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Eliciting and Documenting Detailed Requirements What's Included in this Book Defining the Approach for Eliciting Requirements Obtaining Detailed Requirements Prioritizing Requirements Documenting Requirements and Attributes of Requirements Real examples of vague vs. detailed requirements Three Requirements Eliciting Techniques What is a Business Requirements Document (BRD) Sections of the BRD and what goes in those sections
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Eliciting and Documenting Detailed Business …and...• Requires!trained!and!experienced!personnel!for!facilitation!and recording.!! JAD ... documents.!The ......

Aug 31, 2018

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Page 1: Eliciting and Documenting Detailed Business …and...• Requires!trained!and!experienced!personnel!for!facilitation!and recording.!! JAD ... documents.!The ... being!addressed!during!the!JAD!session.!!

   

Eliciting  and  Documenting  Detailed  Requirements  What's  Included  in  this  Book  

• Defining  the  Approach  for  Eliciting  Requirements  • Obtaining  Detailed  Requirements  • Prioritizing  Requirements  • Documenting  Requirements  and  Attributes  of  Requirements  • Real  examples  of  vague  vs.  detailed  requirements  • Three  Requirements  Eliciting  Techniques  • What  is  a  Business  Requirements  Document  (BRD)  • Sections  of  the  BRD  and  what  goes  in  those  sections  

   

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Introduction  

Software  development  teams  develop  all  types  of  software  for  all  types  of  industries.  So  the  software  can  be  vastly  different  between  companies,  but  all  companies  have  the  same  goal  in  mind:  develop  quality  software  on  time,  on  budget,  and  that  meets  the  customer's  real  needs.  

If  an  application  is  developed  that  is  completed  on  budget,  on  time,  and  has  very  few  defects,  it  may  be  an  excellent  system.  However,  if  it  doesn't  meet  the  needs  of  the  customer,  they  won't  use  it.  If  forced  to  use  it,  they  will  still  use  other  software  or  manual  processes  to  compensate  for  what's  lacking  in  the  new  application.    Company  money  has  been  spent  to  design  (usually  a  very  large  chunk  of  change),  develop,  and  deploy  an  application  that  isn't  doing  what  they  expected  it  to  do.  This  will  lead  to  unhappy  users,  managers,  executive  staff,  and  sometimes  even  unhappy  investors.  Requirements  errors  are  usually  the  most  expensive  to  fix.  

It's  imperative  to  have  business  analysis  be  an  important  part  of  the  project.  This  will  ensure  the  right  requirements  are  captured,  documented,  developed,  implemented,  and  deployed.  The  goal  is  "no  surprises"  for  the  users  and  business  partners.  When  they  see  and  use  the  application  it  should  be  exactly  what  they  expected  it  to  be.  

Once  the  scope  of  a  project  has  been  defined,  the  next  step  is  for  the  business  analyst  to  gather  complete  requirements.  This  is  the  most  important  task  for  a  business  analyst.  

A  business  requirement  defines  what  the  business  problem  is  and  what  specifically  the  business  needs  to  accomplish.  There  can  also  be  system  requirements.  System  requirements  are  needed  in  order  to  meet  the  business  requirements.  System  requirements  will  usually  come  from  the  technical  partners  on  the  project,  not  the  business  partners.  

The  business  analyst  (BA)  is  responsible  for  determining  where  to  find  the  requirements.  Usually  they  will  have  subject  matter  experts  (SMEs)  and/or  users  of  the  software  application  to  gather  requirements  from.  In  some  cases,  the  project  may  be  more  technical  and  the  business  analyst  will  elicit  some  requirements  from  developers,  architects,  etc.  

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For  the  sake  of  simplicity,  throughout  this  book,  we'll  be  using  SME  as  the  reference  to  whom  we  are  eliciting  requirements  from.      

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Defining  the  Approach  for  Eliciting  Requirements  

The  BA  is  responsible  for  defining  the  approach  they  will  use  for  eliciting  the  requirements.  They  might  have  a  meeting  in  a  conference  room  with  everyone  present,  they  may  do  a  combination  of  in-­‐person  and  by  conference  call,  and  they  may  do  several  smaller  sessions  if  people  are  in  different  locations/time  zones.    The  BA  needs  to  use  their  judgment  in  regards  to  which  option  makes  the  most  sense  for  the  project.  They  may  also  be  bound  by  project  requirements.  For  example,  if  there's  no  budget  for  travel  in  the  project,  in  person  meetings  may  not  be  possible.    Sometimes  it's  useful  to  use  a  desktop  sharing  tool  that  everyone  can  log  into  and  all  parties  can  view  the  same  thing  at  the  same  time.  There  are  creative  options  available  if  everyone  cannot  be  in  a  room  together.      

