Requirements Management &

Communication

Chapter 4

Kathy Reed
CBAP Study Guide for the
Business Analyst Body of Knowledge (BABOK) Version 2.0
June 4, 2013
IIBA Austin
4.1 RMC Input & Output Diagram
 Task - STRPC

(4.1) S – Manage Solution Scope

(4.2) T – Manage Requirements Traceability
(4.3) R – Maintain Requirements for Re-use
(4.4) P – Prepare Requirements Package
(4.5) C – Communicate Requirements
4.1 Manage Solution Scope & Requirements
4.1 Manage Solution Scope & Requirements

 Purpose – Maintain consensus among key stakeholders regarding the

overall solution scope & the requirements that will be implemented.

 Input :
1. Requirement Management Plan
2. Solution Scope
3. Stakeholder List, Roles, Responsibilities
4. Stakeholder, Solution, Transition Requirements (Communicated or
Traced)

 Output:
1. Requirements - Approved
4.1 Manage Solution Scope & Requirements

 Elements:
◦ Solution Scope Management:
 Assess stakeholder and solution requirements to ensure they are within solution scope.
 Additional stakeholder requirements may be added if the solution can support.
 If not supported by solution scope, the BA needs to resolve.

◦ Conflict & Issue Management:

 Facilitate communication between stakeholders who are in conflict over requirements.
 Conflicts must be resolved before requirements can be approved.

◦ Presenting Requirements for Review:

 Requirements are presented to Stakeholders formally (written/ structured walkthrough) or
informally (email).

◦ Approval:
 Ensure the stakeholders understand and accept the requirements.
 Maintain a record of the decision, parties involved, decision.
4.1 Manage Solution Scope & Requirements

 Techniques:

◦ General Technique:
 (9.20) Problem Tracking – manage issues identified with requirements by
stakeholders and ensure they are resolved.

◦ Baselining:
 Once requirements are approved they are baselined. All future changes are
recorded, tracked and must follow change control process.

◦ Signoff:
 Signed off requirements formalizes the agreement from the stakeholder stating
that they requirements are accurate and complete.
 Typically requires a face to face review of the requirements
4.1 Manage Solution Scope & Requirements

 Stakeholders:

◦ Domain SME
◦ Implementation SME
◦ Project Manager – responsible and accountable for the project scope. If a
requirement is not approved, they must define the risk to the project.
◦ Sponsor
Questions for Task 4.1
 A BA who is working on a project that employs a plan-driven
approach is asked to add one new requirement that is outside
the approved solution scope. Which one of the following
actions is LEAST likely?

 Select one:

◦ a. Facilitate communication and change the business analysis

approach.
◦ b. Change the business analysis approach to be more change-
driven.
◦ c. Amend the new requirements which are conflicting.
◦ d. Amend the approach which is change-driven.
4.2 Manage Requirements Traceability
4.2 Manage Requirements Traceability

 Purpose – Maintain relationships between business objectives,

requirements, other deliverables, and solution components.

 Input :
1. Requirements – all requirements may be traced to other requirements.
2. Requirements Management Plan – define how and whether traceability is
being performed.
1. Identifies the tools to be used to support traceability
2. Identifies the processes that will be used.

 Output:
1. Requirements – Traced. These have clear relationships to other
requirements within the solution scope.
4.2 Manage Requirements Traceability
 Description: Requirements are related to other requirements,
solution components and other artifacts, such as test cases.

 It assist in the following:

◦ Scope and change management
◦ Risk management
◦ Time management
◦ Cost management
◦ Communication management

 Used to detect missing functionality

 Supports the following

◦ Impact Analysis
◦ Change Management
◦ Requirements Allocation
4.2 Manage Requirements Traceability

 Elements: RIC
◦ Relationship:
 After organizing requirements, you need to record the dependencies. This helps in
determining the sequence requirements are to be addressed.
 Common relationships:
 Necessity – It makes sense to implement a particular requirement when a related requirement is
implemented. Unidirectional or bi-directional.
 Effort – When a requirement is easier to implement if a related requirement is implemented
 Subset – When a requirement is decomposed outcome of another requirement
 Cover – When a requirement includes the other requirement.
 Value – When including a requirement affects the desirability of a related requirement.

