Get Project Requirements Right the First Time: Use Cases for Business Requirements

Transcription

1 Get Project Requirements Right the First Time: Use Cases for Business Requirements Presenter: Lalig J. Musserian, PMP

2 Basic Premises Doing a poor job on requirements up front will have a domino effect of major problems later in the project Project Managers and Business Analysts can work together through the full life cycle to prevent requirements problems from damaging or destroying the project

3 High Level Projects Phases Concept Plan/ Design Execution Approval / Closeout Clear Objectives Resources needed Business / Regulatory needs Client Specs High Level Use Cases Verification of Scope of Project Minimize risks & errors in understanding Confirmation of project objectives Proof of Concept Phase Sometimes very costly Long duration Iterative Process Fulfills the objectives? Deliverable Traceable to Project Objectives?

4 Risk at the Epicenter

5 Risk Distribution

6 Cumulative Risk Impacts

7 What is a requirement? Definition of what is required: what does the end user want or need? A requirement should also include a quality or a performance demand A Project has specific requirements usually initiated to solve a business problem

8 How do we collect Requirements? How do we A Business Requirements Document (BRD) is a specific deliverable in the Project Initiation Phase A BRD identifies Business objectives, a Business Overview and a requirements Overview A BRD also lists Assumptions, Constraints, and Project Dependencies A good BRD would also clearly identify out of scope items so no confusions later Make sure the Business, technology partners and stakeholders Sign-Off on the BRD

9 Why Do Projects Fail? Why Do Projects Fail? Lack of qualified resources 3% Other 1% Communication problems 14% Inadequate risk management 17% Poor requirements definition 50% Poor scope control 15% Source: ESI International survey of 2,000 industry professionals, 2005.

10 Relative Cost to Correct a Defect Relative Cost of Fixing a Defect Requirements Design Code Development Testing Acceptance Testing Operation Project Life Cycle

11 Details in a BRD Requirement Number Requirement Name User: Customer, Representative, Manager, etc. Description of Requirement Priority: 1,2,3 Comments or Outstanding Questions Any know issues to date Define non-functional requirements, e.g. performance

12 High Level Use Cases One of the best approaches to developing requirements Should plan Use Cases at a high level at the very beginning at project initiation Very useful in determining project scope Help establish traceability to the Business requirements Document (BRD)

13 Components of Use Cases Actors, Events and Scenarios Normal, alternate and exception scenarios Identification of relationships and crossreferences to other use cases Linking of these use cases to other systems or applications Validation process through reviews and quality inspections

14 Use Case Framework Assigned to: Use Case Name: Use Case Number: Use Case Description: Primary Actor (s): Subsystems: Tools Impacted (Scope): John Doe Rep Creates/Modifies Goal UC.4.7 This use case describes the process by which a new account for an existing or new customer is performed Customer, Customer Service Rep edb, ALM, Retail, OneView Application Name Preconditions & Guarantees: 1. Reps must be logged in and authenticated. 2. Customers are authenticated via IVR and Rep interaction. Trigger(s): 1. Rep creates new Customer Contact for account opening: Rep selects either Open New Account for New Customer, or Add account for existing customer Rep modifies existing Successful Post Conditions: 1. New account can be viewed on the screen and account number assigned 2. New account can be viewed under Customer Relationship screen Failed Post Conditions: Assumptions: Constraints: Rep cannot see new account name and number Related Use Cases Requirements R1.2, R1.3, R.1.5

15 Activity Diagram Rep Views Existing Customer Info- Scenario A Rep System Rep logs into the Customer Information Screen on ABC System Existing Customer? Yes Yes No No Yes Note: See UC.10.3 xyz No Yes No Note: Ability to view Account History in new Accounts UI will not be included until next Iteration Note: new Customer List UI Wirefranes will be included in the Iteration 3 Yes Is Group currently opened by Another Rep? No Note: See Appendix for screen shot of Group Lock warning for this scenario View Group Lock Warning Message, select ok to load Group Renders Group display as read-only Locks Group so it can only be edited by user initiating retrieve. View Group Summary Page No Are there any missing accounts? Note: This is an indication that the Customer SSN does not match Note: If multiple groups are open, newly launched group will be the one in focus Yes View Group Summary Page and Pop-Up Display Pop-Up to user indicating which active accounts are not showing in the Customer account list(s) Note: See Appendix for screen shot of existing application warning for this scenario End

16 Sample Use Case Documentation Actor s Action System Response 1. The actor has clicked on View Customer Account Page on the home page 1. Customer Account Page is displayed 2. The actor enters customer SSI 2. Detail List of customer accounts is displayed 3. The actor selects specific account 3. Account Balances and last 10 transactions is displayed 4. The actor selects from the following options: Close Account, Add New signer or inquire about transactions 3. The actor selects one of the options and hits save 4. Account closing screen, New signatory screen or transaction inquiry screen is displayed 5. Confirmation of transaction appears 4. The actor clicks confirm button 6. System messages that the transaction was saved 5. The actor clicks end button 7. System brings actor back to home page

17 Use Case Driven Development Development concept in short time boxes or Iterations- typically within 3-4 weeks As Use Cases are documented and signed-off, they can be passed to the Development Team for coding and testing Real time communication (think: Bullpen or War Room) vs. volumes of written documents Mini-increments of software implementation At the end of every release, the project team reevaluates priorities Use Cases can be effective in leveraging some Agile Development concepts Linking of these use cases to other systems or applications Validation process through reviews and quality inspections Working Software is the primary metric for assessing success

18 Questions?