How to Elicit (Gather), Write, and Analyze Business Requirements

Requirements are the foundation upon which systems are constructed. They are the key connection points between the business and system developers. However, business requirements and system specifications are not the same thing. The two major groups (business and systems) speak different languages and think in different ways. The starting point is the business requirements that are most often written or verbalized by business personnel and reflect how the business wants to operate. It is critical to capture and understand the business requirements before trying to create system specifications.

We provide a proven set of core techniques, methods and tricks to help create clear, unambiguous, complete requirements. Most requirements start with language and to create "good Requirements" you must know and use the "language and techniques" of Requirements Definition. The course also includes a set of techniques to help you evaluate requirements written by someone else.

NOTE: The techniques taught in this course are relevant to traditional, UML or Agile development environments.

Evaluate a management vision statement
Define business requirements that solve business problems
Describe how “analysis by walking around” creates requirements
Prepare, perform and follow up requirements interviews
Use 10 critical requirements questions to guide the requirements capture process
Identify the pros and cons of prototyping for requirements
Develop requirements based on business events and responses
Apply the five rules of a “good” requirement sentence
Identify the problem with language based requirements
Verify the “testability” of a requirement
Decompose requirements into the major types of requirements and their subtypes
Discuss the difficulties in writing quality, "-ability" requirements (ex: reliability)
Present 7 major components of business systems that need analysis
Apply the four rules for managing a group of requirements
Prioritize requirements based on business and system needs
Confirm (determine relative importance and feasibility) of requirements
Identify high-risk requirements and list risk reduction alternatives
Evaluate the completeness of requirements
Categorize requirements based on focus
Create a requirement/problem matrix to confirm requirements completeness

3 - 3.5 days

Business System Analysts
Requirement Managers
System Analysts
Business Process Users
Business Process Managers
Business Analysts
Subject Matter Experts
User Liaison Personnel
Anyone involved in defining or deciphering business system requirements.