Following robust requirement management
process gives confidence to the stakeholders that their requirements are
understood and their needs and expectations will be met within the final
product. Requirements management is a key process that should be carried out at
the early stages of the project life cycle (definition stage) in order
to avoid expensive changes at later stages of the project. For example,
project requirements for sewage project will be in accordance with the end user
specifications and design guides.
Requirements capture is the first step in the requirements management process. During that
stage, efforts are exerted to collect information about stakeholders’ requirements
either through meetings with their representatives, retrieving information from
previous similar projects, doing surveys, collecting latest specifications,
design guide lines and regulations. That is important in order to avoid
being surprised at the end of the project by one or more ignored requirements
that require very exhuasting changes to accommodate. For example, 15m deep
sewage pipeline is proposed while end users specification limit the maximum depth
to only 10 meters.
Requirements analysis / Evaluation is the second step in requirements management process. It
includes analysis and evaluation of the collected requirements according to
their value in the market, time required for their achievement (i.e. deadlines)
and the procedures that will be followed for their achievement. That process
is important as it allows narrowing down the list of requirements captured
during the capture stage. For example, deadline is determined for the completion
of the access roads to the sports city since Olympic Games will take place
there.
Requirements justification /
prioritisation is the key stage in the requirements
management process. It includes categorising the requirements to Must be available
(i.e. product cannot be delivered without them), Should be available (i.e.
important for project delivery, but can be temporarily compensated for), Could
be available (i.e. product can be released without them, and they will follow),
without (i.e. products shall go without them, since these are not required).
That prioritisation is important as it clarifies / gives understanding
to the flexibility in meeting the requirements. For example, new mobile
phone could be launched to market, and followed by the update of the software
once it is completed.
Requirements Documentation is the final stage in the requirements management process. During
this phase requirements are listed and agreed with stakeholders. PM will then clearly
identify project requirements in the PMP and will incorporate them to define
the scope of works. PM will get these approved by the project Sponsor, once
approved these will the baseline requirements and will not be further changed without
applying formal change request. That is important to secure the base
lines for the project and protect the project from scope creep. For example,
stakeholders changed the specifications during the middle stages of the project
and request incorporating the changes to the project which will have impact on
the cost and time for completing the works.
very good, no real comments