Software Requirements Standard - (SRS)

OOF® Origin Open Foundation®

Independent Methodological Authority

Architecture: SLGA™ — Software Lifecycle Governance Architecture
Category: Governance & Enforcement
Subcategory: Software Lifecycle Governance
Type: Parent Standard
Governed Space: Software Requirements Governance
Standard ID: SLGA-SRS-001
Origin ID: OOF.PS.SLGA.01.00.01
Version: 1.0
Status: Canonical Draft · Open Standard
Effective Date: Pending Canonical Publication
Compatibility: OOF® Methodology OS™ · Modular OOF® Architecture Ecosystem
AI-Readable: Yes
Authority: OOF® — OriginOpen® Foundation
Protection: MIP® — Methodological Intellectual Property
Canonical Language: English (UCL™)

Canonical Definition

The Software Requirements Standard (SRS) governs the identification,

formation, legitimacy, specification, completeness assessment,
applicability, acceptance, consistency, change, and traceability of
requirements that establish what a software system is intended,
permitted, or required to accomplish.

SRS establishes the methodological conditions under which proposed software

requirements may be evaluated, recognized, and maintained as a
governed basis for software creation, modification, verification,
release, deployment, and lifecycle reassessment.

It distinguishes requested functionality from governed requirements,

requirement consistency from completeness, requirement acceptance from
applicability, and documented requirements from evidence of
operational feasibility.

SRS applies regardless of whether requirements originate from humans,

organizations, AI agents, autonomous systems, automated discovery
mechanisms, or combinations of these sources.

Its principal output is:

Governed Software Requirements Baseline

Its foundational distinction is:

Requested Functionality ≠ Governed Software Requirement.

Operational Role

The operational role of SRS is:

To establish and maintain an identifiable, justified, sufficiently

complete, context-aware, accepted, and traceable requirements baseline
against which software lifecycle activities can be evaluated without
allowing requirement creation, modification, interpretation, or
technical implementation to become an independent source of authority.

SRS is the first Parent Standard of SLGA™.

It establishes the governed basis for determining:

What software is intended to accomplish
Which requirements apply to the governed software object
Where those requirements originate
Whether requirements are sufficiently specified
Whether material requirements gaps remain
Whether requirements are consistent and operationally plausible
Which requirements have been evaluated, accepted, and
incorporated
How requirements change and remain traceable throughout the
software

into the applicable baseline. lifecycle.

SRS does not independently establish that software has been correctly
implemented, securely configured, successfully tested, or legitimately
deployed.

It establishes the requirements foundation against which subsequent

lifecycle governance activities can be assessed.

Core Question

How can software requirements remain legitimate, sufficiently
complete, identifiable, consistent, applicable, accepted, and
traceable as software, actors, operational contexts, and development
methods change?

Position in Architecture Governance Flow

The SLGA™ Parent Standard governance flow is:

Software Requirements → Software Creation → Software Dependencies →

Software Configuration → Software Quality → Software Security →
Software Release → Software Deployment → Software Change Management →
Software Retirement

Cross-Cutting Governance: Software Lifecycle Control

Software Requirements

It is the first Parent Standard in the SLGA™ governance structure.

SRS provides the initial governed requirements baseline to subsequent

lifecycle governance domains.

The architecture flow is not a mandatory waterfall process.
Requirements may be created, evaluated, accepted, and revised during
any relevant lifecycle stage.

Position in the Software Lifecycle

SRS begins when a proposed software purpose, need, obligation,
constraint, or requested behavior requires recognition as a software
requirement.

Principal Input: Software Purpose and Requirements Inputs

Principal Output: Governed Software Requirements Baseline

SRS remains applicable throughout the software lifecycle because

requirements may be modified, superseded, suspended, or rendered
inapplicable by changes in software purpose, operating conditions,
dependencies, or external constraints.

A requirements baseline is therefore a governed reference state, not a
permanently fixed specification.

Approved Requirements Baseline ≠ Permanently Valid Requirements
Baseline.