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Obtaining  Detailed  Requirements  

The  BA  must  obtain  detailed  and  complete  requirements.  In  order  for  the  business  analyst  to  accomplish  this  task,  they  must  have  excellent  communication  skills.  The  BA  must  have  the  ability  to:  

•  Pay  close  attention  to  what  the  SMEs  are  saying  • Ask   the   right   questions   to   get   more   specific   details   on   the  

requirements    •  Take  notes  while  still  staying  engaged  in  the  conversation  • Repeat  back  what  was  heard  to  ensure  correct  understanding  of  

what  the  person  is  stating  •  Keep  the  meeting  on  point  and  everyone  engaged  in  the  

conversation  

Now  let's  take  a  closer  look  at  each  of  the  above  

statements:  Pay  close  attention  to  what  the  SMEs  are  saying  

In  order  to  effectively  elicit  requirements,  the  business  analyst  must  stay  engaged  and  focused  on  the  conversation.  If  not,  they  may  miss  an  important  piece  of  information  for  a  specific  requirement.  

It  is  the  analyst's  responsibility  to  understand  the  user's  problem  and  build  systems  that  meet  their  needs.  

Taking  breaks  throughout  the  meeting  can  help  everyone  stay  focused.  It's  important  to  take  breaks  at  regular  intervals  so  everyone  has  the  opportunity  to  stretch,  take  a  restroom  break,  make  a  call,  etc.  If  everyone  gets  time  to  do  these  things,  they  are  more  inclined  to  stay  in  the  room  and  stay  focused  when  needed.  

Ask  the  right  questions  to  get  more  specific  details  on  the  requirements  

There  is  a  general  rule  that  says  "if  you  ask  why  three  times  you'll  get  to  the  real  requirement".  The  question  isn't  always  "why",  but  asking  for  more  information  three  times  will  generally  lead  you  to  the  root  requirement.  

Let's  test  that  theory  here.  Joan  is  eliciting  requirements  for  a  software  application  a  company  is  using  to  sell  their  widgets.    

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Mark  tells  Joan  they  need  the  ability  to  take  payments.  Joan  asks  Mark  why  he  needs  the  ability  to  take  payments.  Mark  states  they  have  products  for  sale  on  their  website  and  they  have  to  be  able  to  take  payments  on  the  site  if  someone  decides  to  purchase  a  product.  

Joan  asks  Mark  what  type  of  payments  they  will  accept.  Mark  responds  with  Master  Card,  Visa,  debit  cards,  and  check  payments.  

Joan  asks  if  there  are  a  maximum  number  of  items  a  person  can  buy  in  order  to  pay  online  and  if  there  is  a  minimum  and/or  a  maximum  amount  for  the  payments  for  any  of  the  payment  types.  

Mark  responds  there  is  no  limit  to  the  number  of  items  a  person  can  buy,  and  the  max/min  limits  are  the  same  for  all  credit  and  debit  cards,  but  is  a  lower  amount  for  checks.  Minimum  for  credit  and  debit  cards  is  $5.00  and  the  maximum  is  $1000.00.  For  checks,  the  minimum  is  still  $5.00,  but  the  maximum  is  $250.00.  

The  initial  requirement  of  "Need  the  ability  to  take  payments"  was  a  vague  requirement.  By  asking  three  follow-­‐up  questions,  Joan  now  has  two  detailed  requirements:  

• Need  the  ability  to  take  payments  via  Master  Card,  Visa  and  debit  cards  with  a  minimum  amount  of  $5.00  and  a  maximum  amount  of  $1000.00  

• Need   the   ability   to   take   payments   via   checks   for   a   minimum  amount  of  $5.00  and  a  maximum  amount  of  $250.00  

This  should  spawn  other  requirements  related  to  payments.  Other  questions  Joan  would  ask  are:  

• Can   they   split   the   payment   up   with   multiple   cards/payment  types   or   do   they   have   to   pay   for   the   entire   order   with   one  payment  transaction?  

• Will  the  company  need  to  store  credit  card  information  for  the  customers?  

• If  so,  how  long  will  they  need  to  store  the  information?  • Can   customers   keep   multiple   forms   of   payment   stored   on   the  

company's  site,  or  only  one  payment  type  can  be  saved/stored?  

This  will  continue  to  spawn  more  discussion  around  payments  and  that's  exactly  how  it  should  work.  The  BA  has  a  responsibility  to  

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continue  to  ask  questions  and  make  the  others  think  about  things  they  may  not  have  even  realized  they  needed  until  they  talked  completely  through  all  of  the  options  related  to  taking  payments.  

Take  notes  while  still  staying  engaged  in  the  conversation  

This  is  probably  one  of  the  more  difficult  tasks  during  a  requirements  meeting.  The  BA  needs  to  stay  engaged  in  the  conversation,  but  will  need  to  take  notes  because  it's  impossible  to  remember  every  decision  made  during  the  meeting.  

The  BA  can  and  should  take  notes  on  decisions  made  during  the  meeting,  but  they  should  also  have  someone  designated  as  the  scribe  for  the  meeting.  That  scribe  should  be  taking  very  detailed  notes  on  all  requirements.  Later  the  scribe  and  the  BA  can  work  to  combine  their  notes  and  come  up  with  a  complete  list  of  requirements.  

Some  people  will  give  lengthy  answers  to  the  questions  the  business  analyst  is  asking.  Capture  the  actionable  items  and  steps  in  the  conversation.  It's  important  for  the  analyst  to  repeat  back  to  the  person  what  they  heard  them  say.  Not  everyone  processes  information  in  the  same  way  and  the  analyst  may  interpret  something  completely  different  from  what  the  SME/user  was  telling  him  or  her.  