◦ Impact Analysis:
 Use to assess or evaluate the impact of change.
 When a requirement changes, its relationships to other requirements can be viewed.

◦ Configuration Management:
 A special tool is needed to trace large numbers of requirements.
4.2 Manage Requirements Traceability

 Techniques:

◦ Coverage Matrix:
 This is a table or spreadsheet used to manage tracing.
 Used when there are few requirements or when tracing is limited to high level
requirements.

 Stakeholders:

◦ Implementation SME – they must be able to link the requirement to the

solution components.
◦ Project Manager -
◦ Tester – they need to understand how and where the requirements are
implemented when creating test cases. They trace test cases to
requirements.
Questions for Task 4.2
 Mary, while eliciting and analyzing the requirements figures, finds
that if the preferred supplier list is set up in the new system, it
will be easier during purchase activity, which fits the scope. What
kind of requirements dependency is she looking at?

 Select one:

◦ a. Necessity
◦ b. Effort
◦ c. Cover
◦ d. Subset
Questions for Task 4.2
Janet is piloting requirements traceability on a few projects.
Which is the best place for her to indicate this?

 Select one:

◦ a. Requirements management plan

◦ b. Risk plan and management plan
◦ c. Requirement management & communication plan
◦ d. BA approach document
4.3 Maintain Requirements for Re-Use
4.3 Maintain Requirements for Re-Use

 Purpose – To manage requirements following their implementation.

 Input :
1. Organizational Process Assets – Setting standards to determine when and
how requirements should be maintained for re-use.
2. Requirements –
1. Re-use requirement – describe the use to the organization beyond the lifetime of
the initiative.
2. Maintenance– describe the actual current state of an organization

 Output:
1. Requirements (Maintained and Reusable) -
4.3 Maintain Requirements for Re-Use

 Elements:
◦ Ongoing Requirements:
 Requirements an organizational unit must meet on a continuous basis.
 These include:
 Contractual Obligations
 Quality Standards
 Service Level Agreement
 Business Rule
 Business Processes
◦ Satisfied Requirements:
 Maintaining requirements helps with enhancements and future system changes.
4.3 Maintain Requirements for Re-Use

 Techniques:

◦ None

 Stakeholders:

◦ Business Analyst
◦ Domain SME
◦ Implementation SME
Questions for Task 4.3
 Which is an output from Requirements Management &
Communication?

 Select one:

◦ a. Requirements (Approved).
◦ b. Requirements (Specified).
◦ c. Requirements (Documented).
◦ d. Requirements (Elicited).
4.4 Prepare Requirements Package
4.4 Prepare Requirements Package

 Purpose – Structure requirements to ensure they are effectively

communicated, understood, and useable by the stakeholders.

 Input :
1. Business Analysis Communication Plan – describes the stakeholder groups,
their communication plan and whether a single or multiple requirement
package is required.
2. Organizational Process Assets – include templates that may be used to
package requirements.
3. Requirements – BA must understand which requirement to include in each
package.
4. Requirements Structure – the package should contain a consistent, cohesive
and coherent set of requirements.

 Output:
1. Requirements Package – A document, presentation for stakeholder review.
4.4 Prepare Requirements Package

 Elements:
1. Work Products:
 a document, collection of notes, or diagrams used by the BA during the
requirements development process.
 It may or may not become a deliverable. Used by the BA to share with the
stakeholder to clarify requirements.
 Examples:
 Meeting agendas and minutes
 Interview questions and notes
 Facilitation session agendas and notes
 Issue Log
 Work Plan, Status Reports
 Traceability Matrix
2. Deliverables:
 The output of the BA process that the analyst agreed to produce.
 It’s used as a basis for solution design and implementation.
4.4 Prepare Requirements Package

 Elements:
1. Format:
 The format may have been selected during the BA communication plan.
 A requirement package will likely be a combination of many formats.
 More than one requirement package may be created for the same project, in
order to present the material to convey a cohesive message.
 Each organization may have standards that the BA will follow.
 The requirement package must be complete if its created with the intent of
obtaining formal approval.
 Each package may have a table of contents
4.4 Prepare Requirements Package
 Techniques:

