This course provides a hands-on introduction to requirements engineering (RE) based on case study work. Students will obtain a broad and profound overview of the field of RE so that they understand the key challenges of requirements engineering in organizations. The course aims at educating its participants to be able to act as Requirements Engineer in industry - which includes teamwork.

• elicit, elaborate, and maintain system requirements on their own and in small teams
• evaluate, check, and improve existing requirements specifications,
• create written requirements specifications of professional quality, and present them in public
• apply modeling techniques for domain models (e.g. business processes, information models, context and data flow models, and so on)
• use appropriate CASE and CARE tools
• plan, conduct, and follow-up on reviews for various requirements artifacts
• discuss and compare techniques and styles of RE appropriate in the given context
• communicate requirements clearly
• discuss typical problems related to requirements, how they occur, and how to prevent them
• work as a team, recognize and address group dynamic issues
• compare and discuss the different aspects and levels of requirements
• derive and explain the various definitions and technical terms used in RE

Requirements Engineering (RE) is a key activity in software development (actually, in all kinds of product development). It is probably the single most complex part of software development as it comprises the "hard" technical issues as well as the "soft" social and organizational issues. RE is not just a phase, but covers the whole software life cycle. There are many different methods and styles for eliciting, specifying, and validating requirements, and there is no single "best" or "right" approach to RE. On the contrary, one of the most important aspects of RE is to objectively evaluate the factors and forces in a specific context, and select a suitable system of complementary RE methods to maximize the fit. For this, it is indispensable to acquire a broad knowledge of the field and get to know alternative approaches for the same issue. Thus, in this course, we will work on creating requirements specifications for case studies based on different approaches. As a result, students should be able to master RE not just from a practical perspective, but should also be able to compare and discuss different approaches with their respective capabilities and contributions in a given context.
With a view to practical relevance are communication and cooperation skills among the most important elements of this course's topics.

It is recommended that you read at least one of the following before the course starts.

1) Alan M. Davis: Software Requirements. Prentice Hall, 1993
A classic, though somewhat outdated. Still a good read for the basics, though, maybe a touch academic. Very cheap (used copies start from below DKK 5).

2) Karl Wiegers: Software Requirements. Microsoft Press, 2003
Up to date, not too expensive (approx. DKK 200). Many practical anecdotes, but not so strong on textual requirements specification and interface requirements.

3) Soren Lauesen: Software Requirements. Addison-Wesley, 2001
Very good for textual requirements, many case studies, but little on modeling. Good balance between academic and practical content. Rather expensive (approx. 500 DKK).

Lecture slides and additional material, as well as more sources for additional reading will be provided during the course.

The course may lead up to writing a master's thesis.