Keep  the  meeting  on  point  and  everyone  engaged  in  the  conversation  

At  the  beginning  of  the  meeting  the  BA  should  lay  some  ground  rules  and  one  of  those  rules  should  be  that  all  subjects  that  come  up  not  related  to  this  meeting  will  be  added  to  a  "parking  lot"  for  later  discussion.  

A  parking  lot  is  simply  a  large  piece  of  paper  usually  taped  up  to  a  wall.  This  paper  is  used  to  capture  any  subjects  that  are  not  relative  to  this  particular  meeting,  but  need  discussion  at  a  later  time.  

The  BA  needs  to  reassure  the  group  that  what  they  have  to  say  is  important  and  while  they  may  not  be  able  to  do  a  "deep  dive"  on  all  topics  today,  they  should  ensure  the  group  knows  they  are  taking  what  they  say  seriously  and  will  follow-­‐up  at  a  later  time  on  those  parking  lot  topics.  

Keeping  everyone  engaged  during  an  in  person  meeting  can  be  as  simple  as  continuously  making  eye  contact  with  everyone  during  the  meeting  

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and  occasionally  calling  out  to  the  "quiet  ones"  to  ask  them  questions  and  get  them  involved  in  the  discussion.  

You  can  also  do  some  fun  things  to  keep  people  engaged  in  the  conversation.  At  the  beginning  of  the  meeting,  hand  out  reward  "coupons"  that  say  "Great  Idea!"  Explain  that  the  coupons  are  to  be  handed  out  to  others  in  the  meeting  when  they  present  a  good  idea.  Also  explain  the  expectation  is  that  nobody  leaves  the  meeting  without  at  least  one  "Good  Idea!"  coupon.  Make  a  small  reward  for  the  use  of  the  coupons.  

“The  after  lunch  energy  issue”  -­‐  everyone  knows  what  this  means.  You  have  lunch,  you're  sitting  in  an  afternoon  meeting  and  all  you  can  think  about  is  the  nap  you  desperately  want.  

Do  whatever  you  can  to  keep  things  moving.  I  would  suggest  serving  a  light  lunch,  no  heavy  pasta!  Have  afternoon  snack  breaks,  break  people  up  into  small  discussion  groups,  move  people  and  furniture  around,  whatever  you  can  do  to  keep  energy  flowing.  Sometimes  changing  the  lighting  or  temperature  in  the  room  also  helps.  

This  can  be  more  challenging  when  the  meetings  are  held  via  conference  calls,  but  there  are  ways  for  the  BA  to  keep  people  engaged:  

•  Take  a  roll  call  and  write  down  the  names  of  all  the  people  attending  the  meeting.  

• Ask  everyone  to  announce  their  name  before  they  start  talking  so  that  everyone  knows  who  is  speaking.  

•  The  BA  and  scribe  should  write  down   the  name  of   the  person  related   to   the   notes   they   take   so   they   can   call   out   to   specific  people  if  they  need  to  re-­‐engage  them  in  the  conversation.  

   

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Prioritizing  Requirements  

With  the  help  of  the  SMEs,  the  BA  is  responsible  for  prioritizing  requirements.  

Some  companies  use  something  like  "Must  Have,  Nice  to  Have,  Optional"  and  others  may  use  a  numbering  priority  like  1-­‐3  with  1  meaning  must  have  and  going  down  from  there.    It's  important  to  do  this  prioritizing  step  because  it  sometimes  comes  into  play  when  considering  the  scope  of  the  project.  When  projects  must  be  completed  by  a  specific  date  (as  most  do),  sometimes  the  scope  of  the  project  needs  to  change  in  order  to  meet  that  date.  It  helps  to  know  which  requirements  are  most  important  vs.  least  important  when  the  project  team  is  determining  what  could  be  held  off  for  a  later  release  instead  of  going  in  production  in  the  initial  release.  

If  the  meeting  is  in  person,  the  BA  can  use  the  end  of  the  meeting  to  do  the  priority  exercise.  This  can  actually  be  a  fun  way  to  end  the  meeting.  

Here's  how  this  exercise  can  be  done:  

• Take  sheets  of  colored  dots  to  the  meeting  in  enough  different  colors  to  match  the  number  of  priorities.  If  the  priorities  are  Must  Have,  Nice  to  Have,  and  Optional,  the  BA  should  have  3  different  colors  of  dots.  

• The  requirements  should  be  listed  on  papers  hung  on  the  wall.  These  can  be  typed  or  hand  written  depending  on  how  much  time  there  was  to  prepare  for  the  "dot"  exercise.  

• Each  SME  should  be  given  sheets  of  dots  in  all  three  colors.  • Every  SME  will  go  to  the  wall  and  place  dots  next  to  the  

requirements  based  on  what  category  they  feel  each  requirement  falls  into.  

• Once  everyone  is  finished  putting  up  there  dots,  it's  usually  easy  to  tell  which  requirements  are  "Must  haves"  because  they  will  have  the  most  dots  next  to  them  in  the  color  that  was  meant  for  the  "Must  Have"  priority.  

