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Explain The Importance Of Robust Requirements And 4 Steps

Paul Naybour Paul Naybour

Published: 25th November 2015

Following robust requirement management
process gives confidence to the stakeholders that their requirements are
understood and their needs and expectations will be met within the final
product. Requirements management is a key process that should be carried out at
the early stages of the project life cycle (definition stage) in order
to avoid expensive changes at later stages of the project. For example,
project requirements for sewage project will be in accordance with the end user
specifications and design guides.

  • Requirements capture is the first step in the requirements management process. During that
    stage, efforts are exerted to collect information about stakeholders’ requirements
    either through meetings with their representatives, retrieving information from
    previous similar projects, doing surveys, collecting latest specifications,
    design guide lines and regulations. That is important in order to avoid
    being surprised at the end of the project by one or more ignored requirements
    that require very exhuasting changes to accommodate. For example, 15m deep
    sewage pipeline is proposed while end users specification limit the maximum depth
    to only 10 meters.

  • Requirements analysis / Evaluation is the second step in requirements management process. It
    includes analysis and evaluation of the collected requirements according to
    their value in the market, time required for their achievement (i.e. deadlines)
    and the procedures that will be followed for their achievement. That process
    is important
    as it allows narrowing down the list of requirements captured
    during the capture stage. For example, deadline is determined for the completion
    of the access roads to the sports city since Olympic Games will take place
    there.

  • Requirements justification /
    prioritisation
    is the key stage in the requirements
    management process. It includes categorising the requirements to Must be available
    (i.e. product cannot be delivered without them), Should be available (i.e.
    important for project delivery, but can be temporarily compensated for), Could
    be available (i.e. product can be released without them, and they will follow),
    without (i.e. products shall go without them, since these are not required).
    That prioritisation is important as it clarifies / gives understanding
    to the flexibility in meeting the requirements. For example, new mobile
    phone could be launched to market, and followed by the update of the software
    once it is completed.

  • Requirements Documentation is the final stage in the requirements management process. During
    this phase requirements are listed and agreed with stakeholders. PM will then clearly
    identify project requirements in the PMP and will incorporate them to define
    the scope of works. PM will get these approved by the project Sponsor, once
    approved these will the baseline requirements and will not be further changed without
    applying formal change request. That is important to secure the base
    lines for the project and protect the project from scope creep. For example,
    stakeholders changed the specifications during the middle stages of the project
    and request incorporating the changes to the project which will have impact on
    the cost and time for completing the works.