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Requirement Analysis

Requirement Analysis is the process of studying, understanding, and validating requirements to ensure they are clear, complete, consistent, testable, and aligned with business goals.

Requirement analysis answers: “What exactly needs to be built and tested?”

1. Definition

Requirement Analysis is the process of studying, understanding, and validating requirements to ensure they are clear, complete, consistent, testable, and aligned with business goals.

Requirement analysis answers: “What exactly needs to be built and tested?”

2. Purpose of Requirement Analysis

  • Prevent defects early (shift-left)
  • Eliminate ambiguity and assumptions
  • Ensure testability of requirements
  • Identify gaps, conflicts, and risks
  • Build a strong foundation for test design

3. Sources of Requirements

  • Business Requirement Document (BRD)
  • Functional Requirement Specification (FRS)
  • User Stories and Acceptance Criteria
  • Use Cases
  • Stakeholder discussions and workshops

4. Manual Tester’s Role in Requirement Analysis

  • Read and understand requirements from a tester’s mindset
  • Ask clarifying questions early
  • Identify missing scenarios
  • Validate business rules and constraints
  • Ensure requirements are testable

5. What Testers Should Look For (Checklist)

5.1 Clarity

  • Are requirements unambiguous?
  • Is terminology consistent?

5.2 Completeness

  • Are all scenarios covered (positive, negative, edge)?
  • Are error conditions defined?

5.3 Consistency

  • No conflicts between requirements
  • Alignment across documents and stories

5.4 Testability

  • Can expected results be verified?
  • Are acceptance criteria measurable?

6. Requirement Analysis Activities by Tester

  • Requirement walkthroughs
  • Backlog refinement participation
  • Acceptance criteria validation
  • Early test scenario identification
  • Risk and dependency identification

7. Common Requirement Issues Found by Testers

  • Ambiguous statements (“should”, “as needed”)
  • Missing validation rules
  • Undefined boundary conditions
  • Unclear error handling
  • Hidden assumptions

8. Requirement Analysis vs Test Design

Aspect Requirement Analysis Test Design
Goal Understand what to build Validate how it works
Timing Early After analysis
Output Clarified requirements Test scenarios & cases

9. Real-Time Example

Requirement:

“User can withdraw money.”

Tester questions:

  • Maximum withdrawal limit?
  • Insufficient balance handling?
  • Daily limit?
  • Error messages?

10. Common Mistakes

  • Assuming requirements are correct
  • Delaying questions until testing phase
  • Ignoring non-functional aspects
  • Not documenting clarifications

11. Interview-Ready Answers

Short answer:

Requirement analysis is the process of understanding and validating requirements to ensure they are clear, complete, and testable.

Detailed answer:

Requirement analysis involves reviewing requirements early to identify ambiguities, gaps, and risks, enabling effective test planning and defect prevention.

12. Key Takeaway

Strong Requirement Analysis enables early defect prevention, better test coverage, and higher product quality.