About this course: In Software Requirements Elicitation for Secure Software Development, we're going to discuss the overall software requirements process as it applies in waterfall, spiral, and agile models. You'll learn about each of these processes and your goals as a software requirements analyst. This is not an easy task! Who do you talk to, when, and what kind of knowledge are you trying to obtain, in any software life cycle? How do you handle obstacles as you go? These are the questions we will focus on answering in this specialization.
Who is this class for: This is a graduate level class and can prove useful to those just entering the software engineering process, as well as those who have years of experience. Coding is not needed. Software engineers, managers, security engineers, technical writers, testers, and many more can learn much from these lessons in gaining a better understanding of how software requirements tie to your jobs. You will also gain extended views compared to the software processes your companies currently use. This specialization is a beginning course into Software Requirements and introduces fundamental software engineering lifecycle comparisons, applied to the roles of the requirements analyst. This is also a course in the Engineering Secure Software Requirements Certificate, which can be used as a professional certificate or as a start toward further graduate studies in Computer Science or Software Engineering.
Created by: University of Colorado System
Taught by: Kristen Walcott-Justice, Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science
| Basic Info | Course 1 of 5 in the Requirements Engineering: Secure Software Specifications Specialization |
| Level | Beginner |
| Commitment | 4 weeks, 1-2 hours a week |
| Language | English |
| Hardware Req | None |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
| User Ratings |
Syllabus
WEEK 1
The Software Requirement Specification Process and Cost
Software Requirements are a vital part of the Software Development Lifecycle. While there are many ways to go about collecting and recording requirements, the cost of bad requirements is high. Here we discuss what Software Requirements Specifications are and some challenges in writing them well.
5 videos, 3 readings
- Video: Introduction to the Specialization
- Video: The Software Requirement Specification Process
- Reading: Software Requirement Specification Process - Slides
- Video: Cost of Bad Requirements
- Reading: Cost of Bad Requirements - Slides
- Discussion Prompt: Learning from a Customer at the Start
- Video: Getting Started- "I want THIS"
- Reading: Getting Started: I want THIS - Slides
Graded: Software Specification Process
WEEK 2
Starting to Build Requirements- What does the customer want?
We need to figure out what the customer wants. And moreso- what they need! How do you develop a relationship with you customers and learn about the overall domain and potential solutions?
Here you will learn about the requirements engineering process, what it entails, how to develop a relationship with your customer, and some tips to succeed early on.
2 videos, 3 readings
- Reading: Introduction to Requirements Engineering - Slides
- Video: Building Requirements
- Reading: Building Requirements - Slides
- Reading: Requirements Elicitation Towards the Unknown Unknowns
Graded: Requirements Engineering
WEEK 3
Software Lifecycles
Not all requirements documents are created equally- if at all (formally). How you work with requirements partially depends on the software lifecycle used. Here we learn about the different software development lifecycles and discuss how they affect the requirements we produce.
3 videos, 3 readings
- Video: Different Lifecycle Models
- Video: Hybrid Model/Iterative Lifecycle Approaches
- Reading: Software Lifecycle | Lifecycle Models | Hybrid Model - Slides
- Reading: Software Development Lifecycles- Approaches and Benefits
- Reading: Agile Software Development- The Business of Innovation
Graded: Software Lifecycles
WEEK 4
Goals and Models for Elicitation
To increase flexibility to change in software development, the agile lifecycle was produced. The agile process much changes how we deal with requirements. We discuss these challenges and your role as a requirements analyst. We also begin to analyze the types of statements that you want to form as you elicit data to move towards clarity.
8 videos, 4 readings
- Reading: The Agile Model - Slides
- Discussion Prompt: Lines and Cats- An interesting look at requirements gathering
- Video: Lines and Cats- What we can learn
- Reading: Lines and Cats - Slides
- Video: Who, when, why, and how?
- Video: Requirement Engineering Statement Types
- Video: Requirement Challenges
- Reading: WWWH | Requirement Engineering Statement | Requirement Challenges - Slides
- Video: The Analyst - Who and What?
- Video: Steps to Effective Knowledge Acquisition - Identifying Stakeholders
- Video: Obstacles in Data Handling
- Reading: The Analyst | Identifying Stakeholder | Obstacles - Slides
Graded: Goals and Models
FAQs
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University of Colorado System
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Pricing
| Purchase Course | |
|---|---|
| Access to course materials | Available |
| Access to graded materials | Available |
| Receive a final grade | Available |
| Earn a shareable Course Certificate | Available |
Ratings and Reviews
The instructor is too good. And her wit is wonderful.
More examples may be added to illustrate on how security of a software is impacted if proper care is not taken during requirements gathering phase.
I feel that there is good information in this course, but it is sometimes difficult to distill or the information is presented in a way that is a little wordy. Professor Walcott seems very knowledgable in the subject area. I think it may have helped me to have each week themed or to have it more clearly summarized what principals were discussed during sections of lessons (both from a speaking standpoint and in the slides). This course seemed much shorter than other four week courses I have take. Overall I found it helpful enough and I will continue on to the next course in this set of four.
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Excellent course, great adviser and educator!