SWEN440: Software Requirements and Architecture Engineering

Term:

Meeting Times:

Section 01 – TR  2:00 PM  – 3:20 PM, GOL (70) – 1550 

Instructor: 

Robert Kuehl, GOL 1551, rbkvse@ rit.edu, office hours daily 1:30 - 2:00 PM by appointment.

Course Description:

Course Topics:

The course will encompass a variety of concepts and topics, among them are the following:

• Elicitation techniques to gather functional and non-functional system requirements.
• Requirements analysis, specification, validation, and management techniques.
• System quality attributes and tactics.
• Software architecture design patterns.
• Software architecture design evaluation techniques.
• Application program interface design.
• Software architecture design specification.
• Requirements engineering and software architecture design in agile projects.

Course Objectives:

• Apply the primary activities associated with requirements engineering and contrast differing approaches for performing those activities.
• Distinguish the difference between a customer's statement of needs and a formal requirements specification document.
• Identify system quality requirements that influence architecture design decisions.
• Apply requirements engineering principles in the development of a requirements specification and a requirements management process for a specified application.
• Understand software architecture descriptions and patterns and use these to design new software systems in response to key functional and quality requirements.
• Create software architecture documentation that satisfies the needs of clients and developers.
• Describe the need for a big picture view of software requirements and design.

Method of Instruction:

The course is a combination of projects, daily lectures, and in-class or homework activities. There will be assigned readings from the textbook and other materials.  There will be a mid-term exam and a comprehensive final exam.  There will also be an opportunity for students to evaluate the requirements and architecture design of an existing system of their choosing. 

Projects: There will be a team project consisting of two phases:

1. Elicit and analyze the requirements for an external stakeholder, and document their requirements in a software requirements document.
2. Design and document an architecture that meets the needs for a given software requirements specification.

Textbook(s):

• Software Requirements, 3^rd Edition, Karl Wiegers and Joy Beatty, Microsoft Press, 2013.
• Software Architecture in Practice, 3^rd Edition,  by Len Bass, Paul Clements and Rick Kazman, Addison-Wesley, 2013, ISBN 13: 978-0321815736
• In-class materials and supplemental materials will be available on the course's myCourses site or on Wallace Library electronic books

Course Policies:

Class Participation:

The participation grade evaluates attendance, in-class participation, and team participation. Attendance will periodically be taken, but you are expected to be present in all the class sessions.  Students who attend all classes will automatically get 50% of the participation grade. Students wishing to receive full credit for project team participation must participate in all team meetings and contribute to a fair share of the work. To receive full credit for in-class participation students must complete all quizzes and assignments on time, and contribute to the learning process in the classroom in a positive way.

Participate in class discussions. Stay off of your devices!! Demonstrate critical thinking by asking challenging questions, reflecting on and articulating your personal opinions, and critiquing the ideas of others. Initiate class discussion by offering and explaining your ideas and opinions, and providing relevant examples and anecdotes.

Project Participation:

Students are expected to actively contribute in team projects.  Peer evaluations will be performed and an individual’s grade can increase or decrease the overall project grade based on these evaluations and instructor observations.  A grade of ‘zero’ may be assigned to a project deliverable for any student who is clearly not engaged with their project team.

Attendance:

Come to class. We have 42 scheduled sessions. Missing one session is equivalent to half a weeks worth of classes or 3% of the quarter. Most sessions contain class team work that requires all team members to be present to gain full benefit. You have one unexcused absence (slept in, car won't start, etc.) with no consequences. After that the following cumulative scale applies for additional unexcused absences:

• One unexcused absence - 40% of participation grade
• Two unexcused absences - 20% of participation grade
• Three or more unexcused absences - 0% of participation grade
• Three late arrivals will be considered as one absence – it is your responsibility to notify the instructor the day you arrived late and missed attendance call.

Be professional. 

Grading Breakdown:

A final course grade is a combination of your grades on exams, quizzes, class activities and team projects.

Note: The individual project grades may be adjusted in either direction from the team grade based on the assessment of your contribution by the instructor and your colleagues on the team.

* Please be aware that the myCourses grade-book feature will be used to communicate “raw” grades to you, but is NOT used for calculating final grades.