For the purposes of a CSC 308 example, the non-functional requirements for the Test Tool are organized into these categories:

• Performance
• General Characteristics
  • Security and Privacy
  • Simplicity versus Power

All test taking, test grading, and options commands must execute instantaneously, except for the following:

• the time to execute a creation of a test must be on the order of seconds
• the time to execute a the auto grading portion of a test must be on the order of seconds
• the time to execute proctoring a test to a class of 30 must be instantaneous, except for any delays due to network transmission of data from the central host to the local computer

The time to execute all administrative commands must be instantaneous, except for any delays due to network transmission of data from the department server.

In general, the performance of Test Tool commands that must access data across a network is subject to potential network delays. The Test Tool must transmit data as fast as is possible on any given network, but delays due to external network circumstances are beyond the control of the Test Tool.

There are no specific requirements for the allowable size of questions in a single tset. A test on the order of hundreds of items is the maximum expected size during normal use.

The maximum expected sizes of students taking a test in a classroom are up to the hundreds.

The maximum expected sizes of the Test Tool databases are the following:

• question database -- up to tens of thousands of records

The Test Tool must be able to operate with tests and databases of sizes larger than these normal maximums. However, the tool need not to meet the previously-enumerated time performance requirements for tests or databases larger than normal maximum sizes.

3.2. General Characteristics

3.2.1. Security and Privacy

The emplid for students needs to be kept secure and never presented but to the owner or the teacher. The department server passwords of any user must be kept secure from viewing or modification by any other Test Tool user, and from any user at all on the department server.

3.2.2. Simplicity versus Power

On a spectrum of simple-to-use versus powerful, the Test Tool is heavily on the side of powerful. Users are assumed to be fully computer literate and knowledgeable because of the test creation process and taking process requiring a lot of syncronization between machines.