It's  important  to  note  here  that  ONLY  the  SMEs  and  business  partners  take  part  in  this  exercise.  The  BA,  project  manager,  and  IT  members  of  the  

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meeting  DO  NOT  get  to  vote.  This  exercise  is  strictly  for  the  business  people.  

This  exercise  can  also  spur  discussions  related  to  the  priority  for  certain  requirements.  If  there  are  10  SMEs  and  5  say  a  requirement  is  a  must  have  and  the  other  5  say  "Nice  to  Have",  it  is  the  responsibility  of  the  BA  to  lead  a  discussion  on  which  priority  best  fits  the  business  needs  for  that  requirement.  

If  the  meeting  is  via  a  conference  call,  the  BA  may  need  to  email  the  list  of  requirements  to  each  SME,  get  them  to  put  there  priority  on  them  and  email  them  back  to  the  BA.    Once  the  BA  gets  the  results,  they  can  compile  them  and  then  have  a  follow-­‐up  conference  call  with  everyone  and  review  the  results  of  the  priority  exercise.      

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Documenting  Requirements  and  Attributes    Let's  take  another  look  at  the  requirements  from  earlier  around  taking  payments.  

We  have  a  requirement  that  says  the  customer  should  have  the  ability  to  make  a  check  payment  for  a  minimum  of  $5.00  and  a  maximum  of  $250.00  

The  business  analyst  should  also  document  attributes  for  this  requirement.  Attributes  would  be  the  checking  account  number,  the  bank  routing  number,  the  dollar  amount,  the  name  of  the  account  holder,  the  account  holder  address,  etc.  

Once  all  of  the  attributes  are  documented,  the  next  step  would  be  determining  which  of  the  attributes  are  required  vs.  optional.  For  example,  first  and  last  name  of  the  account  holder  may  be  required,  but  middle  initial  is  optional.  

The  BA  will  then  need  to  determine  what  data  types  each  of  the  attributes  are.  Are  they  a  numeric,  character,  date/time,  etc.  After  determining  the  data  types,  the  BA  needs  to  define  the  number  of  characters/field  length  acceptable  for  each  data  type  and  if  it  is  "up  to"  a  certain  number  or  must  be  a  specific  number  of  characters.  

Example:  The  bank  routing  number  may  be  required  to  always  be  exactly  9  numeric  values,  but  the  bank  account  holder's  last  name  can  be  from  1  to  26  characters.  

There  are  many  things  that  go  into  documenting  detailed  requirements;  it  is  not  simply  listing  the  requirements.  The  business  analyst  needs  to  account  for  all  data  that  needs  to  feed  into  or  come  out  of  the  application  in  order  to  meet  that  requirement.  Other  considerations  are:  

• Where  is  the  data  going  to  be  stored?  • What  type  of  database  will  be  used?  • Will  all  data  be  stored  in  one  database  or  certain  fields  in  one  

place  and  others  in  another  database?  • How  long  is  that  data  stored?  

How  often  will  the  database  be  updated  and  what  will  that  update  process  be?  

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If  the  system  is  built  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  user,  we  can  be  sure  it  will  deliver  the  features  they  expected  and  since  the  features  address  the  needs  of  the  business  partners,  their  needs  will  be  addressed.      

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Requirements  Eliciting  Techniques  

I'd  like  to  take  some  time  here  to  explain  that  there  are  a  few  different  ways  to  gather  requirements.  In  this  book  we  discussed  a  meeting  with  everyone  present  and  the  possibility  of  conference  calls.    I'd  like  to  talk  about  the  different  requirements  eliciting  techniques  that  can  be  used.  

Three  recommended  techniques  for  requirements  elicitation  are  Interview,  JAD  (Joint  Application  Development)  sessions,  and  the  Survey  method.  

Interview  Method  

Summary:  

• An  interview  is  a  conversation  with  stakeholders  to  elicit  or  validate  needs  and  requirements.  

• An  interview  may  include  one  or  more  stakeholders.  • The  interview  may  also  involve  a  question  and  answer  session  

used  to  discover  other  potential  stakeholders  and  any  discrepancies  between  needs,  the  high-­‐level  requirements  derived  from  those  needs,  and  the  resulting  detailed  requirements.  

• Interviews  facilitate  obtaining  approval  from  stakeholders  on  their  needs,  requirements,  and  any  changes  to  them.  

Advantages:  

• Generally  easy,  because  it  can  be  done  with  minimal  preparation.  • Interviews   of   individuals   and   small   groups   require   less  

planning  and  scheduling  effort  than  large  workshops.  • Interviews  of  individuals  and  small  groups  require  less  

stakeholder  commitment  than  large  workshops.  • Interviews  provide  an  opportunity  to  explore  or  clarify  topics  

in  more  detail.  

Example  Questions  to  Ask:  

• What  have  you  already  tried?  • Why  now?  

BA  role  in  the  interview  session:  • The  BA  may  be  responsible  for  identifying  the  stakeholders  

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or  by  working  with  the  appropriate  project  team  member  to  get  the  list  of  stakeholders.  

• The   BA   is   responsible   for   preparing   questions   ahead   of   the  scheduled   meeting   and   distributing   the   questions   to   the  stakeholder  or  stakeholders.  