SRS Internal Governance Flow

The canonical SRS internal governance flow is:

Software Purpose Definition → Requirements Specification → Software Scope

Management → Requirements Change Control → Requirements Traceability

These five functions correspond to the SRS Core Modules:

SPDM — Software Purpose Definition Module

2. RSPM — Requirements Specification Module 3. SSMM — Software Scope
Management Module 4. RCCM — Requirements Change Control Module 5. RTM
— Requirements Traceability Module

The flow establishes five distinct governance functions:

Purpose Definition: Identifies why the software exists and what

legitimate outcome it is intended to support.

Requirements Specification: Establishes sufficiently defined, evaluable,

and completeness-assessed requirements.

Scope Management: Determines the software objects, capabilities,

boundaries, contexts, and applicability conditions governed by the
requirements.

Change Control: Governs the evaluation, acceptance, and incorporation of

requirements changes.

Traceability: Preserves relationships between requirements, their

origins, acceptance states, applicable conditions, subsequent
lifecycle artifacts, and relevant evidence.

These functions may operate iteratively or concurrently.

Software Requirements Governance Object

Every SRS assessment must identify the software object or intended
software capability to which the requirements apply.

The governed object may be:

A software product or system
A software component
A software service
An application or platform
An autonomous software capability
A continuously generated or self-modifying software system
A sufficiently bounded software function or operating
arrangement

The object must be identifiable independently of a particular
development tool, programming language, AI model, repository, or
infrastructure provider.

A requirement applicable to one software object shall not automatically be

treated as applicable to another.

Shared Functionality ≠ Shared Requirements Applicability.

Software Purpose Governance

Software requirements shall remain connected to an identifiable software

purpose.

Purpose governance establishes:

The intended outcome or function
The problem or operational need being addressed
The relevant users, operators, beneficiaries, or affected
The boundaries of the intended capability
Material restrictions on intended behavior
Conditions under which the stated purpose remains applicable

environments where applicable.

Software purpose provides a basis for evaluating whether proposed

requirements are relevant, coherent, and sufficiently comprehensive.

A stated purpose does not independently establish permission to
implement or deploy the software.

Declared Purpose ≠ Legitimate Authority.

Requirement Origin and Legitimacy

Every material software requirement should have an identifiable origin
or recognized basis.

Potential origins include:

Authorized stakeholder instructions
Organizational requirements
Contractual or externally imposed obligations
Applicable technical constraints
Operational needs
Security and quality requirements
Validated observations
Requirements proposed through automated or autonomous analysis

SRS distinguishes the source of a proposed requirement from the authority

or governance conditions necessary to recognize it as applicable.

An AI agent may discover a missing requirement, propose a requirement,
identify a contradiction, or recommend a modification.

Those capabilities do not automatically authorize the agent to establish or

change the governed requirements baseline.

Requirement Proposal ≠ Requirement Authorization.

Requirement Origin ≠ Requirement Legitimacy.

General authority and delegation remain governed by competent authority

governance structures.

Requirement Identification

Material requirements shall be sufficiently identifiable to support

lifecycle traceability.

A governed requirement should preserve, where applicable:

Requirement identity
Requirement statement
Origin or recognized basis
Governed software object
Applicable scope
Relevant context
Requirement classification
Current governance state
Acceptance status
Version or revision
Dependencies
Relevant evidence references

Requirement identification shall not depend solely on its position in a

document.

Requirements may be maintained in documents, databases, structured
repositories, executable specifications, model-based representations,
or future equivalent forms.

Requirement Identity ≠ Document Location.

Requirement Specification

A software requirement shall be expressed with sufficient precision to

support its intended governance function.

The necessary level of detail depends on the requirement's materiality,

operational context, and consequences of incorrect interpretation.

A requirement should be sufficiently clear to determine:

What condition or behavior is required
To which software object it applies
Under which circumstances it applies
What boundaries or restrictions exist
What would constitute evidence of satisfaction
Whether relevant interpretation remains uncertain

SRS does not require all requirements to use a single specification
language or documentation format.

However, ambiguous requirements shall not be silently interpreted as fully

specified requirements.

Documented Requirement ≠ Sufficiently Specified Requirement.

Requirement Classification

Requirements may represent different forms of governed expectations.

Functional Requirements: Required software capabilities and behavior.

Quality Requirements: Required quality characteristics or performance

conditions.

Security Requirements: Required security properties and restrictions.

