Project Requirements: Definition and Management

• The critical importance of requirements
• Requirements in Waterfall versus Agile projects
• Types of requirements
• Requirements development and management through the project and product lifecycles
• Planning the requirements engagement
• Stakeholder identification and analysis
• Tools and techniques for requirements elicitation and analysis
• Effective use of models
• Options for recording requirements
• Writing High Quality Requirements
• Validating the Requirements Document
• Requirements Verification and Validation
• Techniques for managing change to requirements
• Solution Validation and Assessment

1. Introduction

• Requirements are important
• Waterfall and Agile Methodologies
• Sources of failure in Waterfall projects
• The solution

2. Understanding Project Requirements

• Business requirements
• Stakeholder and Solution requirements
• Functional requirements
• Business rules and data
• Technical and other Non-Functional requirements
• Transition requirements
• Requirements Lifecycle
• Benefits of Good Requirements

3. Context for Requirements

• Requirements drive Business Value
• Business Case
• Root Cause Analysis
• Roles and responsibilities
• Stakeholder Identification and Analysis
• The Vision and Scope Document
• The Problem Statement
• Scoping the project
• BA as Investigator; addressing the business need

4. Requirements Planning

• Drivers of Requirements Planning
• Business Analysis Plan
• Requirements Repository
• Requirements Attributes
• Prioritizing Requirements
• Requirements Tracing
• Requirements Management
• Requirements Engagement Plan
• The Benefits of Planning

5. Requirements Elicitation Tools and Techniques

• Elicitation as an iterative process
• BA Skills that Support Elicitation
• Elicitation versus Gathering
• Challenges in requirements elicitation
• Four elicitation steps
• Twelve useful elicitation techniques
• Good Meetings Practice
• Useful questions
• Choosing the best elicitation technique

6. Analyzing Requirements

• Requirements analysis
• Analysis activities
• Requirements Analysis Models
• The Value of Models
• Ten Useful Analysis Tools
• Reviewing Models with Stakeholders
• Avoiding Analysis Paralysis

7. Recording Requirements

• Requirements Documentation
• Importance of Communication
• Documentation Options
• Methods for Recording Requirements
• Requirements Quality Characteristics
• Consequences of Poor Requirements Quality
• Writing the Requirements Document
• Technical Writing Tips

8. Verifying and Validating Requirements

• Verification and Validation Objectives
• Roles in Verification and Validation
• Verification and Validation techniques
• Traceability and the RTM
• Validating the Requirements Document
• Desk Checking
• Peer Review
• Walkthroughs
• Preparing a Requirements Package
• Requirements Approval

9. Documenting Requirements

• The Project Requirements Document (PRD) - Options
• PRD content
• Validating the PRD
• How to avoid common PRD problems
• Getting signoff on requirements

10. Requirements Management and Communication

• Requirements Management
• Roles in Requirements Management
• The Work of Change Control: Waterfall vs. Agile
• Requirements Re-Use
• Communication with Stakeholders

11. Solution Validation and Assessment

• Solution Validation
• Ensuring an Adequate Plan
• Creating the Right Solution
• Participation in Design and Testing
• Solution Assessment
• Assessing for Business Value after Deployment

12. Final Course Review

This course includes over 20 hands-on exercises, discussions, and group activities that reinforce comprehension and retention.

• A highly qualified instructor will use interactive lecture format, numerous hands-on exercises, team activities, group discussions, and other techniques to drive home the essential points of this material.
• We will build on your prior experience in this topic, while providing you with a structure and vocabulary to use in all of your future projects.
• If you have modest requirements management knowledge, you will find that the clarity of the material and direct presentation style of the instructor will make the subject matter easy to understand.
• You will receive a Participant Guide which will help you follow the material, take notes and retain what you learned so that you can apply it on your job.

• Experienced Business Analysts will acquire a rigorous method and vocabulary that they can apply to their work.
• If you are new to requirements management, the exercises in this business analyst training course will give insights into many important concepts and techniques.
• All participants take home a set of best practice, tools and techniques to help them deal with all aspects of project requirements elicitation, analysis and management.
• Take this BABOK ® Guide compliant BA course and learn how to avoid many of the problems that Business Analysts most often encounter.

• Instructor slides
• Instructor manual with timing guide
• Printed participant guide
• Train the Trainer instruction
• Written for classroom or virtual delivery