MASTERING

SUZANNEROBERTSON

THE REQUIREMENTSPROCESS

HOW TO BUILD THE SYSTEM

YOUR CUSTOMER WANTS

OCTOBER 26-28, 2009RESIDENZA DI RIPETTA - VIA DI RIPETTA, 231

ROME (ITALY)

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER PRESENTS

info@technologytransfer.itwww.technologytransfer.it

MASTERING THE REQUIREMENTS PROCESS

ABOUT THIS SEMINAR

Why Requirements – What’s in it for You?

People use software, but other people build that software. There’s the problem. Solving it means understandingthe actual work of the Business users, and what they need to do it. It does not mean finding a quick fix for a per-ceived problem. It does mean deducing the product that adds long-term value to the organisation, and then wri-ting requirements that lock the developers in to that exact product. Any omissions or ambiguities mean goingback to step one.

Getting it Right the First Time

The days of building software in “Internet time” are over. Building software today means that you are in it for thelong haul. And you know that there are more demands than ever, and fewer resources to meet those demands.Getting the software right – the first time – is the only way to succeed under these circumstances. Today’s re-quirements process is incremental with quick cycle times. It uses prototypes and scenarios, and it ensures thatyou get the right result by writing a fit criterion – a test case for the requirement.

Your Requirements

Requirements are the most misunderstood part of systems development, but also the most crucial. Get the re-quirements wrong and you get the wrong system. Your requirements process must be your own, but it shouldbe based on field-proven techniques and templates. In this course, you are shown the Volere process – usedand improved by thousands of organizations around the world – and how you make it your own process. Youalso receive the Volere Requirements Specification Template – downloaded by over 13,000 users – to takehome with you along with advice on how to make this your own template.

What You Will Learn

• A process for gathering the correct requirements • Methods of eliciting requirements from all the stakeholders• Ways of knowing when your solution precisely matches what the user needs• The ability to write a compete and unambiguous requirements specification• Improved relationships with your software customers

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

• IT Professionals who would like to develop Web applications• IT Managers with a technical background who need to understand how the Web fits into the Enterprise appli-

cation development strategy• Developers who want a detailed look at the technologies, architectures, and tools that enable Web development• Data Management Professionals who want an understanding of the overall Web application development process• Development Architects responsible for choosing, distributing, and maintaining Web development products,

tools, services, and methodologies

DOCUMENTATION

Along with the seminar materials,delegates will receive a free copyof the Suzanne Roberston book“Mastering the Requirements Process”.

OUTLINE

1. The Requirements Process

This section introduces you to asolid strategy for gathering thecorrect requirements. In this over-views session you see how thepieces fit together – from theProject Blastoff that establishedthe product’s purpose and scope,the trawling and prototyping activi-ties that elicit the product’s requi-rements, through the Quality Gate-way where requirements are madetestable, to the final review of thespecification that discovers anymissing requirements.

2. Project Blastoff

This activity lays the foundation forthe requirements project. It deter-mines a measurable objective forthe product, the precise scope ofthe work to be studied, and identi-fies the stakeholders in the project.The Blastoff ensures that theproject is viable and worthwhile.

3. Trawling for Requirements

At the core of any requirementsprocess is the ability to get peopleto tell you what they really want,rather than what they think you mi-ght be able to deliver, or what theyfeel their boss might want. Weshow you how to use apprenticing,use case scenarios, interviewingand other strategies to discoverexactly what the users need, andwant.

4. Functional Requirements

Functional requirements are thosethings that the product must do.They are discovered by inspectingthe work that the user does, andthen determining what part of thatwork the automated product can do.

This proposed interaction betweenuser and product is modelled withuse case scenarios. From these, wederive and write the functional requi-rements.

5. Non-Functional Requirements

Non-functional requirements arethose properties that the productmust have, such as the desired ap-pearance, the usability, the perfor-mance and its cultural aspects.This section discusses the types ofnon-functional requirements, andshows you how to use the templa-te, and other methods, to find thequalitative requirements for yourproduct.

6. Managing your Requirements

Requirements are the lynchpin ofany development effort, and assuch have to be written correctlyand managed effectively. Thissection demonstrates the use of atemplate and other devices to helpyou write requirements. It alsolooks at requirements manage-ment issues like traceability, priori-tization and conflicting require-ments. We also include a review ofmost of the automated tools thatare available to help manage re-quirements specifications.

7. The Quality Gateway

Testing is more effective when it isdone early in the development cy-cle. So testing the requirements isnot a bad place to start. In theQuality Gateway, we demonstratehow to test requirements beforethey are added to the Require-ments Specification. This QualityGateway rejects irrelevant, gold-plated, non-viable and incorrectand incomplete requirements. We

also demonstrate how you can at-tach an unambiguous fit criterionto each requirement. This makesthe requirement testable, as wellas ensuring that solution you im-plement matches precisely towhat the customer wants.