Operational Requirements: Conditions relevant to intended software

Interface Requirements: Conditions governing interaction with other

systems or components.

Constraint Requirements: Restrictions imposed on software design,

behavior, execution, or operation.

Continuity Requirements: Conditions relevant to maintaining required

software capabilities over time.

Context-Specific Requirements: Requirements applicable only within
defined environments, jurisdictions, deployments, or operating
conditions.

Classification supports interpretation, completeness assessment, and

traceability.

It does not replace specialized governance performed by subsequent
SLGA™ Parent Standards.

Requirement Applicability

A requirement shall not be presumed universally applicable merely because

it exists within a software requirements baseline.

Applicability may depend on:

Software object
Version or configuration
Intended function
Operating environment
Deployment region
Jurisdiction
User or operating context
Applicable time period
External obligations
Dependencies or other defined conditions

A requirement may be valid for one configuration and inapplicable to
another.

Requirement Existence ≠ Requirement Applicability.

Global Requirements Record ≠ Universal Requirements Applicability.

Applicability conditions should remain identifiable and reviewable.

Requirement Priority and Obligation

SRS shall distinguish requirements according to their applicable obligation

and governance significance.

Mandatory: Required under the applicable governed conditions.

Conditional: Required when specified conditions apply.

Optional: Permitted or desirable but not mandatory under the current

governed scope.

Unresolved: Insufficiently determined for final applicability or

obligation classification.

Priority shall not be confused with obligation.

A low-priority mandatory requirement does not become optional merely
because another requirement is considered more important.

Priority ≠ Obligation.

Requirements Completeness Governance

SRS shall assess whether the governed requirements baseline sufficiently

represents the declared software purpose, applicable scope, known
constraints, and materially relevant operating conditions.

Requirements completeness assessment shall seek to identify:

Missing functional requirements
Missing quality or security requirements
Missing operational constraints
Unspecified failure conditions
Missing interface or dependency requirements
Unaddressed user or operating scenarios
Missing requirements arising from known external obligations
Material gaps between software purpose and documented
requirements

Completeness assessment shall be proportionate to the software's governed

purpose, materiality, and operating context.

SRS does not guarantee absolute requirements completeness.

It requires material gaps and limitations of the assessment to remain

identifiable.

Requirements Consistency ≠ Requirements Completeness.

Documented Requirements ≠ Complete Requirements.

A requirements baseline may be internally consistent while omitting a
condition essential to its intended purpose.

Requirements Completeness Assessment

A completeness assessment should identify the basis against which
completeness is evaluated.

Relevant assessment references may include:

Declared software purpose
Defined software scope
Intended operating scenarios
Applicable constraints
Known failure scenarios
Material dependencies
Identified stakeholders and affected operational contexts
Applicable externally imposed requirements

The assessment should distinguish:

Sufficiently Covered: Available evidence supports adequate coverage for

the defined scope.

Conditionally Covered: Coverage depends on specified assumptions or

further evidence.

Material Gap Identified: A relevant requirement or condition is
missing.

Unresolved: Available information is insufficient to determine
coverage.

A completeness assessment shall not be represented as universal proof
that no missing requirements exist.

Requirement Consistency

SRS shall identify material contradictions and incompatibilities among

requirements.

Conflicts may arise when:

Two requirements prescribe incompatible behavior
A functional requirement conflicts with a security restriction
A regional requirement conflicts with a global requirement
A new requirement contradicts an existing baseline
Requirements impose incompatible resource or operating
conditions
Requirements depend on assumptions that cannot simultaneously
hold

Conflicting requirements shall not be silently combined into a supposedly

consistent baseline.

The conflict should remain identifiable until an applicable resolution
or limitation has been established.

Requirements Aggregation ≠ Requirements Consistency.

Requirements Consistency ≠ Requirements Completeness.

Requirement Conflict Resolution

Requirement conflict resolution shall preserve:

The conflicting requirements
Their respective origins and applicability
The nature of the conflict
Relevant authority and constraint boundaries
The selected resolution or unresolved state
The justification and supporting evidence
The consequences for the governed baseline

SRS does not independently establish legal or institutional priority
between conflicting external obligations.

