WEEK 4: REQUIREMENTS DISCOVERY METHODS Flashcards
What is a requirement statement?
A requirement is simply a statement of what the system must do or
what characteristics it need to have.
What is the purpose of requirements discovery?
- Understanding problem or opportunity: needs of the client
- Gathering information from the stakeholders
- Collaboration with the stakeholders in order to interact and rely on their
expertise - Gain a better understanding of how the client uses the current system
Consequences of failing to correctly identify system
requirements
Errors made in a particular phase cost more to fix the longer they are
left undetected.
What are the factors that contribute to the failure of projects?
- Lack of user participation
- Incomplete requirements
- Changing requirements
What are the activities in requirements discovery process?
- Problem discovery and analysis
- Requirements discovery
- Documenting and analyzing requirement
- Requirements management
What are the knowledge areas involving requirements
discovery according to the BABOK® Guide and what are their
relationships?
- What is “Elicitation and Collaboration” according to BABOK® Guide?
The tasks that business analysts perform to obtain information from
stakeholders and confirm the results. It also describes the communication
with stakeholders once the business analysis information is assembled
What is “Requirements Lifecycle Management” according to BABOK® Guide?
the tasks that business analysts perform in order to manage and
maintain requirements and design information from inception to retirement.
These tasks describe establishing meaningful relationships between related requirements and designs, and assessing, analyzing and gaining
consensus on proposed changes to requirements and designs.
- What is “Strategy Analysis” according to BABOK® Guide?
the business analysis work that must be performed to collaborate with
stakeholders in order to identify a need of strategic or tactical importance
(the business need), enable the enterprise to address that need, and align
the resulting strategy for the change with higher- and lower-level strategies.
. What is “Requirements Analysis and Design Definition”
according to BABOK® Guide?
The tasks that business analysts perform to structure and organize
requirements discovered during elicitation activities, specify and model
requirements and designs, validate and verify information, identify solution options that meet business needs, and estimate the potential value that could be realized for each solution option.
Which documents should you collect, which documents
should you not collect?
Collect:
- Contributes to cross validation of interviews and observations
- Helps understand the current system
Not collect:
- Documentation that may be outdated, incomplete or blank should not be included in this review
- Useful for the current system only
What types of questions are used in interviews?
- Open- ended
- Closed ended
- Probe
What kind of information is sought in interviews?
- Opinions
- Goals
- Feelings
- Informal procedures
how to prepare for them, how to conduct them,
what tasks are done post-interview, questions to avoid, etc.
Dress appropriately
- Be respectful and courteous
- The introduction is critical. Do not rush into questions. Set the stage
- Briefly present the agenda
- Give the client your full attention
- Take notes
- Find the root cause, not the symptom
- Be sincere in your efforts to help the client. They will be fore forgiving if you make any mistakes
- Maintain self-control
- Start and finish on time
What is the recommended fact-finding strategy?
- Learn all you can from existing documents, forms, reports and files
- If appropriate, observe the system in action
- Design and distribute questionnaires if needed
- Conduct interviews
- Optional – build discovery prototypes
- Follow up and verify
- Use the five W’s
o Who did that
o What happened
o Where did it take place
o When did it take place
o Why did that happen
o How did it happen
