tutor's name. Assignments will be judged on the basis of visual appearance,grammatical correctness and quality of writing, as well as their contents. Please make sure that the text ofyour report is well-structured, using paragraphs, full sentences, and other features of a well-writtenpresentation. The report must not consist of itemized lists of points (except when reporting yourinspection data). Text font size should be either 10 or 12 points.III. SuggestionsAbout InspectionsInformal reviews happen all the time in software engineering, e.g. any time when two or more people chatabout or comment on various aspect of the software. A formal inspection is a scheduled meeting, with anagenda, and a written output. Furthermore, it is ‘technical’ in the sense that it concentrates on thetechnical aspects of a product, rather than scheduling, budgeting, or other management concerns of thedevelopment process. There are a variety of inspection types described in the literature, with differentnames: Formal technical reviews, Fagan inspections, etc. Many of the principles are the same, no matterwhich variety of inspection you use.Objectives of a formal inspection process for requirements documents:• to uncover errors in function, logic or understanding• to verify that requirements are valid• to ensure that standards are complied with• to achieve uniformity (of style, quality, etc.) across a project• to collect data on error profiles so that these errors can be avoided on future projects• to train junior software engineers (by allowing them to review other’s work)• to promote continuity across teamsFor programs, formal inspection has been shown to be more effective than testing in ensuring thatprograms are error-free. Furthermore, it can be used on products which cannot be tested, such asspecifications, designs, documentation, manuals, test plans, etc.Formal inspections generally have two main parts: a scheduled review meeting, and individual inspectionby each member of the team prior to the scheduled meeting. An inspection team should consist ofbetween 3 and 7 people, depending on how experienced the review leader is, and how
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