Where conflict resolution exceeds the applicable authority or evidence
available, the requirements state shall remain unresolved or be
referred to the competent governance process.

Conflict Identification ≠ Authority to Resolve Conflict.

Software Scope Governance

Software scope determines which capabilities, functions, interfaces,

components, and operating conditions fall within the governed
requirements baseline.

SRS shall distinguish:

Included Scope: Explicitly governed software capabilities or
conditions.

Excluded Scope: Capabilities or conditions intentionally outside the

current requirements baseline.

Conditional Scope: Capabilities or conditions included only when
specified conditions apply.

Unresolved Scope: Areas where applicability remains insufficiently
established.

Scope changes may materially alter the requirements baseline and its
completeness assessment.

A requirement shall not automatically expand to new software functions

merely because they are technically related.

Technical Capability ≠ Governed Scope.

Requirements Acceptance and Baseline Recognition

SRS shall distinguish requirement evaluation, requirement acceptance, and

recognition within an applicable governed requirements baseline.

A requirement may be sufficiently specified and evaluated without
being accepted.

An accepted requirement may remain conditionally applicable or may not
yet be incorporated into a particular baseline.

The canonical recognition sequence is:

Proposed Requirement → Evaluated Requirement → Accepted Requirement →

Applicable Baseline Requirement

Acceptance shall depend on the applicable governance conditions and

competent authority or recognition process.

Where acceptance is conditional, the relevant conditions shall remain
explicit.

A requirement shall not be treated as part of an authorized baseline merely

because it was technically generated, reviewed, or successfully
tested.

Evaluated Requirement ≠ Accepted Requirement ≠ Applicable Baseline

Requirements Acceptance Evidence

Material requirements acceptance should preserve sufficient evidence
to identify:

The requirement accepted
The applicable acceptance conditions
The competent acceptance authority or process
The scope of acceptance
The effective context or period where relevant
Any conditions or limitations
The baseline into which the requirement is incorporated
The supporting acceptance record

SRS does not create the authority required for acceptance.

It governs the requirements-specific recognition state and its
traceability.

Recorded Acceptance ≠ Legitimate Acceptance by default.

Requirements Baseline Formation

A Governed Software Requirements Baseline is a defined requirements
state containing the applicable requirements and sufficient
information to identify their scope, origin, acceptance, conditions,
and governance status.

Baseline formation shall distinguish:

Proposed requirements
Evaluated requirements
Accepted requirements
Applicable baseline requirements
Authorized baseline changes
Superseded requirements
Unresolved requirements

A baseline may preserve unresolved requirements or conditions,
provided they are explicitly identified and not represented as
satisfied or authorized for uses that require their resolution.

Baseline recognition does not establish that software already
satisfies its requirements.

Governed Requirements Baseline ≠ Verified Software Conformance.

Requirements Baseline Integrity

The integrity of a requirements baseline depends on the preservation of its

meaning, scope, identity, acceptance state, applicable conditions, and
material history.

SRS shall identify changes that may alter:

Requirement meaning
Obligation
Applicability
Acceptance
Priority
Dependencies
Scope
Verification criteria
Baseline consistency
Completeness assessment

Material changes shall not be hidden by retaining the same baseline
label.

Same Baseline Label ≠ Same Requirements State.

A requirements baseline should remain reconstructable from preserved
versions, changes, and evidence references.

Requirements–Operational Reality Alignment

SRS shall identify material assumptions and operating conditions upon which

software requirements depend.

Requirements may be internally consistent yet incompatible with the
actual environment in which the software is intended to operate.

Relevant considerations may include:

Infrastructure limitations
External system dependencies
Operating latency
Available computational or physical resources
Environmental conditions
Operational capacity
Data availability and reliability
Interface constraints
Known human or organizational operating limitations

SRS shall identify where requirements require operational feasibility
evidence or subsequent validation.

SRS does not independently certify operational feasibility.

Relevant operational reality validation remains within competent
governance processes, including ORA™ where applicable.

Requirements Consistency ≠ Operational Feasibility.

Specified Behavior ≠ Operationally Achievable Behavior.

Operational Assumption Governance

Material assumptions supporting software requirements should remain
identifiable.

