Developing Effective Requirements Specifications

Gathering requirements and recording them is a skill that is fundamental to the success of any project. An effective solution is available. It is possible and reasonable to produce effective requirements specifications QUICKLY, ACCURATELY AND COMPLETELY with a battle proven process.

The RETURN ON INVESTMENT is high. Reduction of errors after delivery is significant. Reduction of changes during project execution is a major time saver. Shorter time for the total project is a managers' most popular benefit.

Our 3-day workshop presents a comprehensive process for systematically developing complete and accurate requirements in the shortest possible time. Industry's best practices and structured techniques are combined with effective proven modeling methods throughout the workshop. Participants will apply learned techniques to improve how they elicit, analyze, document and manage requirements. In the final assignment, participants have the opportunity to effectively develop high quality, clear, complete and accurate requirements specification.

The workshop is heavily "hands on" (about 65%). There are no automated tools: All work is simulation of real situations and done in teams relying heavily on group interaction.

Who Should Attend

This seminar is extremely helpful for systems project leaders, business analysts, systems analysts and designers, software engineers, data administrators and systems users who are involved in developing requirements specifications.

Workshop Objectives

Establish and realize the ROI for requirements.
Create an effective customer-development partnership.
Delineate critical success factors.
Discover how to set and manage customers' expectations.
Understand the various methods of gathering information.
Identify scope boundaries, and develop a high-level view of a project.
Identify the structure of the application area or system under study.
Analyze, define, and model the business processes, data, and rules.
Use rules and structure to test the results.
Create a clear, complete and accurate requirements specification.
Understand how the requirements specification components support the design.

Outline


I. Introduction
	Opening introductions, establishing the workshop rules and discussing the objectives.
		(a) Introduction to the Workshop
		(b) Getting the Most out of the Workshop
		(c) Workshop Objectives and Agenda
II. The Workshop Context
	Setting the workshop scope and expectations. Understanding the project phases and management processes and where business analysis and requirements fit in. Understanding the concepts of analysis and the tasks involved in the business analysis process.
		(a) The Software Development Life Cycle
		(b) Workshop Focus
		(c) Analysis and Requirements Definitions and Concepts
		(d) The Principal Tasks in Analysis
		(e) The Meaning and Structure of a Requirements Specification
		(f) The Roles Involved in Developing Requirements
		(g) Communicating with Models
		(h) Model Artefacts and Notation
		(i) Using UML (Unified Modeling Language)
		(j) Justification of Requirements Effort and the Return on Investment
III. Identifying Scope and Context of the Project (High-Level View)
	Taking a high-level view to establish the scope and boundaries of the project, and create a clear illustration of the perceived business goals and objectives, as well as the context of the project.
		(a) Project Initiation and the Project Charter
		(b) Developing the Business Case
		(c) Determining Project Scope
		(d) Creating a Context Diagram and Scope Statement
		(e) Definition and Concepts of Business Functional Processes
		(f) Identifying the Functionality of the Proposed System
		(g) Introduction to Business Use Cases (BUCs)
		(h) Introduction to the Case Study
			Assignment: Find the business functional processes.
		(i) Creating a Business Use Case Map
IV. Analyzing and Modeling Business Process
	Isolating the business processes for detailed analysis, and creating a Business Use Case (BUC) model for each process. Introducing the BUC template, and working through the development of the various artifacts.
		(a) Definitions and Terms Involved in Business Use Case Modeling
		(b) Introduction to the BUC Template
		(c) Creating the Heading Section for the BUC Model
		(d) Identifying Events, Triggers and Outcomes
		(e) Developing a Base Course Narrative
			Assignment: Create a base course narrative for the case study.
		(f) Finding Exceptions and Variations
V. Detailing the Business Process Models
	Adding information about business rules, reports and inquiries and capturing statistical information about the Business Use Case.
		(a) Related Business Rules
		(b) Types of Business Rules
		(c) Discovering and Documenting Business Rules
		(d) Creating a Rules Catalogue
		(e) Identifying and Recording Related Reports and Inquiries
		(f) Capturing the Process Statistics
VI. Discovering Business Data
	Using a model to capture and illustrate the use of data by the business processes. This sets the stage for an effective data design.
		(a) Managing the Discovery of Business Data
		(b) Identifying Business Objects
		(c) Using an Object Participation Diagram to Illustrate the Data Usage
		(d) Constructing an Object Participation Diagram
		(e) Analyzing the Data
			Assignment: Create an object participation diagram.
		(f) Evaluating Object Rules
		(g) Creating an Object Rules Table
			Assignment: Create an object rules table.
VII. Specifying the Business Objects
	Creating a detailed specification for each business object as a means to discover the required data architecture for the system.
		(a) The Business Object Defined
		(b) The Object Definition Template
		(c) Naming Objects
		(d) Identifying Object Rules
		(e) Data Attribution
			Assignment: Create an object definition.
		(f) Discovering Object Operations
			Assignment: Add operations to the object definition.
VIII. Elaborating the Business Use Cases
	Creating a greater level of decomposition and detailing when dealing with complex systems.
		(a) Elaborating the Narrative
		(b) Refactoring the Narrative with Use Cases
		(c) Refactoring Extensions and Variations
		(d) Numbering and Traceability
		(e) Modeling User Interfaces
		(f) Creating an Interface Logic Chart
			Assignment: Create an interface logic chart.
IX. Developing a Requirements Specification (Putting it All Together)
	Understanding how all the components come together to form a useful document that completely and accurately defines the requirements. Considering project management issues such as change control and estimating.
		(a) How the Models Work Together
		(b) Model Validation
		(c) An Appropriate Modeling Sequence
		(d) The Purpose and Structure of a Requirements Specification
		(e) Forms of Abstraction
		(f) Level of Detail
X. Managing Requirements Elicitation
	Examining the process of eliciting requirements and managing the people and effort. Understanding the essentials of effective communication in the world of business analysis.
		(a) The Importance of Users
		(b) The Requirements Elicitation Process
		(c) Challenges and Barriers to Success
		(d) The Communication Model
		(e) Obstacles to Effective Communication
		(f) How to Overcome the Obstacles
		(g) The Process of Listening
		(h) Interviewing
		(i) Asking the Right Questions
		(j) Information Gathering Methods
		(k) Interactive Analysis
		(l) What Makes the Process Work?
		(m) The Steps, Participants, and Facility
		(n) The Sessions — Opening, Controlling, Closing
		(o) An Examination of the Benefits
		(p) The Deliverables in Detail
XI. Creating a Requirements Definition
	A major assignment to study an application domain and use all the techniques learned to create a complete set of models forming the requirements definition.
XII. Summary and Conclusion
	Wrapping up with discussion on lessons learned and how to apply what has been learned. Confirming the need for more effective analysis and high quality requirements definition.
		(a) Objectives Revisited
		(b) The Key Lessons Learned
		(c) How to Apply the Lessons
		(d) The Opportunities and Challenges in Real Life
		(e) Wrap-Up

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