Elicitation

1. Elicitation (c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

2. Is elicitation same as requirements gathering?What has been your experience with elicitation?Why elicitation is difficult?How can we do a better elicitation? (c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

3. Zohari Window for BA No Client Knows Yes Yes No BA Knows How do we reduce the segment? Requirements unknown to Client and Business Analyst?

4. Picture perfect… (c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

5. Conversation between business and IT • Users: Can’t they speak plain English? • Programmers: Why can’t they cross their t-s and dot their I-s? • Users: Why should we spell out the kindergarten stuff for them? • Programmers: They are incapable of making their mind once and for all!!! • Users: They can’t grasp the reality of changing business environment. • Programmers: They don’t understand what IT can or can’t do for them. • Users: They are computer freaks, unfamiliar with the business needs • Programmers: Talk to three users and you get six contradictions. • Users: They can’t deal with the needs of our entire business community. • Programmers: We’ve done it right. • Users: We do not want what they gave us! Any solutions? • Programmers: We hate them. (c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

6. Challenges in elicitation • Users omitting to identify requirements • Users and Analysts taking certain knowledge for granted and failing to ensure that there is a common understanding • Lack of clarity in the wordings • Ambiguity of written language • Conflicts between requirements • No way to test • Providing a solution rather than stating requirements • Lack of consensus among business users • Getting into solution domain (c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

7. Elicitation (c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

8. Elicitation Tools..01 • Observation • Observation relies on studying people performing their jobs, and is sometimes called 'job shadowing' or 'following people around'. • Data dictionary and glossary • Data dictionaries or glossaries are used to formally identify and define all terminology used by the organization or organizational unit • Document Analysis • Document analysis includes analysis of business plans, market studies, contracts, RFP, SoW, training guides, product literatures etc. (c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

9. Elicitation Tools..02 • Data model • A data model usually takes the form of a diagram supported by textual descriptions. It visually represents the types of people, places, things and concepts that are important to the business, attributes associated with them, and the significant business relationships among them. • Data flow diagrams • Data Flow Diagram (DFD) provides a visual representation of how information is moved through a system. • Sequence Diagrams • A sequence diagram shows how classes and objects interact during a scenario. (c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

10. Prepare for elicitation • Assemble the elicitation team • Acquire domain knowledge • Read about the organization on web • Read proposal document • Go through the communications for the project • Identify stakeholders and anticipate their requirements/wish-lists • Plan for elicitation • Communicate the plan to all stakeholders and obtain buy-in • Identify and communicate ground work that the customer can perform before start of the elicitation activity (c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

11. Prepare for elicitation Purpose Ensure all needed resources are organized and scheduled for conducting elicitation activities. Element • Clarify specific scope for selected elicitation technique. • Schedule all resources. • Notify appropriate parties of the elicitation plan. (c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

12. Elicitation techniques • Interviews • Workshops • Observation • Scenarios • Prototyping • Brainstorming • Document analysis • Interface analysis • Focus groups (c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

13. Interviews • Benefits • Build personal rapport • Understand individual concerns and expectations • User data collection • Underlying political factors • Disadvantages • Time and effort consuming • Unverified opinions • Largely qualitative inputs • Preparations • Who • Why • What • When • and Where (c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

14. Tips for conducting interviews • Be prepared • Be punctual • Set-up time in advance • Do background reading • Ask for leading questions • Keep tab on time • Collect associated artifacts which may be useful later • Take notes • Clarify, do not assume Would you like to add any other tips for conducting interviews? (c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

15. During elicitation • Self introduction • Explaining the purpose of the discussion • Understanding the process • Challenges of current process • Asking for existing policies, processes, templates and reports • Understanding business rules • Users of the system • Interactions with other systems • Identify non-functional requirements • Time frame of implementation (c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

16. Workshops • Advantages • Broader view • Increased speed and productivity • Obtain consensus on requirements • Help in prioritization • Disadvantages • Difficult to organize • Without proper authority, decisions taken can be changed • Preparations • Who • Why • What • When • and Where (c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

17. Discovery Documentation Process Models Round robin Rich pictures Brainstorming Workshop Mind Maps Brainwriting Context Diagrams Post-it exercise Use case diagrams Stepwise refinement Task Scenario Facilitating workshops (c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

18. Observation • Advantages • Observe real work • Develop workable solutions • Disadvantages • People may behave differently when they are under observation (c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

