Project Requirements Process R220

R220 - Review Client Organisation’s Requirements

DEFINITION

Check that the requirements definition work done by the client organisation has addressed the agreed areas of requirements definition work to a suitable standard.  Check that the documentation of these requirements covers all the necessary contents to a suitable standard.

SUMMARY

The appropriate approach in terms of processes and tasks was considered and agreed in Process R200.  It was agreed further in Process R210 what this meant in terms of deliverables, depth of detail, consultation, review, quality and signoff.

Having agreed the appropriate components of the requirements work, this process deals with the review of work performed against those agreed standards.  The working papers, notes and documentation are examined to assess whether:

• the work has addressed the agreed areas
• the work has been conducted with due consultation, review and signoff
• the requirements are sufficiently well documented
• the results are fit for the client organisation’s needs and represent a fair statement of its requirements
• the results are suitable for input to subsequent Application Software Implementation processes.

Any issues that arise may be discussed informally with the project sponsor and other relevant personnel within the client organisation.  Specific consequences and actions arising will be discussed in Process R230 - Agree and conduct any further work required.

A formal Requirements Review report may be produced.

PATH PLANNING GUIDANCE

This process is normal practice.

DEPENDENCIES

Prerequisites (Finish-Start):

• (none)

Prerequisites (Finish-Finish):

• Agree appropriate processes (R200)
• Agree appropriate deliverables (R210)

Dependent procedures (Finish-Finish):

• Agree and conduct any further work required (R230)

RECEIVABLES

• Client organisation’s work plan / evidence of work conducted
• Client organisation’s “statement of requirements” documentation

DELIVERABLES

• Requirements Review report (RR)

TOOLS

• Application Software Implementation Process descriptions and examples for the Requirements segment
• Skeleton Deliverables: Requirements Review

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF TASKS

Review the work done

The work performed by the client organisation in preparing the requirements documentation is reviewed to see whether it meets the minimum standard that was agreed in R200.  The reviewers should not repeat the work nor attempt to make up for deficiencies - they should just investigate whether it has been done properly.

Fact finding techniques may include:

• interviewing the staff involved to discover what was done and how they got their information
• examine any work plans and project tracking data
• examine interview schedules and notes
• examine working papers, memos etc
• check with relevant users and IT personnel within the organisation to see whether they feel they were adequately consulted, had adequate opportunity to review the findings and agreed with the resulting documentation.

Review the documentation

The resulting requirements documentation should be examined to evaluate whether it presents a sufficiently complete and accurate statement of the client organisation’s business requirements.  The required level of detail will vary according to the organisation’s needs.  The required approach and standards were agreed in R210.

The documentation should be adequate for the client organisation’s needs.  If the project is to continue as a Application Software Implementation project it should also be assessed whether the standard of documentation is sufficient for the subsequent Application Software Implementation processes - ie the selection and implementation of a business solution to address these stipulated requirements.

Detailed comments and observations may be noted and reported back informally, usually by annotation of the documents.  Significant issues should be noted, discussed and reported formally in the Requirements Review report.  The report should also convey a summary of any significant detailed comments and a general appraisal of the adequacy of the documentation.

Reporting the findings

Findings should be discussed informally with the project sponsor and any other relevant personnel within the client organisation.  It may be possible for them to make minor adjustments without any additional work.  It might also become apparent that some of the work or evidence has been overlooked or some of the initially agreed standards were not, in fact, appropriate.  Issues which cannot be resolved may require further work.  This will be reported, and the detailed actions will be agreed in the following process - R230.

The findings from this Process are documented in the Requirements Review report.  The report will cover:

• the agreed approach (see Process R200),
• the agreed content of the deliverables (see process R210),
• the extent to which the tasks have been completed with an acceptable level of consultation, detail, quality, review and signoff,
• the extent to which the documented requirements convey an accurate and sufficient description of the organisation’s true business requirements
• the extent to which the requirements are adequate for use in subsequent Application Software Implementation processes.

The report should be discussed, agreed and formally signed off by the project sponsor and any other relevant decision makers within the client organisation.