inside effective business requirements...

The Requirements Experts

© IAG Consulting 2008

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Inside Effective Business Requirements

Documentation

A deep dive into requirements documentation

Keith EllisVice President, Marketing & Strategic AlliancesIAG Consulting905 842 [email protected]

Presented in association with:

Adrian MarchisPublisher

ModernAnalyst.com(818) 284-6800

[email protected]



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What are we going to Talk About?

• Some organizations get bad requirements BY DESIGN

• You must be inflexible about certain kinds of requirements information

• LOTS and lots of examples

• An actionable framework



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About IAG:

12 Years of living requirements excellence:

– Completed over 1,200 requirements projects

– Worked with over 300 of the Fortune 500 companies in the last 10

years

– Trains over 1,200 business analysts annually

– Somewhat in excess of 700 clients using our methods

– 50 staff members all 100% focused on excellence in business

requirements

– Annually invested 10% of our revenue in developing our methods, processes and techniques to assure that these are harmonized and industry best practices



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Learning Objectives

• Know what material must be present in

high quality business requirements

documentation.

• See how documentation defects impact

project performance.

• Learn how to simplify your strategy for

documentation by focusing on the right

information at the right time.



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Do you see this at your organization?

The Scenario• Real business requirements

doc sent to IT Project Management Office produced after weeks of effort.

• Expectation was for PMO to provide solution alternatives, estimated cost and expected total work effort to deploy.

• PMO at this point is REQUIRED by process to find and deliver a solution.

• Fortune 500 class company, multi-divisional, multi-million dollar project



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Question:

What is ‘Effective’ documentation?

Has Quality: Clear, Accurate, Complete

Is Useful: It serves the intended purpose and needs of intended audience

Is Efficient: Has all the needed information and none of the information that is unnecessary at this point in time…



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Example Structure of Business Requirements

Document (From Internet)• Author (para)

• Review and Approval (names/dates)

• Scope (para)

• Overview and Objectives (para)

• Business justification (para)

• Business Requirements (spreadsheet, flowchart, process model)

– Basic work/Business process (as

4.1.1, 4.1.2, etc ‘list’)

– Processes to be automated (list)

• Technical Requirements (list)

– Hardware (list)

– Software (configuration requirements)

• Usability requirements (list)

• Functional Requirements (list)

– Data Acquisition Requirements

– Data Analysis Requirements

– Data Output requirements

• Security authorization requirements

– Physical

– Logical

• Compliance requirements (Para –defined subsections)

• Operate & Use Requirements (geo distribution/system load stats/availability)

• Data Requirements (“provide detailed

description of data requirements (including data

model) for the proposed computer solution”)

• Test Requirements (user acceptance test req)

• Glossary of Terms



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BIG Mistake #1

Mixing Business Purposes

Corporate Governance

Project Management

Business Requirements

Scope (para) BE CLEAR… what scope are you referring to?Objectives (para) Yup – this is absolutely necessary in a requirements docBusiness justification (para) Get rid of this… this is info from the wrong process



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BIG Mistake #2Not thinking about the Requirements process

• Author (para)• Overview & Objectives (para)• Scope (para) from a (PM perspective)

• Basic work/Business process (High-level, what is being touched?)

• Scope – from BA perspective

• Processes model• High level information model• General business rules

• Processes to be automated

• Functional requirements (acquisition, analysis, output)

• Security• Compliance• ‘ilities’

(availability, scalability etc)

• Logical Data Model

• Technical Requirements (list)• Hardware (list)• Software (configuration requirements)

• Usabilityrequirements • Review & Approval

• Functional test cases

• User AcceptanceTests

Just put the document headings on a timeline to see the issue…

unnecessary at this point in time…







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BIG Mistake #3

Missing CRITICAL Information

• Functional Requirements (list)

– Data Acquisition Requirements

– Data Analysis Requirements

– Data Output Requirements

• Security authorization requirements

– Physical

– Logical

• Compliance requirements (Para – defined subsections)

• Operate & Use Requirements (geo

distribution/system load stats/availability)

• Data Requirements (“provide detailed description of

data requirements (including data model) for the proposed computer solution”)

• Test Requirements (user acceptance test req)

• Glossary of Terms

Let’s say this was a customer order

management system…

1. Where do you define “what is a customer”2. What are the attributes of customer?3. What is the information flow underlying the

process flow4. Who is interacting with the system?5. What variations exist for a process?6. Where are the success conditions of your

processes?7. Where are business rules being captured?8. What are the system and process

interdependencies?