• The  BA  is  also  responsible  for  taking  the  meeting  notes  and  when  possible,  engaging  another  person  in  attendance  to  also  take  notes  to  record  information  discussed  in  the  meeting  and  any  decisions  resulting  from  the  meeting.  

Stakeholder/Business  Sponsor  role:  

• The   stakeholder   is   responsible   for   providing   their   needs,  expectations,  priorities,  and  constraints.  

• Stakeholders  also  validate  the  results  of  the  interview.    

JAD  Session  Method      Summary:  

• The   Joint   Application   Development   (JAD)   technique   is   an  extended,  facilitated  workshop.  

• Involves   collaboration   between   stakeholders   and   systems  analysts  to  identify  needs  or  requirements  in  a  concentrated  and  focused  effort.  

Advantages:  

• This  technique  allows  for  the  simultaneous  elicitation  and  consolidating  of  large  amounts  of  information.  

• This  technique  produces  relatively  large  amounts  of  high-­‐quality  information  in  a  short  period  of  time.  

• Discrepancies  are  resolved  immediately  with  the  aid  of  the  facilitator.  

• This  technique  provides  a  forum  to  explore  multiple  points  of  view  regarding  a  topic.  

Disadvantages:  

• Requires  significant  planning  and  scheduling  effort.  • Requires  significant  stakeholder  commitment  of  time  and  effort.  

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• Requires  trained  and  experienced  personnel  for  facilitation  and  recording.    

JAD  Process  Steps:  

1. Define  Session:  Define  the  purpose,  scope,  and  objectives  of  the  JAD  session,  selecting  the  JAD  team,  invite  and  obtain  commitment  to  attend  sessions  from  the  appropriate  stakeholders,  and  schedule  the  session.  It  is  important  to  obtain  management  commitment  to  support  the  process  and  identify  the  appropriate  stakeholders.  

2. Research  Product:  Become  more  familiar  with  the  product  or  service;  gather  preliminary  information  obtaining  any  models.  

3. Prepare:  Prepare  any  visual  aids,  developing  a  realistic  agenda,  training  the  recorder,  and  preparing  the  meeting  room.  

4. Conduct  Session:  Follow  agenda  to  gather  and  document  the  project  needs  and  requirements.  It  is  important  to  ensure  all  participants  are  given  equal  treatment  during  the  process.  

5. Draft  the  Documents:  Prepare  the  formal  documents.  The  information  captured  in  the  JAD  session  is  further  refined  through  analysis  efforts,  open  questions  or  issues  discovered  through  the  sessions  are  resolved,  and  the  final  document  is  returned  to  stakeholders  for  review  and  validation.  

Roles:  

• The  JAD  team  is  the  very  heart  of  the  JAD  process  and  the  selection  and  inclusion  of  stakeholders  are  critical  to  the  overall  success  of  a  JAD  session.  

• The  team  should  consist  of  a  mixture  of  skills  from  a  variety  of  individuals.  

• The  participants  may  include  Business  Process  Owners,  Operations  Managers,  Client  Representatives,  Business  Analysts,  Business  Managers,  End  Users,  Data  Administrators,  Systems  Analysts,  System  Designers,  Auditors,  Security,  Standards,  Vendors,  Quality  Assurance,  Contingency  Planners,  Production  Planners,  IT  Specialists,  Human  Resource  Representatives,  and  Trainers.  

Executive  Sponsor:  

The   executive   sponsor   may   be   a   manager   of   the   business   area   whose  needs  and  requirements  are  being  addressed  during  the  JAD  session.  

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Management  commitment  is  required  for  any  requirements  elicitation  process  to  succeed.  It  is  very  important  for  the  JAD  session  team  to  have  a  management  sponsor.    The  executive  sponsor  may  be  a  manager  of  the  business  area  whose  needs  and  requirements  are  being  addressed  during  the  JAD  session.  

• The  sponsor  does  not  have  to  actively  participate  in  every  JAD  session.  

• It  might  be  advisable  to  attend  the  first  JAD  session  to  show  support,  and  perhaps,  the  final  JAD  session  to  review  the  results  and  make  comments.  

• The  sponsor  should  be  available  throughout  the  period  of  the  JAD  process  to  solve  any  serious  problems  or  issues  that  may  arise.  

• The  JAD  facilitator  must  work  closely  with  the  management  sponsor  and  provide  full  briefings  on  progress.  

BA  Facilitator:  

The  facilitator  is  the  key  person  in  the  group  and  is  responsible  for  planning,  executing  and  managing  the  session.  They  should  be  a  respected,  skillful  leader  with  a  good  reputation  within  the  organization.  JAD  facilitator  skills  do  not  happen  by  chance,  and  the  skills  may  have  to  be  learned  through  specialized  training  and  experience.  The  choice  of  facilitator  may  mean  the  difference  between  a  good  session  and  a  poor  one.  

It  is  essential  that  the  facilitator  be  given  authority  to  work  closely  with  the  executive  sponsor  to  achieve  the  objectives  of  the  JAD  session.  The  facilitator  will  know  how  to  direct  people  and  to  be  able  to  get  the  best  information  from  them.  