An operational assumption may concern:

Expected external system behavior
Available infrastructure
Human intervention capability
Operating workload
Environmental stability
Data quality
Dependency availability
Resource limits

SRS shall distinguish assumptions supported by relevant evidence from

assumptions that remain unverified.

Where an assumption is material to a requirement's applicability or
feasibility, its uncertainty shall remain attached to the relevant
requirements state.

A material assumption failure may trigger requirements reassessment.

Operational Assumption ≠ Verified Operational Condition.

Requirements Change Governance

Requirements may change because of:

New software purpose
Changed stakeholder needs
New operating conditions
Discovered defects or limitations
Security or quality findings
Changes in dependencies
New external obligations
Autonomous system discoveries
Software evolution
Retirement or migration requirements

A requirements change shall be evaluated according to its applicable scope,

authority, consequences, and effects on the existing baseline.

Material changes may require renewed completeness assessment,
acceptance, and operational assumption evaluation.

SRS governs the requirements-specific change.

SCMS — Software Change Management Standard governs the broader software

lifecycle change process.

Requirements Change ≠ Automatically Authorized Software Change.

Requirements Change Impact

A material requirements change may affect:

Existing software artifacts
Components and dependencies
Configurations
Quality conditions
Security conditions
Release eligibility
Deployment eligibility
Operational continuity
Retirement obligations

SRS shall identify relevant downstream implications without independently

performing the governance functions assigned to those downstream
standards.

A requirements change may require lifecycle re-entry under SLGA™.

Requirements Approval ≠ Automatic Downstream Lifecycle Approval.

Requirements Traceability

SRS shall preserve traceable relationships between requirements and

relevant lifecycle objects.

The canonical traceability relationship is:

Software Purpose → Requirement Origin → Requirement Identity → Evaluation

→ Acceptance → Applicability → Requirements Baseline → Lifecycle
Artifact / Evidence → Requirement Change History

Traceability should support questions such as:

Why does this requirement exist?
Who or what proposed it?
On what basis was it accepted?
Where does it apply?
Which software artifacts are associated with it?
What evidence addresses it?
Has its meaning or applicability changed?
Which lifecycle states may be affected by its modification?
Which material assumptions or completeness conditions remain

unresolved?

Traceability does not itself establish that a requirement has been
fulfilled.

Traceability ≠ Verification.

Autonomous Requirements Formation

SRS applies to software requirements proposed, generated, interpreted, or

modified by autonomous systems.

Autonomous requirements formation may include:

Requirements inferred from user objectives
Requirements derived from operational observations
Requirements generated from existing specifications
Requirements proposed by development agents
Requirements created through automated system analysis
Requirements modified during autonomous software evolution

SRS shall distinguish:

Requested Requirement → Interpreted Requirement → Proposed Requirement →

Evaluated Requirement → Accepted Requirement → Governed Requirement

An autonomous agent's interpretation of a requested outcome shall not

automatically become the authoritative requirement.

The creation of subordinate agents shall not expand requirements governance

authority.

Requirement Generation Capability ≠ Requirements Governance Authority.

Requirements Under Distributed Development

Software development may involve multiple teams, organizations, AI
agents, or autonomous systems operating across different geographic
regions and technical environments.

SRS shall preserve the ability to identify:

Shared requirements
Locally applicable requirements
Regional requirements differences
Conflicting requirements interpretations
Parallel requirements changes
Unreconciled requirements branches
Applicable acceptance and authority conditions
Evidence supporting baseline modifications

A locally accepted requirements change shall not automatically become part

of every other requirements baseline.

Local Requirements Acceptance ≠ Global Requirements Baseline
Consistency.

Distributed requirements reconciliation shall preserve the identity and

history of material conflicting changes.

Requirements Evidence Sufficiency

SRS shall evaluate whether sufficient evidence exists to support

recognition of a requirement or requirements baseline state.

Evidence sufficiency depends on the specific governance determination.

For example:

Evidence that a stakeholder requested a function may support
Evidence of competent acceptance may support baseline
recognition
Evidence of a technical constraint may support requirement
Operational evidence may support an assessment of feasibility
Testing evidence may support downstream conformance assessment

requirement origin. applicability. assumptions.

These forms of evidence are not interchangeable.