19. Prototyping • It is difficult for users to envisage new systems unless they experience it • Advantages • Clarify requirements • Get new requirements • Feedback on usability • Disadvantages • Unless controlled, can get into end-less iterations • Raise user expectations • Users may think prototype is the final product (c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

20. Non-functional requirements (NFRs) • NFRs are also known as Quality Attributes • Unlike functional Requirements, NFRs state constraints to the system as well as particular behavior that the system must have • Qualities and Constraints of the application • Qualities of Application - Performance, Usability, Security, Portability etc • Constraints – conditions/limitations on the application due to its environment or the qualities of service • Windows/Intel compliance, average throughput cannot ever be less than 100 transactions/second Nowadays, the market demands more and more non-functional aspects to be implemented in information systems besides its functionality. Errors due to omission of NFRs or not properly dealing with them are among the most expensive type and most difficult to correct. (c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

21. Types of NFRs • Scalability • Performance • Portability • Reliability • Maintainability • Usability • Security • Availability • Manageability • Extensibility • Re-usability • Internationalization • Localization Video on Non-functional requirements (c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

22. Other approaches • Questionnaires • Special purpose records • Activity analysis • Document Analysis • Advantages • Quick • Cost effective • Disadvantages • Low response rate • No personal touch (c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

23. Conduct Elicitation Activity Purpose Meet with stakeholder(s) to elicit information regarding their needs. Element • Trace requirements. • Capture requirement attributes. • Construct metrics. [Note: The term construct metrics in BABOK refers to collecting effort data to plan future BA activities.] (c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

24. SMART requirements • Specific • Without ambiguity, using consistent terminology, simple and at the appropriate level of detail • Measurable • It is possible to verify that this requirement has been met. What tests must be performed, or what criteria must be met to verify that the requirement is met? • Attainable • Technically feasible. What is your professional judgement of the technical 'do-ability' of the requirement? • Realizable • Realistic, given the resources. Do you have the staffing? Do you have the skill? Do you have access to the development infrastructure needed? Do you have access to the run-time infrastructure needed? Do you have enough time? • Traceable and Testable • From its conception through its requirement specification to its subsequent design, implementation and test (c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

25. Document elicitation results Purpose Record the information provided by stakeholders for use in analysis. Element • Minutes of meeting. • Visual or audio recordings. • Whiteboards. (c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

26. Document Elicitation Results Why 2 versions – Excel and Word??? (c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

27. Words to be avoided • Incomplete lists ending with 'etc'., 'and/or', and 'TBD'. • Vague words and phrases such as 'generally', 'normally', 'to the greatest extent', 'properly' and 'where practicable'. • Imprecise verbs such as 'supported', 'handled', 'processed', or 'rejected'. • Implied certainty, flagged by words such as ‘always’, 'never', 'all', or 'every'. (c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

28. Words to be avoided • Passive voice, such as 'the counter is set'. (By whom or what?) • Pronouns, particularly 'it' or 'its'. Each should have an explicit and unmistakable reference. • Comparatives, such as 'earliest', 'latest', 'highest'. Words ending in 'or' or 'est' should be suspect. • Words and phrases that cannot be quantified, such as flexible, modular, achievable, efficient, adequate, accomplish, possible (or possibly), correct (or correctly), minimum required, minimum acceptable, better, higher, faster, less, slower, infrequent, to the extent specified, to the extent required, be compatible, to be associated with. (c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

29. Words to be avoided • Words and phrases whose meaning can be disputed between developer and customer, such as instantaneous, simultaneous, achievable, finish, degraded, a minimum number of, nominal/normal/aver-age, minimum, steady-state, coincident, adjacent, synchronous. • Contractually troublesome phrases: • 'Design goal'. The developer will spend money and other resources with no guarantee of goal accomplishment. • 'To the extent practicable'. A decision in the eyes of the developer. • 'Where applicable'. There are no criteria for judgment. • 'Shall be considered'. The developer will think about. • 'A minimum of X'. The developer will provide exactly X. (c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

30. Confirm Elicitation Results Purpose Validate that stated requirements expressed by stakeholders match stakeholder’s understanding of the problem and their needs. Element • Confirm elicitation results. (c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!

31. Role play on elicitationTime : 60 Minutes (c) Adaptive Processes Consulting Be with the Best!