A description of the goals behind this software clustering algorithm. Examples of such goals include:

• To decompose a software system into subsystems
• To recover the architecture of a software system
• To discover possible ways to restructure the software

Explicitly stating algorithm intent can simplify selecting a software clustering algorithm for reverse engineers, as well as understanding a clustering algorithm for software clustering researchers.

A description of the input that the software clustering algorithm expects (an algorithm's input is often called a factbase since it contains facts extracted from the software system). For example, software clustering algorithms often expect that the factbase includes only dependencies between modules.