Eliciting Requirements
(course code BANE2)
Overview
In order to navigate the political landscape to meet or exceed customer expectations on any project, it is essential to efficiently and effectively gather their requirements. This course helps you develop skills and learn techniques to translate customer needs into project requirements. It provides a framework for identifying business problems, and linking requirements to business objectives in order to solve business problems and set project scope. The approach taken is applicable to all types of requirements gathering efforts, including systems development projects. Many practical and engaging exercises and role playing help walk people through the concepts presented, and afford ample practice with the techniques learned.
Course Objectives
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Understand what requirements are and why they are critical to success;
- Understand the overall requirements process;
- Use a systematic process for gathering requirements;
- Describe and identify key stakeholders for requirements gathering sessions:
- Ask questions that cause clients to express their expectation as well as their requirements;
- Ask questions that help discover hidden requirements;
- Interview customers to the greatest effect to get detailed requirement information;
- Use meetings and other techniques to gain consensus on requirements;
- Use numerous methods of eliciting the right information from your clients in the right situations;
- Better handle difficult people situations;
- Gain consensus on priorities of requirements.
Who Should Attend
This course is designed for new business analysts, business people, systems analysts, project managers, and anyone who is involved in the development of any business product, not just software development.
Prerequisites
Participants should have worked on the analysis, development, maintenance or enhancement of at least one business product.
Course Content
This course covers:
- Introduction to Requirements:
- Definition of a requirement;
- Why requirements are critical to success;
- Context of requirements definition;
- Distinction between requirements and design;
- Introduction to Requirements process steps;
- Introduction to case study.
- Gathering High Level Requirements:
- Eliciting requirements within the context of the business need;
- Asking context questions;
- Define problem/need (root causes, SARIE and Fishbone);
- Define objectives and deliverables;
- Introduction to case study;
- Workshop: define high-level requirements.
- Prepare for Elicitation Sessions:
- Elicitation introduction;
- Objectives (know what you need to accomplish);
- Information Gathering format: interview, facilitated session, survey, shadowing;
- Assignments and responsibilities of key roles;
- Agenda and ground rules;
- Workshop: prepare for requirements meeting.
- Elicitation:
- Exercises and discussion about effective elicitation and listening;
- Elicit detailed needs iteratively (types of requirements, process needs, information needs, business rules);
- Information gathering format: interview, facilitated session, survey, shadowing;
- Assignments and responsibilities of key roles;
- Practice with role play.
- Getting Consensus:
- Conflict;
- Resolving conflict;
- Handling difficult people situations;
- Prioritizing requirements;
- Final role play.
- Course Summary
Certification Exams
There are no exams with this course.
Course Fees
We offer a range of delivery styles and packages for this course. Please go to the Packages and Inclusions page to review the inclusions provided with each package.
Professional Development
Successful completion of this course may entitle you to credits in various professional development programmes:
- For AIPM CPD points, check here;
- For PMI PDUs, check here (see page 11).
Follow-on Courses
We recommend that delegates who complete this course should proceed with our Defining and Analysing Requirements course.
