How to Manage and Communicate Requirements

Managing the evolving business requirements on a project is a challenge facing business analysts everywhere. Ensuring that the requirements are captured, clarified, confirmed and communicated at the appropriate level of detail for the diverse target audiences is just one component of requirements management, albeit a major one. Requirements communication, requirements traceability, status tracking, and making the appropriate requirements reusable are activities that can be equally critical on information technology projects.

This course presents concepts, tools, business analysis techniques and approaches for effectively managing and communicating your business, stakeholder, solution, and transition requirements as defined by the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA^®) in their Business Analysis Body of Knowledge^® (BABOK^®). You will learn how the inputs, tasks, and outputs of the crucial IIBA^® knowledge area “Requirements Management and Communication” contribute to making your requirements gathering activities more productive.

IIBA^®, the IIBA^® logo, BABOK^® and Business Analysis Body of Knowledge^® are registered trademarks owned by International Institute of Business Analysis. These trademarks are used with the express permission of International Institute of Business Analysis.

1. Requirements Management and Communication

What’s In a Requirement and Who Cares?

Key concepts in this course

Keys to a Successful Course

Exercise: Your objectives for this course

2. Business Analysis Revealed

The International Institute of Business Analysis

Business Analysis in Your World

Plan-Driven versus Change-Driven Approaches

Introduction to the IIBA® Body of Knowledge

BABOK® Structure: Knowledge Areas, Tasks, & Techniques

Knowledge Areas of the BABOK®

Requirements Defined

Requirements a la BABOK®

Types of Requirements

The Business of Requirements

Stakeholder Perspectives

Defining the Solution

Getting from the AS-IS to the TO-BE

Analysis of Business Systems Analysis

KA Requirements Management and Communication

Knowledge Areas of the BABOK®

Requirements Management and Communication

What You Do in RM&C

3. Managing Requirements throughout the Life Cycle

Determining the Need for Traceability

Preserve a Team’s Collective Memory

Benefits of Requirements Traceability

Benefits of Requirements Traceability

Challenges of Requirements Traceability

Requirements Lineage

Backward Traceability (Derivation)

Forward Traceability (Allocation)

Trace a Requirement to its Source

Allocate Requirements to Design Artifacts

Allocate Requirements to Test Cases

Requirements Attributes

Defining Attributes of Requirements

Requirements Metrics

States in the Life of a Requirement

RequirementsTraceability Matrixes

Traceability Matrix

4. Manage Your Scope or It Will Manage You

What's Scope Got to Do with It

Discussion: What Is Scope?

What Does Scope Define?

Solution Scope

Project Scope

Scope Management and Change Control

Requirements Review and Approval

Example of a RACI Matrix

Who Approves Your Requirements?

Quality Assurance Activities

Requirements Issues and Conflicts

Exercise: Requirements Review

Managing Changing Requirements

Discussion: Change Control in the Real World

Configuration Management Defined

Configuration Management a la Wikipedia®

Discussion: Baselining Requirements

Change Request Process

Change Control Log

Change Control Log

Change Request

Capturing Change Requests

Hurdles to Informational Listening

Exercise: Creating Change Requests

Discussion: Impact Assessment

Impact Assessment

5. Packaging Requirements for Communication

Packaging Requirements

Possible Package Formats

What is a Requirements Document?

Requirements Repository

Discussion: Consider your Target Audience

Communications Plan

Presenting Requirements Externally

Primary Requests for External Solutions

Discussion: Request for Information

Discussion: Request for Proposal

Vendor Selection Criteria

6. Requirements and Re-Usability

Making Requirements Reusable

Regarding the Reusability of Requirements

Requirements Re-use

Exercise: Benefits and Challenges of Re-Use

Critical Success Factors

Exercise: Identifying Reusable Requirements

Requirements Management Tools

Players in the Requirements Management Tools Game

Exercise: Features of a Requirements Management Tool

7. Planning Requirements Management and Communication

Managing Requirements

Requirements Management Plan

Exercise: Requirements Management Plan Template Review

Course Closing

Discussion: Course Review

Exercise: Lessons Learned

References

• Differentiate between plan-driven and change-driven project approaches
• Discuss key concepts in the requirements management and communication knowledge area
• Classify the 5 types of requirements described in the BABOK^®
• Compare business analysis in your world with industry "standards"
• Defend the need for requirements management and communication
• Argue the benefits and challenges of requirements traceability
• Show requirements lineage in terms of forward, backward, and parent-child traceability
• Create the requirements traceability approach for a project
• Choose the appropriate attributes needed for requirements traceability
• Develop a requirements traceability matrix
• Distinguish between project, problem, and solution scope
• Develop and maintain a requirements management plan
• Apply requirements management principles based on scope, risk, and cost management criteria
• Baseline the business requirements to set the stage for managing change
• Develop a variety of different ways to present requirements to different audiences
• Relate requirements based on 5 relationship types
• Evaluate RFI, RFQ, and RFP documents as tools for communicating business requirements
• Choose the criteria with which vendor’s response to requests will be evaluated
• Argue the benefits and challenges of making requirements reusable

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