Requirements Engineering Flashcards
For International Diploma in Business Analysis (Viva)
What is the requirements engineering framework?
It demonstrates the relationship between the typical stages of the requirements engineering process.
The non-linear nature allows flexibility in the order of completion
Repetition as required.
Stakeholder engagement and consultation is necessary throughout this framework
What is a requirement?
A feature that the business staff need the new system (business or IT) to provide.
Vital step between problem and solution. Identify the needs in the presence of problems.
They should be solutionless.
What is the hierarchy of requirements?
What is the rationale for requirements engineering
- Reduces risks (eg. scope creep)
- Improves quality (eg. basis for validation and verification)
- Improves efficiency (as resources can be estimated up front and planned accordingly)
- Ensures alignment between solution and stakeholder expectations
What are general business requirements?
Specifications that apply across all projects.
Legal eg. legislative or regulatory
Business policies - eg. standards
Business constraints - eg budget
Branding and language eg. image, style
Cultural - eg. management style
What are technical business requirements?
Specifications that relate to IT technical infrastructure that apply across all projects.
Hardware
Software eg. operating systems
Interoperability eg. standard for communicating between systems
Internet eg. use of
What are functional solution requirements?
What the (IT) system has to do.
Often modelled as use cases
Create
Read
Update
Delete
What are non-functional solution requirements
Specifications on how the functionality is delivered.
Performance eg. speed of processing
Security
Access
Backup and recovery
Archiving and retention
Robustness eg. reliability
Availability
Usability
Capacity eg. volumes
Please Save All Backups and Run Apps Under Capacity
How are requirements related to objectives and solutions?
Objectives represent the high-level goals that a system/project aims to achieve and typically align with organisational strategy.
Requirements define what the system must do to meet objectives, translating them into actionable details or a blueprint for the solution.
Solutions are the systems designed to meet the requirements.
What are the different types of knowledge?
Explicit knowledge: what you know you know.
Formal, often documented, and easily shared.
Tacit knowledge: what you don’t know you know.
Personal, experiential, and often unarticulated.
eg. Taken-for-granted information, tacit assumptions, unconscious skills, intuitive understandings, cultural norms.
What are the best tools for requirements elicitation?
Both linear and agile:
- Interview, workshops, prototyping, scenario analysis, modelling
Linear only:
- Document analysis, observation, shadowing, special purpose records
What are the best tools to uncover tacit knowledge?
Scenario analysis, protocol analysis, prototyping
What is the difference between elicitation and analysis?
Requirements don’t appear fully formed and complete. They need to be cleaned, assessed and prioiritised.
What quality criteria should requirements be tested against?
i. Testable.
ii. Unambiguous.
iii. Relevant.
iv. Clear.
v. Complete.
vi. Consistent.
vii. Traceable.
What are the tasks involved in requirements analysis?
- Categorising - business or solution
- Quality assurance
- Relevance check - aligned to business/project objectives
- Feasibility check - technical, business, financial
- Atomic, distinct, conflict free
- Solution free
- Packaging for deliver eg. user, verb, noun
Name a method for assessing priority?
MOSCoW
Must have - mandatory
Should have - mandatory but may be deferred
Could have - desirable
Want to have - but won’t this time
What is the difference between contradictory and conflicting requirements?
Contradictory requirements cannot be achieved together due to direct opposition.
Conflicting requirements can both be achieved but require balancing or trade-offs.