respecifies

Respecifies is the third-person singular present tense of the verb respecify, meaning to specify again or to revise the specifications of something. The term is used across disciplines to indicate updating constraints, parameters, or descriptions of an object, process, or dataset. The noun form respecification refers to the act or result of re-specifying.

Respecification occurs when initial specifications become outdated or inadequate due to new requirements, discoveries, or integration needs. Common domains include engineering and product development, where requirements are revised; data management, where schemas or data dictionaries are updated; and software configuration, where system parameters are adjusted. The concept also appears in research protocols and policy documents, where terms and conditions are renegotiated or clarified.

Examples of usage include respecifying an API to accommodate a new security standard, or respecifying a data model to add a new field and enforce stricter data types. In each case, the goal is to align the formal definitions with current objectives, constraints, and available resources.

Implications of respecification include potential impacts on compatibility, documentation, and traceability. Effective respecification typically requires change management steps such as updating official specifications, communicating changes to stakeholders, version control, and validating that the revised specifications satisfy the intended objectives. It may also involve data migration plans, backward-compatibility considerations, and re-validation of dependent systems.

See also: specification, redefinition, reparameterization, change request, version control, schema evolution.