Non-Functional Questions
ID | S63 |
|---|---|
Version | 2.1.8 |
Type | Overarching Standards |
Status | Effective |
Effective Date | Nov 28, 2025 |
Contracting Vehicle(s) |
Introduction
Non-functional requirements describe how the Solution works, not what the Solution should do, and serve as constraints or restrictions on the design of the Solution. The following non-functional questions are to enable The Authority to assess the risk associated with the Compliance Assessment of the Solution against the overarching Service Management, Information Governance, Security, Testing, and Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BCDR) Standards. Supplier’s answers will also demonstrate they understand the non-functional landscape of the market they are selling into.
Non-Functional Questions Model
The Non-Functional Questions (NFQs) model illustrated within Figure A attempts to show the relationships between the Supplier’s Solution and the non-functional requirements (NFRs) required to meet the Overarching Standards, provide appropriate levels of service and, where relevant, satisfy the required service SLAs.
Suppliers are responsible for ensuring the non-functional elements of their Solutions are capable of meeting any defined service levels for specific Capabilities provided, as well as any other NFRs specified by The Authority across other Standards.
Suppliers must provide an appropriate answer to the Non-Functional Questions - the level of information and evidence required in the answer will depend on the Capabilities and scale of deployment of the Supplier’s Solution and this will be determined and specified in the guidance provided as part of the Capability Mapping and Standards Compliance Onboarding process.
Baseline Assurance Standard Requirements
The Baseline Assurance Standard (BAS) provides a proportionate, risk-based assurance approach for Solutions; balancing safety against efficiency by combining a minimum set of essential Requirements from the DSIC Overarching Standards. Completing the BAS is the first step to achieving full assurance with the Overarching Standards allowing Supplier Solutions to be published on the Buying Catalogue. Upon meeting this Standard, Solutions are required to meet any remaining Further Requirements in the Overarching Standard as applicable to the Contracting Vehicle within a period of 12 months.
All Baseline Assurance Requirements can be found here. Each Solution will be assigned a category of A, B or C that determines the level of assurance applied to that Solution. See the relevant category column to understand the assurance required for each Requirement. For information on Solution Categories see Solution Categories for Assurance in DSIC.
The following table of Requirements are the Requirements in the Baseline Assurance Standard related to Non-Functional Questions.
Applicable Contracting Vehicle(s) | ID | Requirement | Category A | Category B | Category C |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Resilience | |||||
| GP-NFQ-RS-5 | Component Failure Impact Analysis Describe what CFIA documentation has been produced? | Full Assessment Supporting evidence to include:
| Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
| Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
|
| GP-NFQ-RS-3 | Software Design Describe what level of resilience is provided in the software design? | Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
| Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
| Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
|
Service Management | |||||
| GP-NFQ-SM-3 | Monitoring Describe what are the key resources, services and performance indicators that can be monitored? | Full Assessment Supporting evidence to include:
| Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
| Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
|
| GP-NFQ-SM-4 | Alerting Who is alerted if a resource or service is not meeting the agreed service levels? | Full Assessment Supporting evidence to include:
| Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
| Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
|
| GP-NFQ-SM-7 | Event logging What events are logged? | Full Assessment Supporting evidence to include:
| Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
| Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
|
Capacity Management | |||||
| GP-NFQ-CM-3 | Capacity Management toolset What Capacity Management toolset is implemented and what is the scope of information capture available. | Full Assessment Supporting evidence to include:
| Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
| Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
|
| GP-NFQ-CM-4 | Capacity Management Describe how the capacity of the Solution is managed and the associated reports that are produced, include management and solution process models. | Full Assessment Supporting evidence to include:
Additional supporting evidence could include:
| Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
Additional supporting evidence could include:
| Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
Additional supporting evidence could include:
|
Integrity | |||||
| GP-NFQ-I-1 | Message Accuracy and Transfer Describe how message accuracy and transfer is achieved and maintained (e.g. how is the data guaranteed not to be corrupt). | Full Assessment Supporting evidence to include:
| Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
| Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
|
Further Requirements
Suppliers must complete assurance for these Requirements in addition to Requirements in the Baseline Assurance Standard in order to achieve full compliance with the Non-Functional Questions Standard. Suppliers can complete these at the same time as Requirements within the Baseline Assurance Standard or following the publication on the Buying Catalogue subject to meeting the timelines laid out by the Authority.
Applicable Contracting Vehicle(s) | ID | Requirement | Category A | Category B | Category C |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Usability | |||||
| GP-NFQ-U-3 | Supported browser versions Which browsers are supported and what are the minimum and recommended versions? How do you approach the deprecation and uplift of browser versions? | Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
| Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
| Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
|
| GP-NFQ-U-6 | UI Standards What user interface standards does the Solution meet? Are you following ISO 9241-210:2019 - the ‘six principles for human centred design'? | Full Assessment Supporting evidence to include:
| Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
| Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
|
| GP-NFQ-U-7 | Supported devices What devices are supported by the Solution that can be used and accessed by End Users? | Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
| Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
| Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
|
| GP-NFQ-U-8 | Client Access Mechanism (Accessibility) Describe how the Solution is accessed by/available to the End User? | Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
| Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
| Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
|
Performance and Scalability | |||||
| GP-NFQ-PS-3 | Number of concurrent sessions What is the peak number of concurrent user sessions the Solution can support? | Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
| Self-certification | Self-certification |
| GP-NFQ-PS-5 | Response times What are the expected response times in a given percentage of cases for a given operation e.g. Login or Open Patient Record? Provide different types of operation including command and query operations. | Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
Additional supporting evidence could include:
| Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
Additional supporting evidence could include:
| Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
Additional supporting evidence could include:
|
| GP-NFQ-PS-6 | Transactions per second How many user transactions per second (TPS) are supported? Define what a user transaction consists of and how it is measured. | Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
Additional supporting evidence could include:
| Self-certification with Supporting Evidence Supporting evidence to include:
Additional supporting evidence could include:
| |