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84 S o f t w a r e & S y s t e m s R e q u i r e m e n t s E n g i n e e r i n g : I n P r a c t i c e

that must be answered when defining a process and an integrated
tool set to support that process include:

• How will business goals and stakeholder requests (business
requirements) be captured and traced to product features
and/or requirements?
• How will product features be captured?
• How will requirements be traced to features?
• What will test cases be traced to?
• How will the project plan be synchronized with the MDRE
processes?
• How will requirements be elicited and analyzed using an
MDRE process?
• How will quality and productivity be measured?
• How will artifact completeness be determined?
• What is the most effective way to execute the various
processes?
• What are the best tools to use given the scope of the project?
• How will tools be integrated, e.g., how will they be
synchronized?
• How will cross-media traces be managed?
• How will the MDRE processes scale?
• Do we have a product line? If so, will any proposed MDRE
processes support a product line?
• How will the MDRE artifacts and process be supported or
maintained once the product is in maintenance?
• Do we have adequately trained staff?
• What standards, procedures, and samples are needed? If we
don’t have them, how do we get them?

4.3 Advantages of an MDRE Approach
MDRE is not an “all or nothing” methodology. For example, if an
organization wishes to focus on textual use cases and requirements, a
high-level use case model makes a very nice navigation aid; e.g., the
model stops at the level of a use case, and selecting the use case
symbol launches an editor with the use case document.
With agile approaches to software development, lightweight
models (e.g., the models are incomplete) can be used to represent a
collection of user stories. Using a model instead of short textual notes
provides increased detail that is not only of use to the developers, but
also to testers and reviewers.