TSE011 Determining Business Requirements

At the right time, in the right way, from the right people

Course Description

We all do projects, as team members, managers, users, support groups or project managers.  Most of these projects are cross-functional and/or cross-business, in that they span multiple departments, groups and borders within an organization. 

This program is for anyone who participates in or leads teams involved in developing and writing business requirements.  Participants learn how to create the new wave of Business Requirements documents.  The latest thinking is to be able to get to the market ASAP so there has been another revolution in the creation of requirements.  For many projects it is no longer acceptable to have extensive Requirements Documentation.  The major trends are to reduce text documentation and use different of models targeted at specific Stakeholders, “a picture is worth a thousand words”. Communication should be efficient and effective to each Stakeholder.  These deliverables identify what the project will do (and for whom) and what it will not do (also known as in-scope and out-of-scope.)  This information is also needed by the Business Sponsors to decide whether or not the project should proceed to the next step, Functional Specifications.

The workshop is endorsed by PMI® (Project Management Institute) to help participants become better Business Analysts and if they want, prepare for the PMI-PBA, Professional in Business Analysis credential.  Upon completion, attendees involved with PMI’s Project Management Professional – PMP and/or PBA programs, are awarded 16 PDUs or “Contact hours”.  Our Global REP code is 1270.  The workshop also complies with the IIBA® its BABOK® (Business Analysis Body of Knowledge).  

Upon completion of this workshop, each participant will be able to:
  1. Understand the concepts of Business Case, Enterprise Analysis, and Business Requirements and Place them within the Project Life Cycle (AGILE and Waterfall);
  2. Use the PMI-PBASM Handbook as a job aide when fulfilling the business analysis role;
  3. Apply a framework and toolkit for producing Business Requirements for new and/or improved products, services, and processes;
  4. Identify the potential stakeholders and roles needed within the business project environment; 
  5. Work with sponsors to develop the Project’s Mission, Scope and Charter;
  6. Understand and apply several tools for creating Business Requirements, e.g. Elicitation Methods, Cross-functional Process Mapping, Fish-bone (Ishikawa, Cause and Effect Diagrams), MuSCoW Analysis, Cost Benefit Analysis, Pareto Analysis, ROI, etc.;
  7. Use tools to capture and analyze the “current-state” (as-is), identify potential problem and opportunity areas, identify disconnects, and perform gap-analysis to develop the business requirements of potential “end-states” (“to-be” states);
  8. Write Business Requirement Statements that are meaningful, effective and reflect the needs.
  9. Understand and address the impact of change on the people, and how this affects the business requirements process.

Instructional methods for this two-day course are lecture, discussion, video and detailed case study workshops.  Upon request, in-house guidelines can be included.  This program also includes references to AGILE, the PMI PMBOK, PMI-PBA Handbook, IIBA BABOK, and Lean Six Sigma.

Course Outline

  1. Introduction and Course Objectives
  2. The Grand Scheme of Things
    1. What is Business Analysis
    2. Why is this critical?
    3. Difference between Project and Product Life Cycles
    4. The 5 domains
      1. Needs Assessment
      2. Business Analysis Planning
      3. Requirements Elicitation and Analysis
      4. Traceability and Monitoring
      5. Solution Assessment
    5. What are Requirements?
      1. Types of Requirements
        1. Business
        2. Functional
        3. Stakeholder
        4. Non-functional
        5. Transition
        6. Quality
        7. Project
      2. Product Quality
    6. PMI PMBOK and PMI-PBASM Handbook
    7. IIBA - Body of Knowledge Relationships
  3. NEEDS ASSESSMENT
    1. Identify Problem / Symptom / Opportunity
    2. Assess current state
    3. Recommend action to address business needs
    4. Assemble the Business case
    5. Stakeholders
      1. Identifying Stakeholders
      2. Key Stakeholder Roles/Responsibilities
      3. Building and Using a Stakeholder Register
    6. Project Scope
  4. The Business Analysis Planning Process
    1. The major variables to analyze
    2. Life Cycle Options
      1. Agile Development
      2. Waterfall
      3. Iterative
    3. A Collaboration with Project Management
    4. Requirements Planning and Management
      1. Business Requirements Activities
      2. Types of Models
      3. Deliverables
      4. Roles and Responsibilities
      5. Change Control Policies
      6. Verification and Validation Methods
      7. Approvals Processes
  5. Requirements Elicitation and Analysis
    1. The Elicitation Process
    2. The Four Stages of Elicitation
    3. Elicitation Methods
      1. Brainstorming
      2. Document Analysis
      3. Focus Group
      4. Interview
      5. Observation
      6. Prototyping
      7. Facilitated Workshop
      8. Survey / Questionnaire
    4. Models and Techniques
      1. Scope Models
      2. Process Models
      3. Rule Models
      4. Data Models
      5. Interface Models
      6. The correct model to the Correct people at the Correct time
    5. Business Process Model (Cross Functional Process Map)
      1. Symbols
      2. "Swim Lanes"
    6. The Framework for Determining the Required Functionality
      1. Determining the Current or “As-Is” State
      2. Writing Business Requirement Statements
        1. The Difference from Objectives
        2. What makes a good Requirements Statement
        3. The Steps
        4. Functional Business Requirements
        5. Non-Functional Business Requirements
      3. Identification of Disconnects/Problem and Opportunity Areas
        1. Cause and Effect Analysis (Ishikawa / Fishbone Diagram)
        2. 5 Why’s/Root Cause Analysis
      4. Gap Analysis
      5. Introducing Metrics 
    7. Designing and Evaluating (Ranking) Needs and Potential “To-Be” States
      1. Pareto Analysis
      2. MuSCoW Analysis
      3. Objectives
      4. Constraints
      5. Risks
      6. Assumptions
      7. Validate Requirements (Meets Specifications)
      8. Verify Requirements (Fit for use)
    8. Impact and Transition Requirements (Getting from the “As-Is” to the “To-Be” may not be so easy!)
    9. Evaluating Alternative Solutions
      1. Cost-Benefit Analysis
      2. ROI
      3. Selection Criteria
    10. Packaging the Solution
  6. Traceability and Monitoring
    1. Traceability Matrix - Making sure everything from the Charter actually Happens!
    2. Configuration Management
      1. Managing Product Changes
      2. The Change Process
  7. Solution Assessment and Validation
  8. The Challenge of Change
    1. Causes for Concern
    2. Resistance
    3. Tactics of Innovation
    4. Guidelines
    5. Force Field Analysis
    6. Getting Accepted by the Business
  9. Conclusion and Critique
    1. Review Major Topics
    2. The Total Systems Education Business Requirements Document Template
    3. Additional ‘Writing Requirements’ Practice
    4. The PMI-PBA and IIBA Credentials
    5. Suggested Reading
    6. Participants Critique Workshop
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