8. Prototyping and Scenarios

Some requirements are not pro-perly understood until the userhas had the opportunity to use theproduct. Prototyping is a way of di-scovering requirements by testingmock-up products for the user’swork. In this section we discussthe merits of both low and high fi-delity prototypes, and how theyand scenarios are be used to di-scover and demonstrate the requi-rements in action.

9. Your Requirements Process

Your next requirements project isdifferent from anybody else’s. Inthis section we look at how to makeyour own requirements process aseffective and efficient as possible.We look at the idea of acceleratingthe requirements gathering byestablishing the scope then buil-ding an early throwaway prototype.Each part of the process is thenexamined so that students can di-scuss any problems that they mayhave in this area, and how they cantailor this to improve on their exi-sting requirements process.

There’s More…

• Your own copy of the acclaimedMastering the RequirementsProcess by Suzanne and JamesRobertson published by AddisonWesley

• A copy of the VolereRequirements SpecificationTemplate. This complete templa-te provides a foundation for wri-ting your own specifications

• A survey of the tools currentlyavailable to assist requirementscapture and recording

• References to books and sour-ces of up-to-date requirementsengineering techniques

• An opportunity to discuss any re-quirements problems one-on-one with a requirements profes-sional. He or she will bring seve-ral decades of experience to theconversation

Workshops

This course includes intensiveworkshops that give you the op-portunity to apply the conceptspresented in the seminar. Partici-pants work in teams to discover,specify and evaluate requirementsfor a significant system.The workshop provides practicalexperience in building require-ments specifications by:

• Defining the requirements scopeand the project’s goals

• Determine the relevant stakehol-ders

• Identifying Business events andproduct use cases

• Prototyping the product• Applying the requirements speci-

fication template to a real pro-blem

• Defining functional and non-func-tional requirements

• Deriving the fit criterion, or mea-surement, for each requirement

Suzanne Robertson has had extensive experience in managing va-ried, multi-cultural projects. She is a principal of The AtlanticSystems Guild. Current work includes research and consulting onstakeholders rights and responsibilities, the specification and reuseof requirements and techniques for assessing requirements specifi-cations. The product of this research is Volere, a complete require-ments process and template for assessing requirements quality, andfor specifying Business requirements, along with the books:“Requirements-Led Project Management: Discovering David’sSlingshot” by Suzanne and James Robertson (Addison Wesley,2004) and “Mastering the Requirements Process” (Addison-Wesley, 1999). Mrs. Robertson is also co-author of “CompleteSystems Analysis: the Workbook, the Textbook, the Answers”(Dorset House, 1994), a textbook and case study that teaches thecore skills necessary for systems analysis.

SPEAKER

SUZANNE ROBERTSONMASTERING THE REQUIREMENTSPROCESS

October 26-28, 2009Residenza di RipettaVia di Ripetta, 231Rome (Italy)

Registration fee:€ 1500

If registered participants are unable to attend,or in case of cancellation of the seminar, thegeneral conditions mentioned before areapplicable.

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Send your registration formwith the receipt of the payment to:Technology Transfer S.r.l.Piazza Cavour, 3 - 00193 Rome (Italy)Tel. +39-06-6832227 - Fax +39-06-6871102info@technologytransfer.itwww.technologytransfer.it

Stamp and signature

INFORMATION

PARTICIPATION FEE

€ 1500

The fee includes all seminardocumentation, luncheon and coffeebreaks.

VENUE

Residenza di RipettaVia di Ripetta, 231Rome (Italy)

SEMINAR TIMETABLE

9.30 am - 1.00 pm2.00 pm - 5.00 pm

HOW TO REGISTER

You must send the registration form withthe receipt of the payment to:TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER S.r.l.Piazza Cavour, 3 - 00193 Rome (Italy)Fax +39-06-6871102

withinOctober 12, 2009

PAYMENT

Wire transfer to:Technology Transfer S.r.l.Banca Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A.Agenzia 6787 di RomaIban Code: IT 34 Y 03069 05039 048890270110

GENERAL CONDITIONS

GROUP DISCOUNT

If a company registers 5 participants tothe same seminar, it will pay only for 4.Those who benefit of this discount are notentitled to other discounts for the sameseminar.

EARLY REGISTRATION

The participants who will register 30 daysbefore the seminar are entitled to a 5%discount.

CANCELLATION POLICY

A full refund is given for any cancellationreceived more than 15 days before theseminar starts. Cancellations less than15 days prior the event are liable for 50%of the fee. Cancellations less than oneweek prior to the event date will be liablefor the full fee.

CANCELLATION LIABILITY

In the case of cancellation of an event forany reason, Technology Transfer’sliability is limited to the return of theregistration fee only.