Work with Wireframes, Business Requirements, Member Architects and clients to write the definitive specification that will be built by TopCoder.  In Specification contests, competitors collaborate with winners of previous contests and TopCoder clients in the project forums to help finalize and enumerate the precise Application Requirement Specification for the new system. The Application Requirements Specification identifies and describes the logic requirements that define the User Interface (if there is one) and fulfill the business goals. Competitors compete to concisely document the actions and data of the application.

Specification Contests receive several documents and resources as input: Wireframes, Storyboards, possibly a prototype, a Systems Design Specification (from a Systems Architecture contest) and a Business Requirements Document (from a Conceptualization Contest). The task of the Specification writer is to synthesize a precise Application Requirements Document from these assets. This includes data, user activities, and their relationship to any User Interface. To do this, Competitors will create Use Case diagrams to define scope and Activity diagrams to illustrate actions. The Diagrams are indexed and then defined as a set of Logic Requirements in the Application Requirements Specification document. All Logic Requirements are assertive and written in a testable manner.

In the next phase of the project after Specification, Module Architecture contests will provide detailed interfaces and methods for the low level requirements of the ARS. The Component Design and Development and Application Assembly contests will give shape to the requirements and finally, the Testing contests will ensure they work correctly. Through these contests, TopCoder members are designing the application that the client will use every day, and Specification is where the application takes final shape.

• To learn more about how to compete, click here.
• To start competing on Specification Contests, click here!.