The use of non-standard terms makes it difficult to know where information should go

• Author (para)

• Review and Approval (names/dates)

• Scope (para)

• Overview and Objectives (para)

• Business justification (para)

• Business Requirements (spreadsheet,

flowchart, process model)

– Basic work/Business process (as 4.1.1, 4.1.2, etc ‘list’)

– Processes to be automated (list)

• Technical Requirements (list)

– Hardware (list)

– Software (configuration requirements)

• Usability requirements (list)



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Effect of Information Gaps on Probable Success outcome

9.4%

25.0%

46.9%

18.8%

0.0%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

Project is

failure or

almost failure

Project is

neither

successful

nor

unsuccessful

Project is

Unqualified

Success

Projects with Poor Quality in these Three Areas

• Uncover interdependencies

• Getting to unambiguous

goals and objectives

• Documenting information

required to support the

process

Three Critical Areas of Information in Requirements

Documentation

Project Success Rating if Requirements are Poor in 3 Areas of Critical Information

Source: IAG Business Analysis Benchmark, 2008

Done improperly, a company’s

efforts to improve documentation

standards will sometimes

INCREASE failure rate…



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RETHINKING REQUIREMENTS DOCUMENTATION

There has to be a better way…



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Success Criteria #1Focus on Information that Affects

Project OUTCOME

9.4%

25.0%

46.9%

18.8%

0.0%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

Project is

failure or

almost failure

Project is

neither

successful

nor

unsuccessful

Project is

Unqualified

Success

Projects with Poor Quality in these Three Areas

0.0% 1.5%

46.3%

38.8%

13.4%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

Project is

failure or

almost failure

Project is

neither

successful

nor

unsuccessful

Project is

Unqualified

Success

When Companies Eliminate Poor Quality in these Three Areas

• Uncover interdependencies

• Getting to unambiguous goals and objectives

• Documenting information required to support the process

Three specific areas:

Companies without Acceptable Performance

Companies withAcceptable Performance

Source: IAG Business Analysis Benchmark, 2008



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Success Criteria #2Focus on the PROCESS of Understanding Development

Business Process Information Flow

Business RulesInterdependency

Requirements Scope

High Level Requirements“Business Requirements”

Detailed Requirements“Requirements Specification”



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Success Criteria #3

Dive Deep… with Control

1

2

3

High level scenarioActivities within these scenarios

Activity level scenariosSimple variations, conditions

Process Information

High level data flowData definitionEntity relationships

High Level Objects

Logical Data ModelData rules and validations

Logical Process ModelElaborated variations and conditions



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Success Criteria #4Take into account the USE of information

Business Requirements

DocumentTemplate

Build in-house

Package Integration

System Enhancement

A show stopper in the requirements?

RFP-Outsource

Iterative-Visual Development

One or More

Model-Driven Development

Large-Scale Custom Development

Degree of

customization

Integration to business partners

MUST INCLUDE…all information necessary to selection of path, or common to all paths

MUST NOT INCLUDE…assumption of a particular path



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Success Criteria #5Efficient for Stakeholders MAKES for Efficient Documentation

“What we just accomplished in 5 days would have normally taken us 5 or 6 months to complete, and we wouldn’t have been this accurate.”

J.B. AVP Commercial Systems, Hartford, CT

Top 25 North American P&C Insurer

"After reviewing at the Requirements Spec produced by IAG on our ebusiness project, I cannot imagine it could get any better than that"

D.K., Vice President

Large Gaming Corporation

“This process was just fantastic. It is very thorough and we are extremely pleased with the results.“

J.L., Manager Human Resources Southwest Region,

Tulsa, OK

Global Integrated Financial Services Company

“We were all absolutely amazed at how much we accomplished in only a few days. No one felt we could achieve anything this productive in such a short time frame with 35 participants.”

