The SRS abbreviation in SRS documents stands for Software Requirements Specification. Many times, the SRS document is available in written formats. It is ready to use when there have been comprehensive specifications on descriptions for every planned software aspect.
What is SRS (and what are the examples)?
There are always some sets of requirements, expectations, and standards for products in the future when you look at the SRS document template.
At least, it describes what the software will execute. In addition, it also shows how do the makers expect the software to perform. A decent SRS document example will include the table of content, project scopes, the product feature mappings, constraints in implementation, and more.
How do you write an SRS document?
When you look at the SRS document sample on many websites, you will see steps to follow in writing an SRS document.
First of all, you will either create an outline or use an existing SRS document template. Then, start with the purpose of your software and who will be your audience. After that, give the readers an overview of what you will build before going deeper into the details.
SRS Document Example
What is the purpose of SRS documents?
Providing the audience with overviews of the software products, goals, and parameters is the primary aim for every SRS documents. As the contents get deeper, readers will get detailed technical insights on the user interfaces, hardware, software, and more in the system.
What is a good SRS document?
A decently-written SRS document example will be concise, well-structured, have integrity in the primary concepts, and everyone can verify the information’s accuracy.
It should limit to educating the readers what will the system or software do. It does not dig deeper into the ways they can execute the actions.
Only by meeting these criteria that an SRS document can shorten time and effort and minimize costs to achieve the goals that the developers aspire to achieve.
Who will write the SRS document?
Technical writers will be the ones who will write the SRS document. A technical writer cooperates with other relevant departments in the project team to design and optimize SRS documents that meet the decent document criteria.
In a project setting, the technical writers communicate with software analysts to address the purpose of the software and how will the software be in the future. These writers also coordinate with software developers in detailing their explanations and charting the graphs when the project managers need them to.
Differences between BRD and SRS
The primary focus is the first area of difference between the two of them. True to its name, a BRD focuses on the requirements relating to businesses as a whole. On the other hand, an SRS focuses on specific functional and non-functional requirements.
Therefore, a BRD tries to educate customers to understand a company’s features. An SRS simplifies technical software terminologies for the users.
The SRS document for a Library Management System
An SRS document example for a library management system will aim to organize and update the latest book archives and assure book quality. So, we can expect functions like record management, book refunds, and book problems directories.
There are two user levels in this SRS document: The first one lets the users verify the book availability. Users can access a summarized report for their books through the primary user interface. The second one is sub-modules consisting of entry book details and issues relating to the book collections.
Users should have an identification card to have their records in the library management system. That thing becomes one of the constraints in the SRS document.
SRS in Software Engineering
The SRS in software engineering generally needs to possess the five criteria for an ideal SRS document. However, a great SRS document example in software engineering fields needs to emphasize the additional two traits.
The additional characteristics are no implementation constraints and accuracy. No hassles on the implementation phase mean helpful enough to finish the software-related works while not overly restricting the software development. On the other side, accuracy means the goals should be precise, so the users will not be confused.
An example of the SRS documents
Here is a quick outline of an SRS document sample that has the ISO/IEC/IEEE 29148:2018 standard as the base:
- Scopes: The application lets users filter and searches requirements, analyze their coverages, and export them to DOCX or HTML.
- The System Interface: Works in Google Chrome or Firefox. The browsers should have Windows, Linux, or Mac as the OS.
- Software interfaces: Imports an MS Word document through an HTML data format and stores project data in JSON formats.
- Some areas to explain the technical definitions.
- Requirement lists for file operations.
- Usability and performance requirements.
- Verification tests in a separate document.
- Additional information.
Templates for SRS
In general, templates for an SRS document sample will include these points:
- Introduction: Includes the purpose, scopes, definitions and acronyms, and the software overview in one or two paragraphs.
- General Description: Includes the product perspective and functions, the user characteristics, constraints, and assumptions. The product perspective part is all about the interfaces in the systems, software, hardware, and operations.
- Specific Description: Includes external requirements, functions, logical database requirements, design constraints according to the standards compliance systems, the attributes of software systems, organizing the specific requirements, and more.
- Document approvals (when needed).
- Supplementary information.
Writing Software Documentation
Writing software documentation is not a process that we can do in one sitting. We have to understand and study the purpose and the target audiences for the documents.
Only by maintaining focus on the purpose and the audience profiles you can gather the information for your documentation’s outlines. Interviewing people and conducting researches on various online research platforms are the most well-known methods to obtain information.
SRS document template
You can start composing the drafts once you have sketched enough outline. When you do such actions, avoid using too much jargon. Only edit when you have finished writing. Use visuals (flowcharts, illustrations, or screenshots) when necessary.