Evidence of Request ≠ Evidence of Authorization.

Evidence of Authorization ≠ Evidence of Implementation.

Evidence of Implementation ≠ Evidence of Conformance.

Where evidence is insufficient, the relevant requirements governance
condition shall remain unresolved or otherwise explicitly qualified.

Requirements Verification Conditions

SRS shall identify the conditions under which requirements can be
evaluated by subsequent software quality, security, or validation
processes.

This may include:

Observable expected behavior
Acceptance conditions
Applicable operating context
Relevant tolerances
Prohibited behavior
Required evidence
Conditions requiring independent verification

SRS establishes the requirements-side verification basis.

It does not independently certify successful implementation or replace
the testing and assessment functions of SQS or SSS.

Verifiable Requirement ≠ Verified Software.

Requirements Uncertainty

Requirements uncertainty may arise from:

Ambiguous purpose
Incomplete stakeholder information
Conflicting instructions
Missing requirements
Uncertain operating conditions
Unknown dependencies
Unverified operational assumptions
Incomplete evidence
Unresolved external obligations
Unpredictable autonomous system behavior

SRS shall preserve material uncertainty rather than convert assumptions

into confirmed requirements.

Uncertainty may justify further clarification, conditional
recognition, restricted scope, or deferred baseline decisions.

Assumed Requirement ≠ Confirmed Requirement.

Requirements Reassessment

Requirements shall be capable of reassessment when their underlying
conditions materially change.

Reassessment triggers may include:

Changes in software purpose
Material changes in intended use
New or changed operating environments
New security or quality findings
Material dependency changes
Changes in applicable obligations
Requirements conflicts
Discovery of missing material requirements
Failure of material operational assumptions
Autonomous changes affecting intended behavior
Evidence that the existing baseline no longer represents the
governed

software object.

Reassessment shall identify whether the current baseline remains

applicable, requires modification, or contains unresolved conditions.

Historical Requirements Approval ≠ Permanent Requirements Validity.

Requirements Continuity

Requirements governance shall remain reconstructable across changes
in:

Software creators
Development teams
Organizations
AI models
Agent systems
Repositories
Infrastructure providers
Documentation formats
Software representations

Requirements continuity depends on preservation of sufficient identity,

meaning, applicability, acceptance, change history, and supporting
evidence.

Loss of the original creator or specification tool shall not automatically

invalidate every existing requirement.

However, loss of material requirements evidence shall not be treated as

proof of complete continuity.

Requirements Preservation ≠ Requirements Continuity by default.

Requirements Governance States

SRS may recognize the following requirements governance states:

Proposed: A requirement has been submitted or generated but has not

completed applicable evaluation.

Under Evaluation: The requirement is being assessed for clarity,
origin, applicability, completeness relevance, consistency, or other
relevant conditions.

Accepted: The requirement has satisfied the applicable acceptance

Baseline Applicable: The accepted requirement forms part of an applicable

governed requirements baseline.

Conditional: Acceptance or applicability depends on explicitly identified

Unresolved: Material information, authority, evidence, completeness,

feasibility, or conflict remains insufficiently determined.

Superseded: The requirement has been replaced by a subsequent governed

requirement state.

Withdrawn: The requirement has been removed from active consideration or

applicability through an appropriate governance process.

These states describe requirements governance.

They shall not be confused with software implementation, release, or

deployment states.

Minimum Governance Requirements

A conforming SRS implementation must:

Identify the governed software object or capability
Establish an identifiable software purpose
Identify the origin or recognized basis of material requirements
Distinguish requirement proposal from authorization
Assign identifiable references to material requirements
Define requirements with sufficient precision for their intended
Identify applicable scope and contextual conditions
Distinguish mandatory, conditional, optional, and unresolved
Assess material requirements completeness against declared
purpose,
Identify material requirements gaps and completeness limitations
Identify material requirements dependencies and conflicts
Preserve unresolved conflicts without falsely declaring
consistency
Distinguish requirement evaluation, acceptance, and baseline
Preserve acceptance conditions and relevant authority boundaries
Establish an identifiable Governed Software Requirements
Baseline
Preserve requirements baseline identity and material version
history
Identify material operational assumptions and requirements
requiring
Govern requirements changes and their authorization boundaries
Identify material downstream lifecycle implications
Preserve traceability between purpose, requirements, acceptance,
Identify requirements-side verification conditions
Preserve material uncertainty and evidence limitations
Support requirements reassessment when applicable conditions
Preserve requirements continuity across relevant actor,
technology,
Produce a Governed Software Requirements Baseline with explicit

governance purpose. requirements. scope, and known constraints.
applicability. feasibility validation. baseline, artifacts, and
evidence. materially change. and organizational changes. applicable
governance conditions.

