kravinventering

Kravinventering (Swedish for requirements inventory) is a systematic process used in project and product development to identify, document, and manage the requirements that define a solution's scope and objectives. It is a core activity in requirements engineering and is applicable in software, hardware, and business transformations.

The main purpose is to create a complete, consistent, and agreed-upon set of requirements that guide design, implementation, testing, and governance. By clarifying stakeholder needs early, kravinventering helps align expectations, supports accurate estimation, and reduces the risk of scope creep.

The process typically includes elicitation, analysis, documentation, validation, prioritization, and traceability. Elicitation gathers input through interviews, workshops, surveys, observations, and prototyping. Analysis structures requirements, differentiating functional and non-functional needs, constraints, interfaces, and regulatory considerations. Documentation captures the requirements in a clear, testable format, often with acceptance criteria. Validation ensures stakeholders agree that the captured requirements reflect real needs. Prioritization ranks requirements by value and feasibility, and traceability links requirements to design, tests, and business goals.

Outputs include a requirements catalog or backlog, a prioritized list, a requirements specification, use cases or user stories, acceptance criteria, and a traceability matrix.

Best practices emphasize early and ongoing stakeholder involvement, measurable and testable requirements, clear separation of functional and non-functional needs, versioning and traceability, and iterative refinement.

Kravinventering interfaces with standards and methods within requirements engineering and can be adapted to agile or traditional project lifecycles. Challenges include ambiguity, conflicting priorities, changing needs, and maintaining a manageable, up-to-date requirements set.