Software Engineering

8.2.3 
Identify the computing environment characteristics
The computing environment must be identified to establish the scope of the soft-
ware product’s capacity to operate in a networked, collaborative, or multi-user 
FIGURE 8.2
Elements of a well-defined measure of effectiveness.
2 
(2001). 
Systems Engineering Fundamentals
. Defense Acquisition University Press.

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8.3 
Product analysis tasks
environment. Computing environment characteristics should address computing 
mainframes, servers, workstations, data storage devices, plotters, operating sys-
tems, and other application software, such as database management systems. This 
information is needed as the basis for the definition of the computing development 
that must be instantiated to support software testing.
It is necessary to identify the computational boundary that may include local, 
wide area, wireless, and telecommunication networks. Establishing the computa-
tional boundary is used to understand how the software product needs to interact with 
the various elements of the computational environment and other external systems. 
In the case of an embedded software product, the boundary could be the system it 
operates within. However, if the system is part of a larger “system of systems,” then 
the computational boundary could be extended beyond the system boundary to other 
systems, which would indicate the need for external interfaces.