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	4.3 stars Average User Rating 4.3See what learners said

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

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University of Colorado System

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