Clause 6.3.3.3: Define stakeholder needs
The process defines the context of use inside the concept of operations and the earlier life cycle concepts, identifies the needs, prioritizes and down-selects them, and records each need with its rationale.
What clause 6.3.3.3 asks
The process defines the context of use inside the concept of operations and the earlier life cycle concepts, identifies the needs, prioritizes and down-selects them, and records each need with its rationale. Needs can come from goals, mission profiles, operational scenarios, the operational environment, deployment, performance, effectiveness, life cycle length, the organizational environment, and user or operator characteristics. Implicit needs are identified from domain knowledge and known gaps, not only from what stakeholders say.
Why it matters
The clause treats elicitation as a structured search across sources, not an interview. The list of sources is a prompt sheet. The rationale is what lets a later reader see why a need was included or dropped. Down-selection is expected, so a long unprioritized list is a sign the process stopped early.
No clause level change is public for this unit; the DIS keeps the title and scope, and the requirement text is not released.
What good looks like
Walk the source list for each stakeholder class and record the answer, including none. Capture implicit needs from incidents, support tickets and known domain failures. Prioritize with the stakeholders and record the reason for each dropped need.
Evidence an assessor asks for
The assessor will ask where a need came from. A register with no source column cannot answer.
- Needs register Each need, its source, the stakeholder, the rationale and the priority
- Source walk The source list with the answer for each class, including no need identified
- Implicit needs note The domain knowledge, incidents or gaps that produced needs no one stated
- Down-selection record The needs dropped, with the reason and the stakeholder who agreed
Where it commonly fails
- The needs are the minutes of one workshop, with no source or rationale
- Implicit needs are omitted because no stakeholder said them aloud
- Every need is high priority, so the prioritization carries no information
What to do before the revision
Add source and rationale columns and make them mandatory. Then review the needs with the stakeholders and record what was dropped and why.
Read across
- 6.3.1 Purpose: stakeholder needs and requirements definition
- 6.3.3.2 Prepare for stakeholder needs
- 6.3.3.4 Develop the operational concept
- 6.3.3.5 Transform needs into stakeholder requirements
← 6.3.3.2 Prepare for stakeholder needs 6.3.3.4 Develop the operational concept →
Source for clause 6.3.3.3: ISO/IEC/IEEE 29148:2018, Clause 6.3.3.3, retrieved 19 October 2026. The revision note rests on ISO page 94091. The requirement, evidence and gaps are written from our record. Every source.