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Example: CRM System

Condensed walkthrough of Problem-Based SRS methodology
Domain: Customer Relationship Management
Purpose: Learn by example how to apply each step

Business Context

The company has difficulties maintaining an effective relationship with its customers. They believe a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software system can help reduce these difficulties.

Step 1: Customer Problems (CP)

Identified Problems

ID Statement Class
CP.1 The company must ensure the existence of a communication channel with all customers, otherwise it risks losing customers, affecting marketing, promotions, feedback, and future sales. Obligation
CP.1.1 The company must ensure it can contact all of its customers. Obligation
CP.1.2 The company must ensure each customer is contacted regularly. Obligation
CP.2 The company must consider customer feedback statistics in planning, otherwise it creates customer dissatisfaction and loses market share. Obligation
CP.3 Customers expect the company to respond to their feedback, otherwise they become frustrated and company reputation decreases. Expectation
CP.4 The company must align sales strategies with customer behavior, otherwise it misses sales opportunities. Obligation
CP.5 The company must project sales, otherwise it loses opportunities and makes inadequate provisions. Obligation

Decomposition Note

CP.1 was decomposed into CP.1.1 and CP.1.2 to clarify two distinct facets:

  • CP.1.1: Ability to contact (having contact information)
  • CP.1.2: Regular contact (frequency of communication)

Step 2: Software Glance

High-Level Solution

CRM software will:

  • Interact with customers through a web interface (marketing campaigns, feedback, responses)
  • Provide local interfaces for the Manager
  • Store customer data, feedback, and sales history in a database
  • Include a LAN interface to the Sales Management software

Block Diagram

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                      CRM Software                        │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  ┌─────────────┐  ┌─────────────┐  ┌─────────────┐     │
│  │   Customer  │  │   Manager   │  │    Sales    │     │
│  │  Web Portal │  │  Dashboard  │  │ Management  │     │
│  └──────┬──────┘  └──────┬──────┘  └──────┬──────┘     │
│         │                │                │             │
│         └────────────────┼────────────────┘             │
│                          │                              │
│                    ┌─────▼─────┐                        │
│                    │  Database │                        │
│                    │(Customers,│                        │
│                    │ Feedback, │                        │
│                    │  Sales)   │                        │
│                    └───────────┘                        │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Step 3: Customer Needs (CN)

Needs Specification

ID Statement Outcome Class Traces To
CN.1 The company needs a CRM software to know who its customers are and have updated contact information. Information CP.1.1
CN.2 The company needs a CRM software to be aware of when each customer was last contacted. Information CP.1.2
CN.3 The company needs a CRM software to know customer feedback statistics monthly. Information CP.2
CN.4 The company needs a CRM software to allow responding to customer feedback. Construction CP.3
CN.5 The company needs a CRM software to know customer behavior patterns. Information CP.4
CN.6 The company needs a CRM software to know projected sales forecasts quarterly. Information CP.5

Step 4: Software Vision

Positioning

CRM software for companies with customer relationship difficulties. Unlike generic CRMs, this solution focuses on communication channel management and feedback responsiveness.

Stakeholders

Stakeholder Interest
Marketing Team Customer campaigns, contact management
Manager Statistics, reports, decision making
Sales Team Sales forecasting, behavior analysis
Customers Feedback submission, response tracking

High-Level Features

  1. Customer contact database management
  2. Marketing campaign execution
  3. Feedback collection and response
  4. Statistics and analytics dashboard
  5. Sales forecasting

Step 5: Functional Requirements (FR)

Requirements Specification

ID Statement Traces To
FR.1 The CRM shall store and display customer contact information including name, email, phone, and address. CN.1
FR.2 The CRM shall record the date of last contact for each customer. CN.2
FR.3 The CRM shall display customers not contacted within a configurable period. CN.2
FR.4 The CRM shall calculate and display feedback statistics by category monthly. CN.3
FR.5 The CRM shall allow users to compose and send responses to customer feedback. CN.4
FR.6 The CRM shall analyze and display customer purchase behavior patterns. CN.5
FR.7 The CRM shall generate quarterly sales forecasts based on historical data. CN.6
FR.8 The CRM shall send marketing campaigns to selected customer segments. CN.1, CN.2

Traceability Matrix

CP → CN Coverage

CN.1 CN.2 CN.3 CN.4 CN.5 CN.6
CP.1.1 C
CP.1.2 C
CP.2 C
CP.3 C
CP.4 C
CP.5 C

C = Complete coverage ✅

CN → FR Coverage

FR.1 FR.2 FR.3 FR.4 FR.5 FR.6 FR.7 FR.8
CN.1 C P
CN.2 C P P
CN.3 C
CN.4 C
CN.5 C
CN.6 C

C = Complete, P = Partial ✅

Summary

Artifact Count
Customer Problems 7 (5 main + 2 sub)
Customer Needs 6
Functional Requirements 8

Specification Type: Slightly redundant (8 FRs for 6 CNs) but acceptable.

Traceability: Complete — all CPs covered, no orphan FRs.

Key Learnings

  1. Decomposition: CP.1 was split into sub-problems for clarity
  2. Outcome Classes: Most CNs are Information-type (typical for CRM)
  3. Multiple FRs per CN: CN.2 needed two FRs to be fully addressed
  4. Shared FRs: FR.8 traces to multiple CNs (marketing uses contact data)

Based on: Problem-Based SRS Dissertation, Chapter 4 (Gorski & Stadzisz, 2016)