Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs) Framework for Software Systems - The Taxonomy of Non-Functional Requirement (NFR) Categories
Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs) Framework for Software Systems
Chapter 9. The Taxonomy of Non-Functional Requirement (NFR) Categories
Overview
This section of the document introduces numerous major NFR Categories that are recommended to be addressed when creating NFRs for a new or intended-to-be-modified software system.
Platform and runtime,
Security, compliance and data,
Operations and delivery,
Experience and integration,
Economic and governance, and
Cross-cutting essentials (such as validation, metrics, evidence, standards, and traceability).
This landscape is intended to help readers better understand the overall NFR taxonomy before they review the detailed category-specific best practices.

Figure: The Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs) Category.
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