Identification of Software Specifications through Quality Function Deployment

The present paper describes the procedure that has been used to determine the software specifications for a simulation component of an information platform. The procedure has been designed and implemented within the GRailChem project. The initiative was funded under a French-German scheme of cooperation and aimed to determine whether the intended information platform could actually improve the effectiveness and the efficiency of the freight transportation between Germany and France. The suggested procedure follows the general steps of the quality function deployment to translate user requirements into system specifications, and later on, into simulation specifications. It also uses the analytic hierarchy process to decrease the subjectivity of the decisions made during the systems analysis process