Glossary Flashcards
(101 cards)
Actor
Part of a use case diagram. A role, thing, event/timer, or external system that interacts with the proposed system. The actor either stimulates the system (provides input) or receives output. An actor is outside the system documented in the use case diagram.
Analysis
Taking elicited information and making sense of it, bridging from the existing situation to the new requirements. Deriving and refining elicited requirements in a repetitive, systematic way.
Association
Part of a use case diagram. Actors are connected to use
cases by associations. They are lines between the two, showing which actions (use cases) each actor is involved with.
Business requirements:
High-level considerations applicable at the client’s
organizational or department level that describe their overall goals, objectives, scope, justification, constraints, and stakeholders.
Capability
Something the new system needs to do. Capability equates to functionality.
Capability Maturity Model Integrated (CMMI)
A road map to process improvement, originated by the Software Engineering Institute located at Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.). Has five levels or stages that organizations go through to improve their processes.
Champion
A stakeholder who ensures the project goes through. Pushes through and resolves any barriers.
Configuration control board (CCB)
A group of people, including project
manager, developers, end users, quality assurance representatives, and configuration management representatives, who meet periodically to assess
all change (enhancement, defect/bug) requests. The CCB determines whether the changes will be made, deferred, or not addressed based on business, technical, and user criteria.
Configuration Management (CM)
A documented procedure and process applied to control changes in functional and physical characteristics applied to all project and product deliverables, including the requirements. Prevents
unauthorized changes to the baselined requirements, and preserves revisions to the requirements documents.
Constraint
A type of non-functional requirement that puts limits or bounds on something. For example: “System must handle at least 300 queries an hour.” “System must cost no more than $100,000.”
Customer
The individual or organization that pays for the project results or system. May or may not be the sponsor, end user, or champion.
Developer
Anyone involved on a project on the IT (information technology) side, including (but not limited to) business analysts, requirements elicitors, system analysts, designers, programmers, testers, quality assurance and
configuration management experts.
Elicitation
The concept that gathering requirements involves more than just holding out your arms and expecting the stakeholders to throw you the requirements. Gathering the requirements involves really probing the users
and really understanding what they need and why they need it.
End user
A stakeholder that directly or indirectly interacts with the system by providing input or using output.
Functional requirement
What the system must do from the user’s perspective; i.e., capabilities provided to users and other interested parties.
Gap analysis
The process of identifying the difference (“gap”) between where your client is today, and where the client wants to be in the future, and of then identifying the new functionality to minimize or eliminate the gap.
The “gap” is best described in terms of a measurable quantity with units, such as time, but not as a percentage.
JAD
Joint Application Development
Joint Application Development
A formal technique involving stakeholders and developers working in a team environment to gather and document the requirements via an intense workshop. Also known as an accelerated and collaborative requirements development process.
Developed by IBM Canada. (This term is sometimes used informally for any accelerated team approach to requirements capture.)
CMMI
Capability Maturity Model Integrated
CCB
Configuration control board
CM
Configuration Management
Kano’s requirements
Look at both the spoken and unspoken user’s
requirements for a product, service, or process. Focus on the positive aspects of quality as perceived by the user: normal, expected, and exciting requirements. Part of Quality Function Deployment (QFD).
Key process areas (KPAs)
The main component of the CMMI. The
processes that an organization needs to focus on. For example, to move to Level 2, an organization focuses on six KPAs, then on seven more KPAs to move to Level 3. The KPAs are split between software engineering (e.g.,
software quality assurance, requirements management) and project
management. Requirements management is a Level 2 KPA.
KPAs
Key process areas