Specification of Software Component Requirements using the Trace Function Method

This paper describes the application of the Trace Function Method to specify the requirements of a software component. We illustrate the method on a software component of a telecommunications system that was developed by Ericsson. Beginning with incomplete informal descriptions, we analysed the requirements of the system and wrote a description that contains all pertinent information in one easily used reference document. The resulting documentation is more compact and complete than traditional software documentation and provides precise information that will be useful for testing and inspection.