In the requirements analysis phase, the first step in the verification process, the requirements of the system are collected by analyzing the needs of the user(s). This phase is concerned with establishing what the ideal system has to perform. However it does not determine how the software will be designed or built. Usually, the users are interviewed and a document called the user requirements document is generated.
The user requirements document will typically describe the system’s functional, interface, performance, data, security, etc. requirements as expected by the user. It is used by business analysts to communicate their understanding of the system to the users. The users carefully review this document as this document would serve as the guideline for the system designers in the system design phase. The user acceptance tests are designed in this phase. See also Functional requirements.
There are different methods for gathering requirements of both soft and hard methodologies including; interviews, questionnaires, document analysis, observation, throw-away prototypes, use cases and static and dynamic views with users.