Month: February 2024

Requirements Analysis Using Event/Response And Use Cases – Functional Requirements

Professor of Project Management Requirements Analysis , , ,
Planning

In my previous post on the topic of Requirements Analysis, I showed you how to derive your Use Cases from the Event List. I also presented a list of recommended elements to be included in each Use Case. The primary element is the list of steps taken by the Actors and the System they interact with. Within these steps are the Functional Requirements.

In my initial post in this series, I mentioned that starting and ending requirements gathering with functional requirements was not very effective. Why? Because functional requirements are at too low of a level and places the burden on the memories of SME’s (Subject Matter Experts) instead of the analytical questions of the Business Analyst, where the burden really belongs. For large systems, if you start and end with functional requirements you will almost assuredly have an incomplete set of requirements.

Using the Event/Response methodology, we started with Event Discovery, using a wide variety of techniques to generate the questions the Business Analyst needs to ask. We fleshed out the Events, which led to discovery of the business processes in scope. We validated the model to make sure we had the complete list of Events and processes. We used the processes to create our Use Cases. We will now examine the Use Cases to derive the functional requirements. This is an organized, top down approach to requirements that will output as complete a set of requirements as is possible.

Within the steps of the Use Cases are things like “Present Debit Card”, “Read Card”, “Select Action”, “Browse by Last Name”, etc. These are all functional requirements that must be satisfied by the solution. The system design must address all of these requirements. However, these are low-level capabilities and are not a good source for overall system design. By using the Event Model, the system designer can see the big picture and design a friendlier, more efficient system than is possible using just the functional requirements.

In the next post I will address the advantages of the Event Model when designing and executing tests.

A reminder that my book “Project Management For The Real World” is available in paperback and Kindle formats at

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B089KRDDVN

Requirements Analysis Using Event/Response And Use Cases – Building Use Cases

Professor of Project Management Requirements Analysis , ,
Planning

Now that you have a complete and comprehensive Event List, you can now use this to create your Use Cases. Before I show you how, let’s first define “Use Case”:

  • A Use Case is simply a list of steps to achieve a goal
  • It may have multiple paths (for example, the Use Case for getting cash from an ATM has the normal path, plus an alternate path for the case where a user asks for more money than in their account)
  • A Use Case Scenario is a specific path thru the Use Case

Column 4 of the Event List (“…Then We Do This”) contains the names of all of the business processes within the scope of your project. Take each of these process names and create the corresponding Use Cases. Here is a collection of data elements which you can include in the Use Cases:

  • Use Case Name and ID (you can use a scheme such as capital U + the Event Process ID + decimal point + the Use Case sequential number. For example, U2.1.1)
  • Use Case brief description (The process name and perhaps an additional clarifying sentence or two)
  • Sub-System Name (e.g. “Accounts Payable”)
  • Triggering Event (from the Event List)
  • “Actors” (Stakeholders that interact with or are affected by the Use Case; Your Event List is a great starting point for identifying your Stakeholders)
  • Pre-conditions: What needs to be true before the execution of this Use Case (for example, “Customer ID has been established”)
  • Post-conditions: The state of the system after execution of the Use Case (for example, “Employee has possession of a company credit card”)
  • Process Flow. Include a column for the Actors and a column for the steps executed by the Actors and the System. Do this until the process is complete and accomplishes the Post-conditions.

In the next post I will discuss deriving Functional Requirements from the Use Cases.

A reminder that my book “Project Management For The Real World” is available in paperback and Kindle formats at

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B089KRDDVN

Requirements Analysis Using Event/Response And Use Cases – Validating The Model

Professor of Project Management Requirements Analysis ,
Planning

In the prior posts on “Event Discovery”, you completed your initial Event Model. I say “initial” because in the process of validating the model, you may discover additional events.

In order to validate the model, you first compare it to your Project Objectives (the implementation deliverables that survive and are maintained after the project is considered complete). For each Project Objective you need to ensure that you have one or more Events and Business Processes that will contribute to reaching that objective. If you don’t find at least one, you are missing at least one event and must cycle back to event discovery to find it or them.

When you are finished validating against the Project Objectives, you will then validate against the Business Objectives. As a reminder, Business Objectives…

  • Contribute to the business strategy
  • Make or save money
  • Take advantage of opportunity
  • Provide competitive advantage
  • Respond to new laws and regulations
  • Are measurable

Compare the Event Model against the defined Business Objectives and ask the Core Team and the Project Sponsor if this scope will directly or indirectly address the objectives. If one or more objectives are not addressed, then you will continue with event discovery until you are satisfied the Business Objectives are satisfied by the model.

In the next post I will present how Use Cases are derived from the Event Model.

Note: My book “Project Management For The Real World”, is available in paperback and Kindle formats at

https://www.amazon.com/dp/b089krddvn

Requirements Analysis Using Event/Response and Use Cases – Event Discovery Part 7

Professor of Project Management Requirements Analysis , ,
Planning

The posts in this series so far have covered identifying External Events, which in most cases will constitute the majority of your Events. There are two other types of Events you also need to identify:

  • Time-based Events
  • System State Events

To identify Time-based Events you can simply ask your SME’s (Subject Matter Experts) if there are any processes that run based on time (e.g. “every X hours/days/weeks/months”, “First Monday of every month”, “Every other Friday”, etc). Some Events that run based on time are only done so due to technical limitations, either real or perceived. You do not want to classify these Events as time-based. For example, if they say “We run an interface from our HR system to our Time-Keeping system every two hours”, that is a choice, not a requirement. In an ideal world, those two systems would always be instantaneously in sync. Do not let technical limitations limit your requirements.

An example of a good time-based requirement is “We submit monthly tax reports to state and local governments”. The timing is a requirement of External Entities and must be honored.

System-State Events can be identified when you are reviewing the relevant data elements. You can ask if any change in the value of an element automatically triggers a process. For example, in an inventory system a System-State Event might be “When the on-hand quantity reaches 5, a reorder is triggered”. In an HR system, a promotion would trigger events related to pay, benefits, organization, etc.

Once you have added the Time-based Events and the System-State Events to the External Events in your Event Model, it is time to validate the model. That will be the subject of Part 8 in this series.

Note: My book “Project Management For The Real World”, is available in paperback and Kindle formats at

https://www.amazon.com/dp/b089krddvn