JAD  Facilitators  should  be  able  to:  

1. Focus  on  the  process,  not  the  information  content  of  the  JAD  session.  

2. Be  unbiased  and  neutral,  and  remain  impartial.  It  is  important  that  the  reporting  structure  is  such  that  the  facilitator  cannot  be  influenced  or  biased.  

3. Use  organizational  skills  to  lead  groups  and  keep  the  sessions  on  track.  

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4. Ensure  each  subject  under  discussion  is  accurately  recorded  and  completed  to  the  stakeholders'  satisfaction  before  proceeding.  

5. Stop  sideline  conversations  

Recorder:  The  recorder  is  responsible  for  documenting  the  JAD  sessions.  This  must  be  done  in  an  interactive  fashion  and  the  recorder  must  work  closely  with  the  JAD  facilitator.  

• Many  ideas  and  suggestions  will  be  discussed.  • A  large  session  may  need  multiple  recorders  • The  recorder  must  capture  the  important  discussion  and  decisions  

made,  who  made  them  and  why.  • Laptop  computers,  white  boards,  flip  charts,  or  overhead  

devices  are  particularly  useful.  

It  is  the  responsibility  of  the  recorder  to  distribute  and  file  the  documentation  at  the  end  of  each  JAD  session  or  as  soon  as  possible  after  the  session  or  topic  has  concluded.  It  can  be  a  difficult  task  and  should  not  be  underestimated.  The  recorder  should  have  the  following  skills:  

1. Knowledge  of  the  stakeholder  business  area.  In  order  to  record  the  results  properly,  the  recorder  needs  to  understand  the  concepts  of  what  was  discussed.  

2. Excellent  analytical  skills.  The  recorder  needs  to  be  able  to  analyze  what  was  discussed  and  presented  in  the  JAD  session.  

3. Experiences  with  JAD  tools  if  any  are  used.  The  JAD  tool  may  be  a  word  processing  software,  an  electronic  whiteboard,  or  a  CASE  tool.  Whatever  tool  is  used,  the  recorder  has  to  have  a  good  knowledge  of  how  to  use  the  tool  effectively.  

4. Good  technical  writing  skills.  

Stakeholder/Business  Sponsor  role:  

The  participation  of  stakeholders  in  the  JAD  session  is  widely  accepted  as  essential  to  its  ultimate  success.  Without  their  involvement,  the  JAD  session  will  not  be  productive.  

The  whole  point  of  a  JAD  session  is  to  bring  stakeholder  and  performing  organization  together  in  a  structured  environment.  Stakeholders  will  rapidly  gain  a  sense  of  involvement  and  ownership  in  the  product  or  

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service  development  where  a  JAD  session  is  used.  This  is  vital  to  its  overall  success.  Most  importantly,  the  stakeholders  will  get  the  product  they  want  and  not  one  that  has  been  designed  poorly  for  them.  

Survey  Method  

Summary:  

• The   Survey  Method   is   an   electronic   or   paper   based  method  of  soliciting  needs  or  requirements  from  stakeholders.  

• The  survey  method  is  a  list  of  questions,  directed  at  identifying  stakeholder  needs  or  requirements.  

Survey  Method  Advantages:  

• A  survey  can  reach  a  large  number  of  stakeholders  or  other  sources  of  information.  

• A  survey  is  an  excellent  tool  to  gather  a  significant  amount  of  focused  data  in  a  short  period  of  time.  

• Survey  method  can  provide  good  results  when  used  to  validate  assumptions  after  the  use  of  the  interviewing  technique.  

• A  Survey  method  is  a  good  tool  to  gather  statistical  preference  data.  

• A  survey  requires  little  scheduling  effort.  • A  survey  requires  little  stakeholder  commitment  of  time  and  

effort.  

Survey  Method  Disadvantages:  

• The  response  level  is  often  low,  especially  to  large  surveys.  • Responses  are  usually  limited  to  the  realm  of  the  questions  

asked,  which  reflect  the  analyst's  preconceived  ideas  or  assumptions  of  the  survey  designer.  

• Well-­‐made  surveys  require  trained  and  experienced  personnel  to  develop.  

• Development  time  can  be  significant.  • Conflicts  and  inconsistencies  in  information  from  stakeholders  

require  additional  analysis  to  resolve.  

Survey  Method  Process  Steps:  

• Decide  what   you  want   to  know  and  how  you  will   analyze   the  data  

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before  you  develop  questions.  • Look  for  questions  or  ideas  from  other  sources  to  inspire  the  

writing  of  your  method  • Write  questions  to  be  as  specific  as  possible.  Use  simple,  

straightforward  language.  Avoid  the  use  of  jargon  or  terminology  specific  to  a  few  people  

• When  you  have  written  the  survey  questions,  it  is  important  to  test  them  to  make  sure  that  the  language  is  current,  the  questions  are  not  biased,  and  the  questions  are  relevant  to  the  purpose  of  the  survey.  Deliver  the  set  of  questions  to  the  stakeholder  for  their  response.  Provide  a  date  by  which  the  answers  are  to  be  returned.  

• Write  short  questions  to  ensure  reader  understanding,  including:  • Limit  the  number  of  choices  available  to  a  question  to  five  or  less  (if  

applicable).  • Offer   a   "don't   know"   or   "no   opinion"   option,   so   people   do   not  

invent  answers.  • Vary  the  format  of  the  questions  to  keep  people  interested.  

