Technological Requirements

Technological requirements are functionality needed purely because of the chosen technology. In the example of the use case that produces the de-icing schedule, the product interacts with the thermal mapping database. Suppose the designer decides that handling this interaction via an Internet connection is the best option. Because of this technological choice, the product has a need to establish a secure connection. This need is a technological requirement; that is, it arises purely because of the chosen technology. If the designer had selected a different technology to handle this part of the work, the result would be different technological requirements.

The technological requirements are not there for business reasons, but rather to make the chosen implementation work. We suggest that the technological requirements either be recorded in a separate specification or be identified clearly as technological requirements and recorded along with the business requirements. Stakeholders must understand clearly why a requirement appears in the specification, so it is important that the technological requirements are not introduced before the business requirements are fully understood.