Writing and Managing Requirements Documents

Complete Title: Writing and Managing Requirements Documents - Creating the Acceptable, Approvable Requirements Document

Once a business analyst has completed the information gathering and analysis to produce the solution to a business problem, the results must be documented for all stakeholders to see and understand.  This course will enhance the skill set needed for writing and managing the complex readership that business analysts interact with on a day-to-day basis.

Who Should Attend 

It is important for you to attend if you: 

• Work as a business analyst 
• Define and manage requirements through the development life cycle
• Prepare requirements documents for development

Performance Focus 

• Business analysis 
• Defining solutions to business problems
• Selecting the audience to write to 
• Requirements writing guidelines 
• Writing clear, precise, unambiguous requirements 
• Managing the requirements document through the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

Prerequisites: No prerequisites. This course is suitable for both novices and experienced people who need to produce requirements documents for development.

Course Level: Novice/Advanced

What You Will Learn 

Upon completion, participants will be able to:

• Write an understood requirements document that is approvable and acceptable 
• Validate a requirements document 
• Manage the changes to requirements documents through the SDLC

Course Overview 

Foundation Concepts

• The role of the business analyst
• An introduction to the BABOK® Guide
• The business analyst and the product/project life cycle
• The requirements documentation process

Planning for Effective Requirements Documentation

• Overview of requirements planning 
• Planning for validation
• Planning for verification: well-formed criteria 
• Planning for verification: understood and usable criteria 

Writing Effective Requirements Documents

• Overview of writing requirements documents
• Using a standard structure / template
• Applying formatting techniques
• Meeting the challenge of writing non-functional requirements

Baselining Requirements Documents

• Overview of the requirements baseline process
• Validation
• Verification
• Approval

Managing Requirements Change through the Product Life Cycle

• Overview of requirements change management
• Establishing a formal change management process
• Tracing requirements through design and development (build, test, and implementation)
• Following through to post-implementation (transition and early production)

This course is part of IIL's Business Analysis Certificate Program (BACP), a program designed to help prepare individuals pass the IIBA™ Certification exam to become a Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP™).  

The Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK®) is a useful accompaniment to this course. Prior to taking the course we recommend that you download a copy of this book