SR-01 · our practice ref · series-structure

Establish the system requirements baseline

Practice SR-01 in the System Definition and Realisation group. The basis is series-structure, and the row asks for 3 pieces of evidence.

At a glance

Ref: SR-01
Process: System Definition and Realisation
Basis: series-structure
Source: Public abstract, process list
Evidence: 3 items
Gaps: 2 common

Evidence to keep

System Definition and RealisationThe system requirements specification with identifiers
System Definition and RealisationThe acquirer's agreement to the baseline
System Definition and RealisationThe trace from each requirement to its source need

Questions before you sign

Which needs did the acquirer state, in their words?
How will each requirement be verified?
Who agreed the baseline, and when?

The practice, in our words

Turn the acquirer's needs into a stated, agreed set of system requirements and put it under change control. The baseline is the reference for design, verification and acceptance, and it is the first thing an assessor samples.

What it means in a VSE

Write each requirement so it can be verified: a subject, a condition and a measurable result. Separate the acquirer's needs from the firm's interpretation. Get the acquirer's agreement to the baseline before design commits to it.

In a firm of 25 people or fewer, establish the system requirements baseline has to earn its time. The test for SR-01 is not whether the team understands it but whether the artefact exists at the end of the project. Shrink the meeting. Shrink the document. Keep the record.

How to evidence it

Attach the artefacts above to the Establish the system requirements baseline row with the project name, the owner and the date. The anchor for SR-01 is The system requirements specification with identifiers. A named person must produce it on request.

For SR-01, the reviewer will sample one live decision and ask for The acquirer's agreement to the baseline. No artefact, no evidence. A file that depends on one person's mailbox is not a file for establish the system requirements baseline.

What an assessor samples

An assessor reads the establish the system requirements baseline practice, asks for its evidence and tests one project against it. For SR-01, the useful sample is the most recent project that used the practice, not the best one. A reconstruction written for the visit is a finding for SR-01 if the practice cannot be shown to have happened when it mattered.

Common gaps

Requirements written as design decisions
A baseline agreed verbally and changed by email

What changes from the 2019 report. For SR-01, system definition and realisation holds most of the evidence. The transition work is to keep the record as the work proceeds, not to reconstruct it at the end.

Where the draft fits

The public abstract places establish the system requirements baseline inside one of the four processes the Intermediate profile covers. For SR-01, the draft clause numbering and wording are not public, so this page cites Public abstract, process list and does not quote the draft. The basis label for SR-01 says whether the practice is stated in the public record, named as a process in the series, or our reading.

Related practices

Source for this page: Public abstract, process list. Open the record and compare it with the SR-01 statement above. Retrieved 2026-10-22.