Duration:
On-site: 4 Days
Virtual: 3 Half-Day Sessions
Brief Description:
The Business Requirements Gathering and Writing Course focuses on how to perform business analysis using facilitated requirements workshops and how to write effective business requirements documents. The course provides training in facilitation skills and techniques needed for defining the project scope, requirements definition and the high level design for software projects.
Who Should Attend:
Those who will find this of value are the Requirements Leads, Business Analysts, Systems Analysts, Business Systems Analysts, SMEs, and Project Managers.
Material:
Each course participant receives a Handbook with sample agendas and scripts for conducting problem statement scoping workshops, requirements definition workshops, software package evaluation and selection process and functional specifications focus groups. Guidelines, Templates, Checklists and a Requirements Management Procedures Guide is also provided.
Business Requirements Gathering & Writing Course
The Business Requirements Gathering and Writing Course focuses on how to perform business analysis using facilitated requirements workshops and how to write effective business requirements documents. Pierson’s training aligns with BABOK v3.0 practices and is good preparation for the IIBA ECBA and CBAP Certification. The course provides training in facilitation skills, and techniques needed for defining the project scope, requirements gathering and the functional specifications for software projects.
The objectives of the course are to:
- Define a repeatable process for Project Scoping, the Requirements Analysis and the High Level Design Phases of the project life cycle using facilitated workshops and focus groups
- Provide an understanding of the deliverables needed for the project charter and business requirements definition and functional specifications documents
- Learn requirements techniques such as context diagrams, process flows, use case methodology, user stories and requirements lists
- Define best practices and industry standards for business requirements management
- Supply sample meeting and interview agendas, scripts and templates that can be used in requirements workshops and focus groups throughout the Project Life Cycle
- Provide each course participant the opportunity to write, build and facilitate the different levels of requirements, business models and use cases, user stories with feedback and a written evaluation from the instructor
Virtual Live Classroom Format
The course is conducted in 3 half day sessions with one-third lecture and two-thirds hands on group exercises with the Instructor. The group exercises are conducted with the Instructor using the Instructor’s desktop. The class focuses on industry standards and best practices for capturing requirements needed for project scope definition, business requirements gathering and documenting for software solutions.
The objectives of the course are to:
- Define best practices and standards for writing functional and non-functional requirements
- Provide practical exercises for using requirements gathering techniques using business models, lists, use cases and user stories
- Writing and critiquing requirements and detailed requirements using best practice guidelines and checklists
Module 1
Fundamentals of Requirements (Day 1 AM)
Introduction
Requirements Management Best Practices
- What is Requirements Management?
- Introduction to Requirements
- Types of Requirements
- Different levels of requirements
- Role of the Requirements Lead/Business Analyst
- Key requirements documents
- Requirements management plan
- Overview of Joint Application Development
- Session Methodology- Preparation, Workshops and Follow-up
- Iterative Requirements Approach
- Time boxing
- Requirements roles and responsibilities
- Key success factors to requirements definition success
Communication Techniques for Gathering Business Requirements
- Workshops approaches
- Storyboarding
- Interviewing
- Kit Reviews
- Teleconferencing
- Prototype walk-through
- Business Models- context diagram, use case diagram, business process flows, use cases
Module 2
Facilitation Skills & Group Dynamics (Day 1 PM)
Facilitation Skills and Techniques
- Key components of a workshops
- Basic facilitation skills
- Active listening skills
- Exercise- Practice questioning and active listening skills
- Reading and interpreting body language
- Leadership styles
- Facilitation rules
- Managing conflict
- Techniques for leading effective group dynamics
- How to handle problem people
- Presentation skills
- Planning your session and building an agenda
Facilitation Exercise
Each student is given the opportunity to select a technique and topic, build an agenda and facilitate a short session using the presentation skills and techniques learned in class.
