Towards a Classification of Requirements Relationships

Abstract

Requirements are related to and affect each other in many different ways. Developing a comprehensive knowledge of these relationships is an important part of understanding requirements. This paper proposes a classification of requirements relationships from several perspectives such as Feature Oriented, Aspect Oriented and Goal Oriented Approaches. We compare and contrast these relationship classifications and provide examples of each to increase our understanding of this complex phenomenon. This paper aims at integrating requirements relationship classifications from major bodies of work in requirements engineering and to improve awareness on the role they play in software testing practices.