BA  Role  -­‐  Survey  Author:  

The  survey  method  author  is  responsible  for  crafting  questions  to  solicit  the  needs  and  requirements  from  stakeholders.  Once  the  answers  have  been  received,  the  author  is  responsible  for  recording  the  answers  into  a  document  for  confirmation  by  the  survey  method  respondents.  

To  develop  a  useful  method,  the  writer  should  be  familiar  with  the  purpose  of  the  evaluation  and  ideally  have  some  experience  with  developing  surveys.  

Stakeholder/Business  Sponsor:    The  stakeholder  is  responsible  for  answering  the  questions  and  verifying  the  resulting  information  presented  by  the  author  for  confirmation.  

   

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What  is  a  Business  Requirements  Document,  Why  do  I  Need  It,  and  What  Goes  in  It?  

A  BRD  is  a  business  requirements  document.  The  purpose  of  the  BRD  is  to  provide  an  outline  that  explains  the  customer  and  business  requirements  for  the  change  and  also  serves  to  provide  additional  structure  around  the  scope  of  the  project.  Business  requirements  have  usually  been  gathered  from  meeting  with  subject  matter  experts  (SMEs),  end  users,  and  business  partners.  

The  BRD  will  be  used  to  gain  approval  and  sign  off  from  the  business  partners  and  will  be  used  in  the  development  (sometimes  called  construction)  phase  of  the  project.  

Some  people  will  document  requirements  as  a  list  in  a  spreadsheet  and  I  absolutely  agree  this  should  be  done...but  it  should  not  be  your  final  documentation  of  the  requirements.    The  spreadsheet  is  useful  for  getting  the  requirements  in  a  document  in  order  to  keep  a  running  list  and  to  be  able  to  go  back  and  re-­‐order  that  list  as  you  go  through  the  requirements  phase  so  that  requirements  that  belong  together  can  easily  be  moved  around  to  any  order  necessary.  Once  this  is  done,  the  requirements  should  be  moved  to  the  BRD  document.    A  BRD  will  add  other  necessary  information  to  the  "requirements  picture"  and  should  be  considered  a  necessary  document  in  your  software  development  life  cycle.  The  BRD  should  also  be  the  primary  document  used  to  write  use  cases.  

Before  we  get  started,  I  want  to  remind  everyone  that  business  requirements  should  be  written  in  terms  of  business  statements  describing  what  the  business  wants  to  do,  not  how  to  do  it.  The  requirement  should  not  take  the  form  of  design  or  programming  code.  

Let's  take  a  look  at  the  different  sections  of  the  BRD.  For  the  purposes  of  this  manual,  we're  looking  at  a  basic  BRD  that  could  be  used  by  any  IT  group.  

Project  Objective  

The  problem  statement  and  objective  to  correct  the  

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problem.    

Project  Scope  Scope  of  the  project  -­‐  what  will  be  included  in  this  project.    

Constraints/Assumptions/Dependencies  

Constraints  are  considered  any  boundaries  or  restrictions  within  which  the  project  must  operate  or  within  which  the  solution  must  fit  and  what  their  effect  has  on  time  and  budget.    Assumptions  are  factors  that  are  considered  to  be  true,  real,  or  certain;  things  that  are  prerequisites  for  the  project  to  be  successful.  Example:  It  is  assumed  reporting  will  be  handled  by  an  out  of  the  box  solution  (this  tells  the  reader  you  will  not  be  building  any  customized  reports  as  part  of  this  project).    Dependencies  are  related  to  any  other  work  efforts  or  events  that  this  project  is  depending  on  in  order  to  be  successful.  Example:  Project  may  rely  on  the  deployment  to  production  of  another  project  to  finish  prior  to  this  one  deploying.  

Actors/Roles  Actors  and  roles  of  those  actors  are  related  to  the  requirements  being  documented.  You  may  have  people  and  system  actors.      Example:  Actor  1  is  a  customer  service  representative  and  their  role  is  taking  a  payment,  System  A  is  a  credit  card  authorization  system,  and  system  B  is  a  billing  system  to  post  the  payment  to  the  account  are  all  considered  actors.  One  is  a  person  and  the  other  two  are  systems.    Current  Environment  

This  should  be  a  high  level  description  of  the  current  business  environment  where  you  intend  to  make  a  change.  This  can  be  in  text,  diagrams,  tables,  etc.    The  business  partners  should  identify  for  you  any  automated  applications  or  tools  they  know  they  are  using  in  their  day-­‐to-­‐day  workflow.  Make  sure  this  is  discussed  in  your  requirements  sessions.  

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Future/Target  Environment  

This  should  be  a  high  level  description  of  the  future  business  environment  based  on  how  the  business  partners  and  stakeholders  envision  the  future  environment  operating.    This  can  also  be  text,  diagrams,  tables,  etc.    

User  Requirements  (sometimes  called  Features)  

This  is  where  you  input  those  requirements  you  gathered  in  the  meetings  with  SMEs,  end  users,  and  business  partners.    These  requirements  will  show  what  is  expected  to  be  delivered  by  the  product  or  service  being  defined  by  the  project  this  BRD  is  for.    

