How to Write, Analyze, and Manage Requirements

Get More Info

Name

Email

Telephone

Writing effective requirements is a critical skill for subject matter experts who represent the business interests on an IT project and for business analysts. The challenge lies in defining business needs in the form of business requirements, stakeholder requirements, solution requirements, and transition requirements that other audiences will interpret as intended and use to design the solution.

This business analysis online training workshop provides a proven set of core business analysis techniques, methods and tricks to help business professionals create, clarify, and confirm business, stakeholder, solution, and transition requirements (i.e., meaning the kind of business requirements that the IT professionals need to do their job well).

Note: This instructor-led course delivered in two virtual sessions via the Internet covers the same content as the second day of our 3-day course, “How to Elicit (Gather), Write, and Analyze Business Requirements” which can be delivered live at your site.

Get More Info

Name

Email

Telephone

1. Introduction_to_Business_Analysis

Introduction to Business Analysis

The Fate Chart

A Question File

Exercise: A Problem with Language

Types of Requirements

Exercise: Initial Requirements Statements

2. Writing_Requirements

Writing Requirements

The Business of Requirements

The Problem with Natural Language Requirements

States in the Life of a Requirement

Rules for a “Good” Requirement Sentence

Reducing Complexity Increases Comprehension

A Complete Sentence Forces a Complete Thought

Structured Requirement Statements

Rules for a “Good” Requirement Sentence

Think “What”, Not “How”

Exercise 1: Finding the What versus the How

Rules Review

Rules for a Relevant Requirement Sentence

Focused Requirements

Components

Relevant Requirements

The Project Scope Statement

Exercise 4: Requirement Statement Relevance

Rules for a “Good” Requirement Sentence

Who Needs Clarity, Anyway?

Misinterpretation Ruins Requirements

Discussion: Replacing Easily Misinterpreted Terms

Increasing Clarity of your Requirements

The Challenge to Understanding

Reducing the Ambiguity in Your Requirements

Ambiguity Ruins Requirements

The Importance of Asking Questions

Rewriting Requirements to Find Ambiguity

Exercise: Using Out-of-Box Thinking

Exercise: Reducing Ambiguity in Requirements

Rules for Understandable Requirement Statements

Rules for a “Testable” Requirement Sentence

To Test or Not to Test is NOT the Question

Effective Requirements are Verifiable or Testable

Components of Requirements

Exercise: Finding a Requirement’s Components

Testing Requirement Components

Testing Functional Components

Finding Rules and Constraining Requirements

Testing Rule and Constraint Components

Finding Quality (Performance) Requirements

Exercise: Testing Performance Components

Exercise: Quantitative versus Qualitative

States in the Life of a Requirement

3. Analyzing Business and Stakeholder Requirements

Analyzing Requirements

Types of Requirements (Revisited)

Business of Requirements

Discussion: Business Perspectives

Stakeholder Requirements

Discussion: Stakeholder Perspectives

Solution Requirements (functional/nonfunctional)

Solution Perspectives

Rules for “Effective” Sets (Groups) of Requirements

Requirements Issues

Finding and Avoiding Conflicts: QA Activities

Finding and Revising Inconsistent Requirements

Grouping Requirements

Solution Perspectives Part 2

Value of Grouping Requirements

Rules for “Effective” Sets of Requirements

Rules and Requirements

Business Rules Types

Rules and Requirements

Rules defined by rules defined by rules defined …

The Rules Challenge

Discussion: Testing Rules

Rules for “Effective” Sets of Requirements

Components and Decomposition

Exercise: Decomposing a Requirement

Exercise: Decomposition

Decomposition and Expansion

Seeing What’s Not There

Business Information Systems

Completeness Check (Requirements vs Problems)

The Question File As a Completeness Check

Types of Requirements (a la BABOK®)

Analysis of Business Systems Analysis

Analysis of Business Systems Analysis

Requirements Matrix

4. Managing Requirements

Managing Requirements

Requirements Management Plan

Scope View 1: Product (Solution) Scope

Scope View 2: Project Scope

Discussion: Change Control in the Real World

Scope Management and Change “Control”

Change Management

Change Control Log

Discussion: Requirements Traceability

Preserve a Team’s Collective Memory

Benefits of Requirements Traceability

Challenges of Requirements Traceability

Requirements Lineage

Requirements Coverage

Traceability Matrix (example)

Discussion: Impact Assessment

Rules for “Effective” Sets of Requirements

Confirming Feasibilities

Need-based Requirements Prioritization

Release-based Requirements Prioritization

Identifying High Risk Requirements Part 1

Identifying High Risk Requirements Part 2

Exercise: Reducing the High Risk Requirements

Possible High Risk Requirements Reduction Techniques

Exercise: Lessons Learned

Get More Info

Name

Email

Telephone

• Identify the value of good requirements
• Manage questions and open items lists
• Translate business needs into well-structured business requirement statements
• Write business requirements that express the what and avoid the how
• Differentiate between quantitative and qualitative measures
• Extract business rules and external constraints from stakeholder requirements
• Verify the "testability" of a requirement
• Baseline the business requirements to set the stage for managing change
• Develop a requirements traceability matrix

The pdf file will open or has opened in a new window.

 

We do not currently have a public offering of this class scheduled. To add your name to the waiting list or request alternate offers, please contact us.
Check All Scheduled Business Analysis Training Offers

Name*
Email*
Telephone*
Company*
Questions / additional comments: