The first step results in the creation of an Evaluation Specification, which contains and describes all the functional and non-functional requirements that the evaluation subject must meet. 

Step 1: Creating an Evaluation Specification 

The Web-based Evaluation Specification repository is the home of a growing number of ready-made Evaluation Specifications, each of which you can download for a fee and use in your evaluation projects.

Let us do an evaluation project, which will help us determine word processor software products that fit our needs. To get us going, we first try to find a ready-made Evaluation Specification, which gives us a starting point for customization.

Once the Evaluation Specification Editor (ESEdit) is up and running, you will see a list of downloadable Evaluation Specifications under the "Central Repository" tab. Select the "Word Processor Evaluation Specification", which has been developed for demonstration purposes and can be downloaded for free. This demo specification contains only few requirements and its sole purpose is to give you an idea of the typical structure of an Evaluation Specification.

Opening the Evaluation Specification creates a new tab and displays the Evaluation Specification's hierarchical structure.