Assessment of real-time software specifications quality using COSMIC-FFP

Abstract

The success of a system development project largely depends on the non ambiguity of its system-level requirements specification document where the requirements are described at the ’system level’ and not at the software and hardware level, and which document serves as an input to the design, implementation and testing phases. The way the system requirements specification document is written is sometimes ambiguous from a software viewpoint. This paper approaches the problem faced by the codesign, namely, the ill-defined functionality allocation between the hardware and the software for real time systems and presents an initial solution to it. It discusses what are the system requirements to be assigned to the hardware and what is really to be done by the software? Different decisions can lead then to various alternatives of allocation of functions between hardware and software: this will affect what software will be built and, correspondingly, the final functional size of software while measuring it using COS-MIC-FFP measurement method. This paper presents an initial solution towards understanding the applicability of the COSMIC-FFP functional size measurement method in assessing the hardware-software requirements allocation, and illustrates the approach on a Steam Boiler Controller case study.