1. Requirements Documentation – requirements are captured in a formal

document. The most common types of requirement documents are:
1. Business Requirement Document
2. Product Roadmap
3. Software/System Requirement Specification (SRS)
4. Supplementary Requirement Specification
5. Vision Document

2. Requirements for Vendor Selection – If the potential solution is available

from an outside source:
1. RFI – Request for Information
 Organization is open to a number of alternative solution and seeking information
2. RFQ – Request for Quote
 Seeks vendor to implement solution. Less formal than RFP
3. RFP – Request for Proposal
 Seeks vendor to implement solution
4.4 Prepare Requirements Package
 Stakeholders:

◦ Domain SME & End User

◦ Implementation SME
◦ Project Manger
◦ Regulators
◦ Sponsor
◦ Tester
Questions for Task 4.4
 Sally is a business analyst in at a bank. She is currently
working on a project that will transform the bank's customer
relationship management (CRM) system. Based on her
discussion with John, the project sponsor, she learns that
there is enough in the current fiscal year budget for them to
invest in a cloud CRM or build an in-house application using
web methods. What is Sally most likely going to do next?

 Select one:

◦ a. One possibility is to create an RFZ.

◦ b. One possibility is to create an RFI.
◦ c. One possibility is to create an RFP.
◦ d. Plan to define all requirements and then create an RFI.
Questions for Task 4.4
 Which of the following depicts the difference between a work
product and a deliverable?
 Select one:
◦ a. The deliverable is a specific output of the business process
improvement and the work product is the document or collection of notes
or diagrams used by the business analyst during the requirements
development process.
◦ b. The deliverable is a specific output of the business analysis process, and
the work product is the document or collection of notes or diagrams used
by the business analyst during the requirements development. process.
◦ c. The work product is a specific output of the business analysis process,
and the deliverable is the output of the project and is used by the project
manager during the requirements development process.
◦ d. The deliverable is a specific output of the business analysis process, and
the work product is the document or collection of requirements samples
used by the business analyst during the requirements development
process.
4.5 Communication Requirements
4.5 Communication Requirements

 Purpose – Essential for bringing stakeholders to a common

understanding of requirements.

 Input :
1. Business Analysis Communication Plan – defines what, who and when
information is communicated.
2. Requirements – any requirement may be communicated
3. Requirement Package – If requirement package created it must be
distributed, reviewed and communicated to stakeholder.

 Output:
1. Communication Package – stakeholders should understand what the
requirements are and their current state.
4.5 Communication Requirements

 Elements:
1. General Communication:
 Requirement communication is performed iteratively.
 In many cases requirement communication may lead to elicitation of additional
requirements

 Enterprise Analysis Task – business case and solution scope communicated

 Elicitation Task- communication of requirements useful during elicitation and
may result in other related requirements
 Requirements Analysis Task – requirements are refined, modified and
clarified
 Solution Assessment & Validation – assessment of solution must be
communicated

2. Presentation:
 Formality of presentation is driven by the audience.
4.5 Communication Requirements
 Techniques:

1. Requirements Workshops (9.23)– requirements may be presented as part

of a workshop to familiarize all parties with solution scope.

2. Structured Walkthrough (9.30) – begins with a review of the requirments

to be discussed

 Stakeholders:

◦ All
Questions for Task 4.5
 The technique that is used to help familiarize the project
team with the existing solution scope:

 Select one:

◦ a. Requirements Workshop
◦ b. Structured Walkthrough
◦ c. Structured Walkthrough and Requirements Workshop
◦ d. Brainstorming using Requirements Workshop
Questions for Task 4.5
 Fill in the blank: Requirements communication is________.

 Select one:

◦ a. Performed during the initial stage of the project.

◦ b. Performed during the initial stage of the project and used when
performing tasks in other knowledge areas.
◦ c. Performed iteratively and used when performing tasks in other
knowledge areas.
◦ d. Performed iteratively and in a planned manner and used when
performing tasks in other knowledge areas.