Structured definition and conceptual traceability managementframework of nonfunctional requirements
非功能需求的结构化定义以及概念性追踪管理框架

The definitions of nonfunctional requirements NFRs in literature are ambiguous and even conflicting with each other. In real software development and evolution, the relationships among NFRs and functional requirements FRs are too complex to model and manage and the traceability from NFRs to design phase artifacts are often too elusive to record and maintain. This paper analyzed concepts related to NFRs and their representations in phases of requirements analysis and software architecting and presented a structured definition of NFRs. This definition normalized the relationships among FRs and NFRs. Furthermore, it built a conceptual traceability management framework to relate NFRs to concepts in software architecture. The framework normalized the relationships among architectural concepts and NFRs. The formal definition and the conceptual traceability management framework of NFRs together clarify the conceptual denotation of NFRs and form a solid theoretical base for simplifying the requirements model and developing systematic and practical approaches to modeling and managing nonfunctional requirements.