Functional  Requirements  

I'm  putting  this  in  here  so  that  we  can  talk  about  the  difference  between  user  requirements  and  functional  requirements.    User  requirements  are  the  requirements  you  got  from  the  business  partners,  such  as  "we  need  the  ability  to  process  credit  card  payments".      Functional  requirements  describe  the  desired  behavior  of  the  solution.  In  effect,  functional  requirements  are  use  cases;  the  steps  that  will  be  taken  (by  both  the  people  and  the  systems)  in  order  to  process  that  payment.    Some  companies  include  use  cases  in  the  BRD  and  some  do  them  as  separate  documents.  I  prefer  them  as  separate  documents  for  several  reasons,  a  few  of  which  are:  

1. Use  cases  should  include  textual  flows  of  the  primary  process  2. Use  cases  should  include  textual  alternate  process  paths  3. Use  cases  should  include  textual  exception  process  flows  4. Use  cases  should  also  include  a  process  flow  diagram  

These  are  not  all  of  the  parts  of  the  use  case  and,  as  you  can  see,  it  would  create   a   very   large   BRD   if   you   included   every   use   case   within   that  document.   I   find   it   to   be  more  manageable   and   easier   to   present   to   the  

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business  partners  if  they  are  separate  documents.  Anything  too  large  can  be   overwhelming   and   people   may   "shut   down"   and   not   review   the  document  as  they  should.  

Non-­‐Functional  Requirements    These  are  requirements  that  should  be  addressed  by  most  projects,  such  as  volume,  capacity,  performance,  etc.  

Open  Requirement  Issues  

This  is  an  excellent  area  to  keep  track  of  any  outstanding  issues  or  questions  related  to  specific  requirements.  Keeping  it  in  the  BRD,  will  allow  you  to  keep  the  complete  list  in  one  place  and  document  what  the  resolution  was  in  the  same  area.    This  section  should  include  what  the  issue  is,  who  it's  assigned  to,  the  date  resolved,  and  what  the  resolution  is.    You'll  want  to  make  sure  you  make  any  changes  to  the  other  areas  of  the  BRD  that  need  to  be  made  based  on  the  resolution  of  each  item  

Reviewers  and  Approvers  

You'll  want  to  list  here  anyone  that  is  required  to  approve  the  BRD  and  anyone  required  to  review  it.  You  can  of  course  have  as  many  people  as  you  want  review  it,  but  you  want  to  list  here  the  person  who  is  required  to  review  it.    Make  sure  you  have  a  place  in  the  section  to  include  the  date  approved  or  reviewed  for  each  person.    

Related  Documents  

This  section  is  great  for  including  links  to  any  other  project  related  documents,  such  as  a  project  charter  or  project  definition  document.  

Glossary/Definitions/Terminology  

The  business  analyst  needs  to  ensure  they  are  using  consistent  terminology.  One  way  to  accomplish  this  is  to  include  a  Glossary  of  terms  and  definitions  in  the  requirements  document.  

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This  section  is  very  useful  for  helping  all  team  members  understand  the  terminology  being  used.    The  project  team  will  most  likely  be  made  up  of  people  from  various  groups  and  departments  in  and  outside  of  IT.  A  section  that  gives  definitions  to  the  terminology  being  used  throughout  the  document  will  be  helpful  to  the  entire  team.  

Different  businesses  will  use  different  BRD  templates  with  a  variation  on  the  data  they  include  in  the  BRD.  However,  what  we  reviewed  in  this  book  is  the  basics  for  a  standard  BRD  and  this  information  should  always  be  included  in  your  document.  Your  company  may  enhance  the  document  with  things  such  as  a  data  glossary,  conceptual  and  logical  models,  design  considerations,  implementation  impacts,  etc.  

If  you  are  at  a  company  that  either  doesn't  use  a  BRD  document  or  wants  to  change  to  a  different  style,  I  would  recommend  starting  with  the  basics  that  we've  gone  over  here  and  then  adding/changing  sections  as  you  use  the  document  and  see  what  works  best  for  your  organization.  

As  you  can  see,  there  are  many  things  to  consider  besides  getting  that  initial  detailed  requirement.  In  order  to  be  an  effective  business  analyst,  the  BA  must  be  able  to  look  at  the  big  picture  and  also  identify  the  details.    

Using  the  recommendations  laid  out  in  this  book  should  give  you  a  good  foundation  to  build  your  analyst  skills  on.  

If  you’d  like  to  speak  with  me  about  your  career  goals  or  the  Business  Analysis  goals  of  your  organization,  you  can  schedule  a  call  with  me  by  using  the  15  Minute  Asessment  Session  option  on  my  calander  that  can  be  accessed  via  this  link:  https://theanalystcoach.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php  

Now  go  do  some  analyzing!  

©  2014  The  Analyst  Coach,  LLC    All  rights  reserved.  

Author  Contact  Info:  

www.theanalystcoach.net  

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Author:  Teresa  Bennett  

eMail:  [email protected]  

Phone:  1-­‐866-­‐968-­‐6657  

Address:  

PO  Box  1862  

Matthews,  NC  28105