The Easy Approach to Requirements Syntax, known as EARS, is a structured method for writing natural language requirements using a small set of keywords and sentence patterns. Alistair Mavin and colleagues at Rolls-Royce developed it while analysing airworthiness regulations for a jet engine control system, and it was first published at the IEEE International Requirements Engineering Conference in 2009. EARS keeps ordinary language so that every stakeholder can read and review a requirement, but it imposes a consistent clause order and a limited vocabulary of keywords. A requirement has zero or more preconditions, zero or one trigger, exactly one system name and one or more system responses, and the keywords mark five basic patterns: ubiquitous, event-driven, state-driven, optional-feature and unwanted-behaviour requirements, plus combinations of them. The aim is to remove common defects such as ambiguity, vagueness and incompleteness. Organisations including Airbus, Bosch, Honeywell, Intel, NASA, Rolls-Royce and Siemens have adopted it. It is less suited to requirements that need mathematical formulae, decision tables or state diagrams.
Facts
Connections
Associated With
Source Easy Approach to Requirements Syntax (Wikipedia)
In Field
Source Easy Approach to Requirements Syntax (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Easy Approach to Requirements Syntax (Wikipedia)
Lead
EARS was first published at the IEEE International Requirements Engineering Conference (RE'09) in 2009.
In Field: Software Engineering, Spec-driven development
EARS notation has emerged as a favoured syntax for the requirements phase of SDD
Associated With: Non-functional requirement, Limitations
The notation is also less appropriate for non-functional requirements that cannot be captured as conditional behaviour
In Group: Software Requirements and Architecture Practices, Lead paragraph
is a structured method for writing natural language requirements using a small set of keywords and sentence patterns
View the SourceReader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
Choose a year to see this entry's facts and connections as the atlas records them at that moment: what it held then, what it held instead, and what it had not yet adopted. Choose Present for the current record.