The purpose of system requirements is to define what the ICM system should do. This represents a key decision point in developing the system, as the requirements set the direction for how the system will be designed, built, and ultimately implemented. The process of generating requirements must therefore make sure that stakeholders, implementers, users, and future reviewers of the system clearly understand what it must do to function effectively.
In the systems engineering framework, system requirements are produced as the first step in the system definition and design phase of a project, after the planning stage has been completed: