Business System Consultation Center - Our Business System ColumnVol.95 2020.01.01 Takahashi Minoru

Are you familiar with the concept of non-functional requirements?

Thank you for your interest and continued support.
This is Takahashi from the Marketing Plan Research Laboratory.


I heard this term for the first time from an acquaintance who works in IT and had him explain its meaning to me.
I believe that understanding this concept is useful knowledge for any business owner,
so I’m sharing it in this column.


What is described as a system’s “function”
・Can reduce the workload for XX
• Prevents errors
・Enables work via smartphone
・Enables management of [XX] (input/output)
・Visualization of [XX]
・Automatically displays alerts regarding [XX]
and more.
These are the kinds of things you often see in sales pitches on flyers.
These are common elements used when considering the benefits a system’s implementation will bring to a company’s operations.


In contrast, the "non-functional" aspects of a system include:
・How many years is the system expected to remain operational?
・Which operating systems are supported? What about switching to new OS versions?
• Are there limits on the volume or duration of data storage?
• Is the system designed to allow for cost-effective functional expansions in the future?
・How easy is it to migrate to a different system?
・What is the maintenance structure? Is a maintenance contract even available?
・What are the contingency plans for system failures?
・What security measures are in place?
etc.
Rather than focusing on system functionality (the elements necessary for operation today),
but rather the requirements for long-term stable operation and evolution over the coming years
are referred to as non-functional requirements.


In other words, non-functional requirements are
"It's the point where system salespeople think, 'That's our weak spot' (laughs)."


When evaluating the system, I recommend giving some thought to the non-functional requirements for this project as well.


That's all, Thank you for reading.

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