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(Past Event)

Requirements Gathering and Business Analysis

Workshop

When:
06 Mar 2012
(Past)
Ref:
W947

 "It's a translation service. The business knows the benefits it wants and what they want to achieve. What they struggle to do is understand how that can be applied. And that's why they look to IT to provide that translation service."
Forum Requirements Gathering Workshop March 2011

Summary:

What is best practice in eliciting clear, concise and accurate business requirements?

Requirements gathering and analysis is critical to the success of a business project. New systems change the business environment and the relationships between people, so it is important to identify all stakeholders, take into account their needs and ensure they understand the implications of any new system. Yet despite recognising the importance of encouraging the business to understand what its problem is, or what it wants to achieve, rather than defining a solution, a Forum poll of corporate IT professionals in 2011 found that a fifth of participating organisations had no formal requirements gathering process.

Again, delegates understood the importance of the 'Statement of Requirements' as IT's contract with the business as to what it will deliver to them, yet delegate opinions varied as to what elements it should contain. Clearly, requirements gathering is a maturing capability.

Objectives:

This workshop will build on the collective experience, wisdom and agreement of delegates to further the understanding of best practice in the requirements gathering space, and the role and deliverables of the Business Analysis practitioner.

Who should attend:

Business analysts and other corporate IT professionals with a key interest in requirements gathering in today's corporate environment.

Agenda:

The final agenda will be developed through consultation amongst delegates - provisional discussion areas are:

  • Establishing, managing and maintaining relationships with stakeholders and facilitators
  • Requirements gathering, analysis and recording
    • Who? How?
    • Scope and parameters
    • Components of a Statement of Requirements
    • Successful techniques
  • Requirements tracking and management
    • Business case, prioritisation and lifecycle management
    • Proven tools
    • The agile challenge
    • Avoiding iterations and duplications
    • Working with suppliers
  • Benefits realisation - the role of the business analyst
    • What happens if it all goes wrong? Implications for the business analyst