Architecture for a generic requirements engineering tool

Requirements engineering is a part of the design process. Tools to aid in the initial design stage are discussed. A common solution is to develop an in-house fix for text processing systems to support design brief expansion (DBE), which means that the expansion methodology is hard-wired into the system. The computer implementation discussed uses a hypertext system as an interface between the designer and the DBE process. The system provides tools for exploring the expansion process, building documents, and contains a natural language processing component to help the designer in isolating relevant bits in the brief.