Books for the Business Analyst


How to Write Effective Requirements for IT Solutions: An Exercise-Based eWorkbook for Defining IT Solutions Your Business REALLY Needs

How to Write Effective Requirements for IT Solutions: An Exercise-Based eWorkbook for Defining IT Solutions Your Business REALLY Needs
Statistics: 4594 Views // 0 Comments // Article Rating
Categories: Requirements
Author: Tom Hathaway, Angela Hathaway

Paperback: 131 pages

The term “Business Requirement” (often used interchangeably with “User Requirement” or “Stakeholder Requirement) designates those requirements that the business community has the right and authority to express. Poorly expressed Business and Stakeholder Requirements can lead to budget overages, missed delivery dates, and software solutions that do not meet the business need.

The primary objective of this eWorkbook is to help the business community communicate with the information technology department more effectively. The techniques presented in this eWorkbook will help anyone who is responsible for defining the requirements for an IT project. Regardless of your title or role, if you are involved in defining requirements, this eWorkbook is for you. We offer definitions, real-life examples, and online exercises to clarify the various types of requirements at the level of detail that those who will deliver the solution need.

Specifically, this eWorkbook will give you techniques to:

  • Find missing requirements by analyzing the business and IT components of a proposed solution
  • Reduce the number of invalid assumptions by using a question file
  • Translate business needs into well-formed business requirement statements
  • Write business requirements that express WHAT the solution should deliver
  • Confirm that your requirements are in scope for your project
  • Defend the need for expressing requirements that all affected target audiences understand
  • Isolate and address ambiguous words and phrases in requirements
  • Use our Peer Perception technique to find words and phrases that can lead to misunderstandings
  • Improve your requirements with revision, definition, and clarification techniques
  • Use corporate and industry standard terms to improve communication
  • Define ambiguous terms and expand acronyms in a glossary to avoid miscommunication
  • Reduce the ambiguity of a statement by adding context
  • Utilize standard readability indices to reduce the potential for misunderstandings on your projects
  • Decompose requirement statements to identify Functional and Non-Functional Requirements
  • Give those responsible for designing, building, and/or buying the solution the kind of information they need to make the decisions that are right for the business
  • Identify Informational, Performance, and Constraining Requirements from a list of Functional Requirements
  • Document and manage Business, Stakeholder, Functional and Non-Functional Requirements in XL
  • Capture Business Rules and External Constraints that mandate limits to the delivered solution
  • Develop measurable Solution Requirements that facilitate End-User Acceptance Testing

This eWorkbook combines the content of 3 separately sold video courses. You can read detailed course overviews using the provided links

Part I How to Write Better Requirements in Plain English

http://businessanalysisexperts.com/video-course-writing-better-requirements

Part II Requirements Analysis Destroys Ambiguity

http://businessanalysisexperts.com/video-course-requirements-analysis-destroys-ambiguity

Part III Exposing Functional and Non-Functional Requirements

http://businessanalysisexperts.com/video-course-exposing-functional-and-non-functional-requirements

About the Authors

Angela and Tom Hathaway (previously Requirements Solutions Group, LLC and Hathaway & Associates, Inc.) founded BA-EXPERTS in 2011. For over 30 years, Angela and Tom have trained, consulted, mentored, and coached thousands of business analysts around the world for organizations from small businesses to Fortune 100. They have authored numerous training courses and publications. Working as a team, they strive to expand the base of skilled business analysis practitioners around the world by sharing their experience in their online and onsite training seminars, self-paced online courses, blogs, books, and public presentations.

COMMENTS

Only registered users may post comments.

Want to Add a Book?

Think we are missing a book for the Business Analyst or Systems Analyst? TELL US! WE'LL ADD IT!
Enter your Email address
Enter your Name
Enter your message
Send

 

More BA Books

Data Modeling Made Simple: A Practical Guide for Business and IT Professionals, 2nd Edition Data Modeling Made Simple: A Practical Guide for Business and IT Professionals, 2nd Edition

This book begins like a Dan Brown novel. It even starts out with the protagonist, our favorite data ...


What is a Business Analyst?: ...and why do I need one? What is a Business Analyst?: ...and why do I need one?

Are you a Business Analyst who struggles to explain what it is that you do? Or do you work with BAs ...


Pocket Guide to Technical Communication Pocket Guide to Technical Communication

This handy reference is ideal for anyone interested in improving business, technical and scientific ...


The Manager's Pocket Guide to Systems Thinking and Learning The Manager's Pocket Guide to Systems Thinking and Learning

Systems Thinking is a more natural and better way to think, learn, act, and achieve desired results....


The Elements of Technical Writing The Elements of Technical Writing

This essential guidebook covers the fundamentals of writing for technical professions. The short, ea...


 



 




Copyright 2006-2023 by Modern Analyst Media LLC