Business analysts, business change specialists, systems analysts and anyone who is involved in gathering, analysing, documenting and managing requirements. Requirements Engineering is also a Core module on the BCS (ISEB) International Diploma in Business Analysis.
Requirements Engineering is a valuable tool in the hands of the expert business analyst, whatever the project or product development lifecycle. It involves drilling down past surface discussion into tacit knowledge. Teams willing to embrace effective requirements practices, pinpointing consumer expectations for a newly introduced or modified existing product, will achieve better outcomes.
Based around a Requirements Engineering framework, this course teaches a range of techniques for elicitation, analysis, documentation and managing requirements. A detailed case study used throughout the course allows you to practise each technique as you learn. Key areas include: requirements categorisation; prioritisation; documentation (including user stories, use case modelling and class modelling); change management and traceability.
The course will be presented by one of our expert training consultants pictured below. Every member of our Requirements Engineering training team offers substantial experience of business analysis projects and applying Requirements Engineering techniques.
To give you an overview of what you’ll learn, here’s a quick guide to the three days of the course.
- Introduction to Requirements Engineering.
- Stakeholders in Requirements Engineering.
- Planning for Requirements Engineering.
- Elicitation Techniques (part 1).
- Elicitation Techniques (part 2).
- Documenting Requirements.
- Modelling Requirements (part 1) - modelling functionality and data.
- Modelling Requirements (part 2) - cross-checking models.
- Requirements Analysis.
- Elaborating and Refining Requirements.
- Requirements Validation.
- Requirements Management.
For virtual courses a printed copy of the latest edition of the comprehensive course manual will be sent to your home address in good time for the start of your course. Our delegates tell us that having access to a physical document is beneficial as both a reference document and for taking notes during the course. In addition, a link will be emailed to you to enable you to access an electronic copy of the same comprehensive manual for convenient future reference.
Delegates attending face:face classroom courses will receive their printed manual on Day 1 of the course.
Yes. During this three day course you’ll receive all the training you need to prepare for the BCS Requirements Engineering certificate examination. A pass means you’re another step closer to achieving the BCS International Diploma in Business Analysis – the de facto certification for practicing business analysts. One last thing this course is also approved as consistent with the IIBA BABoK version 3.0 and enables participants to develop SFIA skills BUAN and REQM.
This exam consists of 40 multiple-choice questions with a pass mark of 26/40.
Requirements Engineering (a three-day course)
Course Content
Introduction to Requirement Engineering
- Definition of a requirement
- Characteristics of a good requirement
- Types of requirements
- Requirements hierarchies
- Purpose of requirements and their target audience
- Common problems with requirements
- Rationale for Requirements Engineering (RE)
- RE framework
Stakeholders in RE
- Stakeholders and viewpoints
- Roles and responsibilities within RE
- Identifying and analysing user roles
- Personas
- Customer journey maps
Planning for RE
- The business context
- The importance of starting a project properly: Project Initiation Document / Terms of Reference
- Planning the RE approach
- Adapting RE for different situations
- Iterative versus linear projects
Requirements Elicitation
- The scope of elicitation work
- The significance of knowledge types: tacit (corporate and individual) and non-tacit (corporate and individual)
- Uses, advantages and disadvantages of elicitation techniques:
- Interviewing
- Workshops
- Observation (including shadowing)
- Storytelling
- Scenario analysis & scenario role-play
- Prototyping (including storyboards & wireframes)
- Document analysis & record searching
- Selection of appropriate techniques
- Suitability of elicitation techniques for linear and Agile projects
Documenting Requirements
- The importance of documentation
- Documentation styles (text-based versus diagrammatic) and formats
- Business requirements document (BRD)
- Requirements catalogue
- User stories
- Use case models
- Class models
- Applicability to linear and Agile projects
Modelling Requirements
- Modelling functionality
- context diagrams and use case diagrams for scope definition
- use case descriptions for defining user interactions
- Modelling data: class models
- Cross-checking models using a CRUD matrix
Requirements Analysis
- Ensuring fitness for purpose
- Applying requirements filters:
- Unravelling multiple requirements
- Checking for overlapping or duplicate requirements
- Confirming relevance (congruence with business & project objectives)
- Evaluating feasibility
- Removing conflicts
- Checking for solutions
- Checking and improving quality (specific, measurable, traceable, etc.)
- Packaging requirements for delivery (release and iteration backlogs during Agile development)
- Prioritising requirements using MoSCoW
Elaborating and Refining Requirements
- Slicing requirements
- Making requirements testable (defining acceptance criteria)
- Elaborating and refining requirements using scenario analysis and prototyping
- Analysing business rules
Requirements Validation
- Approaches to validation: formal versus informal
- Validation in linear and Agile projects
- Stakeholder responsibilities in requirements validation
- Prototype reviews
Requirements Management
- Rationale for requirements management
- Elements of requirements management:
- Identification & cross-referencing
- Origin & ownership
- Change control & configuration management
- Traceability
- Software support
- Requirements management in linear and Agile projects
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