Electronic toll collection: the role and strength of a requirements specification

This paper describes the role of a requirements specification for electronic toll collection (ETC) systems in matching industry solutions to government wishes. The paper emphasises that the gap between wishes and solutions is still wide. The paper describes how the international and independent consortium ofthe consulting companies Scandiaplan, CMG and Intercai applies requirements specifications, structured according to the US Department of Defense specification practice, as the needed strong means to bridge this gap. We argue that in the early stages in the development of an ETC-system, interaction and influences of these issues should be sufficiently clear. Without doing so, risks are increasing that the technical system which is finally installed, is not able to provide the functionality or performance which is required. Worse still, it may prove that introducing ETC with an installed system is not possible at all. History has demonstrated that investments in technology do not always result in systems that work satisfactorily