Module 3
Scoping Business Needs (Day 2 AM)
Overview of the Requirements Gathering Workshops and Business Models
Discovery Phase- Problem Statement/Scope of the Project
- Writing effective business case deliverables:
- Business problem statement
- Success criteria/objectives
- Business parameters
- Solution Alternatives Analysis
- Exercise- Discovering and writing business problem statements, success criteria/objectives, business parameters, solution alternative analysis
- Defining the Scope
- How to write effective scope statements
- Capturing the project assumptions and constraints
- Exercise- Creating questions, role playing to practice conducting business management interviews and writing the project scope statements & assumptions/constraints
- Constructing the context diagram and the use case model to capture the project scope
- Exercise- Building the context diagram and use case model
- Facilitated session agendas, scripts and facilitation techniques for conducting Vision & Scope Workshops
- Prioritizing and managing the scope of a project
Module 4
Business Requirements Analysis (Day 2 PM)
Discovery Phase- Requirements Analysis
- Writing Effective Requirements Lists and Business Rules
- Documenting requirements in iterations and understanding the different levels of requirements
- Characteristics of writing effective requirements
- Instructions and guidelines for writing effective requirements
- Requirements attributes
- Quality measures checklists for writing effective requirements
- How to identify and write effective business rules
- Exercise- Identifying and writing quality requirements lists and business rules
- Process Flows
- Building the “to be” business process flows
- How to build the UML activity diagrams with swimlanes
- Exercise- Creating the “to be” business process flow
- Use Case Technique for Requirements Gathering
- Benefits of using the business use case to identify requirements
- How to write the business use case
- Guidelines for the use case iterations
- Templates and Quality Checklists
- Exercise- Writing a use case outline for requirements gathering
(Day 3 AM)
Discovery Phase- Requirements Analysis (continued)
- How to create user stories
- Exercise- Writing user stories
- How to create the domain object model
- Exercise- Creating the domain object model (optional)
- How to create the state diagram using UML notation
- Exercise- Creating the state diagram (optional)
- How to write effective non-functional requirements
- IEEE Categories
- Non-functional definitions and examples
- Exercise- Capturing non-functional requirements
- Iteration Plan – What is the thought process for building a plan?
- Setting priorities
Module 5
Functional Requirements Specifications (Day 3 PM)
- Activity Diagram using UML
- How to storyboard the activity diagram
- UML diagramming notations
- Exercise- Building the activity diagram (optional)
- Detailed Use Cases
- How to write detailed use cases
- Review samples and templates
- Checklists and tips for writing effective use cases
- Exercise- Writing the detailed use case
- Defining the GUI Specifications (Screens and Webpages)
- Storyboarding techniques to create the draft screens
- Creating data requirements specifications for screens mock-ups
- Report specifications requirements
- Storyboarding a Report Mock-up
- Requirements gathering techniques
- Report Specifications Template
- Exercise- Storyboard a report m
- Exercise- Storyboard a draft mock-up and data dictionary specifications
Requirements Quality Assurance
- Requirements Traceability Matrix
- Overview of requirements traceability
- Tracing test scenarios to requirements/use cases
- How to create traceability worksheets
- Requirements Sign-off
- Techniques for quality checking requirements
- Checklists
- Desk Checking
- Peer Reviews
- How to conduct a requirements walk-through
- Change Control Process and Template
Software Evaluation & Selection Process
- Identify the Key Vendors
- Develop the RFP and Scorecard
- Conduct Vendor Demos
- Evaluate Vendor Scorecards
- Select Vendor
Module 6 (Day 4)
Requirements Gathering Simulation
This business analysis & requirements gathering simulation demonstrates how the entire life cycle of a project fits together and how the business analysis artifacts and requirements gathering techniques taught in class build on each other. Each student facilitates a stage in the life cycle using the scoping, business requirements definition and software specifications artifacts and agendas learned in the class. The business analysis models used for the business analysis & requirements gathering simulation will be the Problem Statement/Root Causes, Success Criteria/Objectives, Scope Statements, Use Case Model, Activity Diagram, Business Use Case, Domain Object Model, State Chart, Detailed Use Case and Paper Prototype. In addition, each student will document to demonstrate an understanding of the documentation process using Visio, Excel and Word documentation tools. Each student is provided with feedback from the instructor and is given a written evaluation.