Governance Logic

The canonical SRS governance logic is:

Identify Governed Software Object

↓

Establish Software Purpose

↓

Identify Requirement Origins and Applicable Authority Boundaries

↓

Identify Proposed Requirements

↓

Define Requirement Identity and Specification

↓

Determine Scope and Contextual Applicability

↓

Classify Obligation and Priority

↓

Assess Requirements Completeness

↓

Identify Material Requirements Gaps

↓

Evaluate Requirements Consistency and Dependencies

↓

Identify and Address Material Conflicts

↓

Identify Material Operational Assumptions

↓

Identify Requirements Requiring Operational Feasibility Validation

↓

Assess Evidence Sufficiency and Uncertainty

↓

Evaluate Requirements Acceptance Conditions

↓

Establish Requirements Governance States

↓

Form Governed Software Requirements Baseline

↓

Preserve Requirements Traceability

↓

Evaluate Requirements Changes and Downstream Impacts

↓

Reassess Completeness, Acceptance, and Applicability When Material
Changes Occur

↓

Maintain Requirements Baseline Integrity and Continuity

The principal output is:

Governed Software Requirements Baseline

Governance Outputs

SRS may produce:

- Software Purpose Record

- Requirements Governance Object - Requirement Origin Record -
Requirement Identity Record - Requirements Specification -
Requirements Classification Record - Requirements Applicability State
- Requirements Scope Record - Requirements Obligation State -
Requirements Priority Record - Requirements Completeness Assessment -
Material Requirements Gap Record - Requirements Consistency Assessment
- Requirements Conflict Record - Requirements Conflict Resolution
State - Requirements Evaluation State - Requirements Acceptance Record
- Requirements Acceptance Conditions - Governed Software Requirements
Baseline - Requirements Baseline Version - Operational Assumption
Record - Requirements Operational Feasibility Validation Need -
Requirements Change Record - Requirements Change Impact Record -
Requirements Traceability Record - Requirements Verification
Conditions - Requirements Evidence Sufficiency State - Requirements
Uncertainty Record - Requirements Reassessment Record - Requirements
Continuity Record - Requirements Governance State

The principal output is:

Governed Software Requirements Baseline

Critical Distinctions

SRS preserves the following distinctions:

- Requested Functionality ≠ Governed Software Requirement

- Declared Purpose ≠ Legitimate Authority - Requirement Proposal ≠
Requirement Authorization - Requirement Origin ≠ Requirement
Legitimacy - Requirement Identity ≠ Document Location - Documented
Requirement ≠ Sufficiently Specified Requirement - Documented
Requirements ≠ Complete Requirements - Requirements Consistency ≠
Requirements Completeness - Requirement Existence ≠ Requirement
Applicability - Priority ≠ Obligation - Requirements Aggregation ≠
Requirements Consistency - Conflict Identification ≠ Authority to
Resolve Conflict - Technical Capability ≠ Governed Scope - Evaluated
Requirement ≠ Accepted Requirement ≠ Applicable Baseline Requirement -
Recorded Acceptance ≠ Legitimate Acceptance by default - Governed
Requirements Baseline ≠ Verified Software Conformance - Same Baseline
Label ≠ Same Requirements State - Requirements Consistency ≠
Operational Feasibility - Specified Behavior ≠ Operationally
Achievable Behavior - Operational Assumption ≠ Verified Operational
Condition - Requirements Change ≠ Automatically Authorized Software
Change - Requirements Approval ≠ Automatic Downstream Lifecycle
Approval - Traceability ≠ Verification - Requirement Generation
Capability ≠ Requirements Governance Authority - Local Requirements
Acceptance ≠ Global Requirements Baseline Consistency - Evidence of
Request ≠ Evidence of Authorization - Evidence of Authorization ≠
Evidence of Implementation - Evidence of Implementation ≠ Evidence of
Conformance - Verifiable Requirement ≠ Verified Software - Assumed
Requirement ≠ Confirmed Requirement - Historical Requirements Approval
≠ Permanent Requirements Validity

Cross-Architecture Boundary

SRS governs software-specific requirements within SLGA™.

