Examples of analysis
The following brief examples demonstrate the distinction between the purpose, scope and functional requirements and boundaries of software.
Example one
Purpose
Software should be created to allow a user to enter ten numbers.
Each number must be validated to make sure that it is no less than 0 and no more than 100.
The program should keep a running total of the numbers entered and output the final total.
Scope
The scope of this example would be the delivered project, including: design, completed program, test plan, test results and evaluation report. A short time limit would also be set on the project, probably under 30 minutes.
Functional requirements
| Inputs | Processes | Outputs |
| Ten numbers | Validate ten numbers | Total |
| Calculate total |
| Inputs | Ten numbers |
|---|---|
| Processes | Validate ten numbers |
| Outputs | Total |
| Inputs | |
|---|---|
| Processes | Calculate total |
Boundaries
The boundaries on this problem are stated. Each number must be validated to make sure that it is no less than 0 and no more than 100. Therefore the boundaries would be 0 and 100.
Example two
Purpose
The owners of a theme park have asked that a program be developed to record the average number of visitors in a week.
A user will enter the total number of visitors for each day of the week.
The program should then output the average number of visitors across the week.
Scope
The scope of this example would be the delivered project, including: design, completed program, test plan, test results and evaluation report. The time limit of this program would be relatively short, possibly 1-2 hours.
Functional requirements
| Inputs | Processes | Outputs |
| Daily total | Calculate average | Average |
| Inputs | Daily total |
|---|---|
| Processes | Calculate average |
| Outputs | Average |
Boundaries
Some boundaries in this example can be tricky to find. In this example, we are using days of the week, so we will no more than seven days of the week.
Another boundary would be that total visitors must be greater than zero, as there cannot be negative visitors.
Example Three
Purpose
A program is to be developed to create usernames for a class of twenty pupils.
The program will ask a teacher to enter the first name, surname and age of each pupil.
The age entered must be between five and eighteen. The program should output a list of usernames for the teacher.
Scope
The scope of this example would be the delivered project, including: design, completed program, test plan, test results and evaluation report. The time limit for this program would also be relatively short, being 1-2 hours.
Functional requirements
| Inputs | Processes | Outputs |
| Pupil first name | Validate age | List of user names |
| Pupil surname | Create username | |
| Pupil age |
| Inputs | Pupil first name |
|---|---|
| Processes | Validate age |
| Outputs | List of user names |
| Inputs | Pupil surname |
|---|---|
| Processes | Create username |
| Outputs |
| Inputs | Pupil age |
|---|
Boundaries
This program has a number of boundaries, the class must have twenty pupils. No less or greater than twenty.
The pupil age must also be greater than five and less than eighteen.