Answer Posted / sapnotes
Functional Spec is short form for Functional Specification.
A Functional Specification/s is a formal document used to
describe in detail for SAP developers a product's intended
capabilities, appearance, and interactions with users. The
Functional Specification is a kind of guideline and
continuing reference point as the developers write the
programming code. (At least one major product development
group used a "Write the manual first" approach. Before the
product existed, they wrote the user's guide for a word
processing system, then declared that the user's guide was
the functional specification. The developers were
challenged to create a product that matched what the user's
guide described.) Typically, the functional specification
for an application program with a series of interactive
windows and dialogs with a user would show the visual
appearance of the user interface and describe each of the
possible user input actions and the program response
actions. A functional specification may also contain formal
descriptions of user tasks, dependencies on other products,
and usability criteria. Many companies have a guide for
developers that describes what topics any product's
functional specification should contain
For a sense of where the functional specification fits into
the development process, here are a typical series of steps
in developing a software product:
1) Requirements. This is a formal statement of what the
product planners informed by their knowledge of the
marketplace and specific input from existing or potential
customers believe is needed for a new product or a new
version of an existing product. Requirements are usually
expressed in terms of narrative statements and in a
relatively general way.
2) Objectives. Objectives are written by product designers
in response to the Requirements. They describe in a more
specific way what the product will look like. Objectives
may describe architectures, protocols, and standards to
which the product will conform. Measurable objectives are
those that set some criteria by which the end product can
be judged. Measurability can be in terms of some index of
customer satisfaction or in terms of capabilities and task
times. Objectives must recognize time and resource
constraints. The development schedule is often part or a
corollary of the Objectives.
3) Functional specification. The functional specification
(usually functional spec or just spec for short) is the
formal response to the objectives. It describes all
external user and programming interfaces that the product
must support.
4) Design change requests. Throughout the development
process, as the need for change to the functional
specification is recognized, a formal change is described
in a design change request.
5) Logic specification. The structure of the programming
(for example, major groups of code modules that support a
similar function), individual code modules and their
relationships, and the data parameters that they pass to
each other may be described in a formal document called a
logic specification. The logic specification describes
internal interfaces and is for use only by the developers,
testers, and, later, to some extent, the programmers that
service the product and provide code fixes to the field.
6) User documentation. In general, all of the preceding
documents (except the logic specification) are used as
source material for the technical manuals and online
information (such as help pages) that are prepared for the
product's users.
7) Test plan. Most development groups have a formal test
plan that describes test cases that will exercise the
programming that is written. Testing is done at the module
(or unit) level, at the component level, and at the system
level in context with other products. This can be thought
of as alpha testing. The plan may also allow for beta test.
Some companies provide an early version of the product to a
selected group of customers for testing in a "real world"
situation.
8) The final product. Ideally, the final product is a
complete implementation of the functional specification and
design change requests, some of which may result from
formal testing and beta testing.
The cycle is then repeated for the next version of the
product, beginning with a new Requirements statement, which
ideally uses feedback from customers about the current
product to determine what customers need or want next.
Most software makers adhere to a formal development process
similar to the one described above. The hardware
development process is similar but includes some additional
considerations for the outsourcing of parts and
verification of the manufacturing process itself.
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