Session 1 (1:00 PM – 5:00 PM Eastern Time)
Course Introduction
Requirements Process Overview
- Introduction to Requirements
- Requirements Delivery Approach
- Roles & Responsibilities
- Success Factors
Requirements Gathering Techniques
- Conducting Requirements Workshops
- Brainstorming
- Storyboarding
- Teleconferencing
- Interviewing
- Kit Reviews and Walk-throughs
- Requirements Approach and Artifacts Overview- context diagram, use case diagram, business process flows, use cases, user stories
Discovery Phase- Defining the Scope
- Writing effective project initiation deliverables:
- Business problem statement
- Success criteria/objectives
- Business parameters
- Solution Alternative Analysis
- Exercise- Discovering and writing business problem statements, success criteria/objectives, business parameters
- How to write effective scope statements & assumptions
- Interviewing, questioning and active listening skills
- Exercise- Interviewing and writing the project scope statement & assumptions
- Building the use case diagram
- Exercise- Creating the use case diagram
Session 2 (1:00 PM – 5:00 PM Eastern Time)
Discovery Phase- Requirements Analysis
- Documenting requirements in iterations- understanding the different levels of requirements
- Characteristics of writing effective requirements
- Instructions and guidelines for writing effective requirements
- Requirements attributes
- Quality measures and checklists for writing effective requirements
- How to identify and write effective business rules
- Building the “to be” business process flows and activity diagrams with swimlanes
- Exercise- Creating the “to be” business process flow
- Exercise- Identifying and writing quality requirements and business rules
Discovery Phase- Requirements Analysis –Use Cases & User Stories
- Benefits of using the high level use case to identify requirements
- How to write the high level use case
- Guidelines for the use case iterations
- Templates and Quality Checklists
- Exercise- Writing a high level use case
- How to write the requirements using the user stories technique
- Identify and write the test cases for the user stories
- How to capture user stories for a use case
- Exercise- Creating a user story
- How to write effective non-functional requirements
- IEEE Categories
- Non-functional definitions and examples
- Exercise- Writing quality non-functional requirements
- Capturing detailed requirements using site maps and identifying inventories of screens, reports and system interfaces
- Iteration Plan – What is the thought process for building a plan?
- Setting priorities
- Creating the build plan
Session 3 (1:00 PM – 5:00 PM Eastern Time)
Discovery Phase- Detailed Requirements Use Cases
- How to create the detailed use cases
- How to build an activity diagram with swimlanes using UML notation
- Exercise- writing the detailed use case, creating the activity diagram with swimlanes for the use case
- Using brainstorming and storyboarding techniques to create the draft screens
- Screen mockup data field descriptions
- Exercise- storyboarding the mockups and data field descriptions
- Defining the Report Specifications
- Key components of the report specifications requirements
- Report Mock-ups
- Report Specifications Template
Quality Checking Requirements & Sign-off
- Quality measures for checking requirements
- Techniques for quality checking requirements
- Desk checking using checklists and questions for validating requirements
- Conducting Work Sessions for requirements validation
- Requirements Inspection Process and Sign-off for requirements validation
- Change control management
- How to control requirements defects and change requests
- Tracing requirements defects and change requests after sign-off
Wrap up
Virtual Business Requirements CoursesBusiness Requirements Gathering & WritingDate: April 29 – May 1, 2019 Duration: 3 half-day sessions |
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Virtual Business Requirements CoursesBusiness Requirements Gathering & WritingDate: September 16 – 18, 2019 Duration: 3 half-day sessions |
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Virtual Business Requirements CoursesBusiness Requirements Gathering & WritingDate: December 2 - 4, 2019 Duration: 3 half-day sessions |
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Virtual Business Requirements CoursesBusiness Requirements Gathering & WritingDate: January 27 – 29th, 2020 from 1 – 5pm EST Duration: 3 half-day sessions |
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