C.S, Manager, Performance Support , Tampa, FL

One of the World’s Largest Banks

“This is the best process I’ve ever experienced. It forced us to think about and resolve issues to an incredible level of detail.”

P.McK., Executive, SW Region, Dallas, TX

Large North American Financial Institution

“I liked being able to come out of a session with a living document developed from a consensus. I had something tangible and definite to take forward.”

R.K., Manager Application Development, Dallas, TX

Leading North American Transportation Company

“We got so much more than we expected. We got a document that clearly outlines the business requirements. This is such a straightforward & complete document that it can be used to show a new employ how to do their job. It was amazing seeing your staff who did not know our business using this approach to draw out the information from business users with 15 and 20 years experience.”

L.I. Project Leader, Phoenix, AZ

Global Information Technology Equipment Manufacturer

“We were amazed at the level of detail drawn out by this Approach, especially considering the facilitator had no background in our business.”S.M., Assistant Director – Business Marketing, Des Moines, IA

Top 100 Integrated Financial Services Company

“I was amazed we captured so much information in those few days. By the last day, we were very impressed how everything came together so well. This was an extremely comprehensive document.”

C.H., Manager Recruitment, Charlotte, NC

North American Top 10 Financial Services Company

“You exceeded our expectations. After using this approach, we all now realize that everyone benefits from spending more time on gathering requirements. Nothing else could have made us realize this! We even enjoyed ourselves during the sessions.”

G. Nichols, Director Compensation & Benefits, Boca Raton, FL

National Insurance Standards Organization

"Never before have they had all of this information in one document! We are very pleased. This document is our new standard"

S.M., Director Application Development

Famous US Clothier



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THE DETAILS OF IAG’S REQUIREMENTS DOCUMENTATION

Implementing these 5 success factors…



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IAG Business Requirements

Document

• Introduction• Executive Summary

• Objectives

• Summary of Scope

• Issues

• Constraints/Assumptions/Risks

• Dependencies

• Project Team

• Functional Requirements

• Non-Functional Requirements

• Information Requirements

• Process Model• Context Diagram

• for each business activity, describe:

• Use Case: Process flow, Variations

• Business Rules

• Information flow

• Information Model• Entity Relationship Diagram

• Data dictionary



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Scope – From an Analyst

Perspective



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Documenting Interdependencies

Have a section for it

Have an issues list that captures them



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Understanding Functional

Requirements



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The Capturing of Business Rules

In the Process Description In the Data Description



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Uncovering Information Flow

1) Look for the NOUNS 2) Record the flow in a process

3) DEFINE it

4) Summarize it



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Important Issue to Consider:







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Closing Thoughts

• Requirements are first and foremost a process

• Design Quality, Usefulness and Efficiency into the process to get success

• Stick with standards that resonate for stakeholders

• Simplify, simplify, simplify…

• Execute with situational awareness



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Learning Objectives

• Know what material must be present in

high quality requirements

documentation.

• See how documentation defects impact

project performance.

• Learn how to simplify your strategy for

documentation by focusing on the right

information at the right time.



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Typical next steps

• 1:1 conversations about your projects

• Start leveraging the IAG assets to help you with your stakeholders

• Let us help you scope the business analysis effort

• Tell us about your ugly ducklings



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Thanks

Keith EllisVice President, Marketing & Strategic AlliancesIAG Consulting905 842 [email protected]

Project Management Institute PDU Submission InformationWebinar Name: Inside Effective Business Requirements Documentation

Total PDU's : 1.0

PDU Program Reference Number: IAG802

PMI Registered Education Provider: IAG Consulting

PMI Registered Education Provider Number: 2858

CDU File Information

Category 2- Professional DevelopmentOrganization Information: Information Architecture Group (IAG)

Contact: Keith Ellis, 905-842-0123 x228Activity: Inside Effective Business Requirements Documentation

IIBA™ EEP: E003 (Information Architecture Group, Inc.)

Program ID No: Pre-approvedBeginning and ending dates: date of attendance

# of CDU’s Issued: 1

Adrian MarchisPublisher

ModernAnalyst.com(818) 284-6800

[email protected]

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