It does not independently govern:

General authority and delegation
Organizational accountability
Autonomous system behavior
General validation methodology
Operational reality validation
Software implementation
Software quality assessment
Software security assessment
Release authorization
Deployment authorization
General legal or regulatory interpretation

SRS interoperates with:

GOA™ — Governance Architecture: General authority and delegation.

AGA™ — Accountability Governance Architecture: Responsibility and

accountability.

ASGA™ — Autonomous Systems Governance Architecture: Autonomous system

behavior and execution boundaries.

ORA™ — Operational Reality Architecture: Operational reality and

feasibility conditions.

VALIDOS™: Independent validation governance.

ADIT®: Evidence and auditability governance.

Within SLGA™, SRS provides requirements governance states to
subsequent Parent Standards.

It does not replace the governance functions of SCS, SDS, SCFS, SQS,
SSS, SRLS, SDPS, SCMS, SRTS, or SLCS.

Canonical Boundary

SRS begins when a proposed software purpose, requirement, obligation,
constraint, or requested behavior requires recognition within the
software lifecycle.

SRS governs:

Software purpose, requirement origin, requirement identification,

specification, classification, applicability, obligation, priority,
completeness assessment, material requirements gaps, consistency,
conflict identification, conflict resolution conditions, software
scope, requirements evaluation, requirements acceptance, baseline
recognition, requirements baseline formation, baseline integrity,
operational assumptions, requirements-side operational feasibility
validation needs, requirements changes, requirements change impact,
requirements traceability, requirements-side verification conditions,
uncertainty, reassessment, continuity, and requirements governance
states.

SRS does not grant authority to create, approve, release, deploy, or
operate software.

It does not establish that requirements have been successfully
implemented.

It does not certify operational feasibility, software quality, or
security.

It does not authorize software lifecycle transitions governed by other
SLGA™ Parent Standards.

SRS ends at the establishment and maintenance of an identifiable,

sufficiently assessed, applicable, accepted, traceable, and
governable:

Governed Software Requirements Baseline

This baseline becomes an input to subsequent software lifecycle
governance.

Canonical Closing Statement

Software development does not begin with code.

It begins with a purpose and the requirements through which that
purpose becomes an identifiable obligation, capability, or constraint.

A requirement may be written by a person, generated by an AI agent,
derived from operational evidence, or imposed through an external
obligation.

Its origin alone does not establish its legitimacy.

Its presence in a document does not establish its applicability.

Its internal consistency does not establish its completeness.

Its acceptance does not establish its implementation.

And its technical specification does not establish that the required
behavior is achievable under actual operating conditions.

Requested Functionality ≠ Governed Software Requirement.

Requirements Consistency ≠ Requirements Completeness.

Evaluated Requirement ≠ Accepted Requirement ≠ Applicable Baseline

Requirement.

Requirements Consistency ≠ Operational Feasibility.

Requirements Approval ≠ Verified Software Conformance.

As software becomes increasingly autonomous, distributed, and continuously

modified, requirements governance must remain independent of the
technologies and actors through which software is developed.

SRS does not promise perfect requirements.

It establishes the conditions under which requirements can be
identified, justified, assessed for completeness, accepted, changed,
challenged, and traced without losing their meaning or governance
boundaries.

SRS establishes the governed requirements foundation upon which software

lifecycle decisions can be justified — ensuring that software
development begins not merely with what has been requested, but with
requirements whose purpose, legitimacy, completeness, applicability,
acceptance, and limitations can be meaningfully governed.

Module Architecture

→ SPDM — Software Purpose Definition Module

→ RSPM — Requirements Specification Module

→ SSMM — Software Scope Management Module

→ RCCM — Requirements Change Control Module

→ RTM — Requirements Traceability Module

→ About Software Requirements Standard (SRS)