A user requirement is a statement of what the people using a system need it to do. In case-study questions you are given a short scenario and asked to list or explain what the new system must provide.
This skill opens the ICT applications and system lifecycle module, because design, testing and evaluation all refer back to the requirements.
What counts as a requirement?
A good requirement says what is needed, not how to build it. It should be specific enough to check later: you can look at the finished system and say yes or no.
Read the case three times for different things:
- Problems: what is going wrong now (lost cards, long queues, errors).
- Users: who will use it and how skilled they are.
- Limits: budget, equipment, time, space.
Then sort what you find under input, processing, output and storage, plus a group for constraints.
Worked example
Invented case: The Sinar Community Library lends about 300 books a week using handwritten cards. Staff say queues are long, cards get lost, and nobody can tell quickly who has an overdue book. A volunteer aged 70 will run the desk with little training. The committee has money for one laptop and one barcode scanner.
Step 1, underline problems: long queues, lost cards, no quick way to find overdue books.
Step 2, underline users and limits: volunteer with little training; one laptop; one scanner.
Step 3, write requirements by group:
| Group | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Input | Scan a member card and a book code to record a loan |
| Processing | Compare due dates with today’s date to find overdue loans |
| Output | Print or show a list of overdue loans with member names |
| Storage | Keep member and book records so they are not lost |
| Constraint | Simple screens usable with little training |
| Constraint | Must run on one laptop with one scanner |
Step 4, check each one is testable: “Show a list of overdue loans” can be checked. “Make the library better” cannot.
The mistake to watch for
A frequent slip is to write a solution or a wish instead of a requirement.
Mistaken answer: “The library needs a modern database system with a nice design.”
This names a solution and says nothing the case supports. A marker cannot tell what the system must do.
The correction is to tie each line to a detail in the case: “Record each loan automatically so cards cannot be lost.” Ask yourself: which sentence in the case does this answer?
Check yourself
1. A school canteen (invented) says pupils wait too long to pay and the cashier often mistypes prices. Write two requirements.
Show answer
For example: “Look up prices automatically from a stored list so the cashier does not type them” (input and storage), and “Let a pupil pay in a short, simple sequence of steps” (usability). Both link to a problem in the case.
2. Is “use a touch screen” a requirement or a solution? Explain.
Show answer
It is a solution. A requirement would be “the screen must be easy to use by someone with little computer experience”. A touch screen is one way to meet it.
3. In the library case, which group does “the system must run on one laptop” belong to?
Show answer
Constraint. It limits the hardware that can be used.
Where this leads next
Once you know what is needed, the next question is how to find out more when the case is thin. See choosing a data-collection method. Requirements return at the end in evaluating a system, and the ICT practical task and evidence checker helps you organise your notes.
If your requirement lists keep sounding generic, our team’s online one-to-one ICT tuition can work through cases with you.