Rules on Specification structure

Specification contents is, with some exceptions, defined as everything except requirements. It is meta information found in the beginning of the document, plain text paragraphs and headings, rationales, examples, appendixes and references. The User has some possibility to define what is treated as Specification contents and what is treated as requirements contents during the analysis phase.

The following rules apply to Specification structure.

DTD versions

The DTD-versions textfield lists the DTD-versions a document need to comply with to perform analysis. No analysis can be done if the DTD-version is missing or wrong.

DTD-versions are separated by spaces, commas or semicolons, for example:

DTD-version: 1.0, 2.0,3
DTD-version: 1;2.0, 3, 5.0.1
DTD-version: 1.0 2.0 3 4.0.2

Chapter depth

The integer value defines the nesting level for chapters and sub-chapters. The rule instructs the analysis engine to check the number of nested <rc:psection> and <rc:rsection> tags.

Chapter length

The integer value defines the number of paragraphs a chapter can contain. The rule instructs the analysis engine to check the number of <rc:para> tags in each chapter.

Paragraph length

The integer value defines the number of sentences a paragraph can contain. The rule instructs the analysis engine to check the number of sentences within each <rc:para> tag.

Sentence length

The integer value defines the number of words a sentence can contain in a plain text paragraph. The rule instructs the analysis engine to check the number of words in each sentence within each <rc:para> tag. This rule is not applied to requirement texts.

Subtitle

The document requires a non-empty subtitle. The subtitle is written between <rc:subtitle> tags.

Revision history

The document requires a revision history, consisting of at least one revision number and date. Information about the Authors is optional. The information is written between <rc:revhistory>, <rc:revision>, <rc:revnumber>, <rc:date> and <rc:author> tags.

Classification

The document requires a classification, for example OPEN, CONFIDENTIAL, or RESTRICTED. The rule does not check if the classification is meaningful. The classification has no influence on the contents or structure of the document. The classification is written between <rc:classification> tags.

Copyright

The document requires a copyright statement. The rule does not check if the content is meaningful. The statement is written between <rc:copyright> tags.

Glossary

The rule requires a Glossary chapter to be present in the Specification.

No Appendix

The rule doesn't allow Appendixes in the Specification.

No URL addresses

The rule doesn't allow URL addresses in the Specification contents.