SPOTLIGHT ON
Supplemental Requirements BY BA R BA R A ST ROO P E , B U S I N E S S A N A LYST, AC X I O M
n most projects, some needs/constraints behavior or functionality of the solution. exist that must be incorporated into the See box for examples. software solution, about which the client How do I recognize a supplemental isn’t likely to ask or be aware. If you’ve ever requirement? You may want to ask yourself been part of a large or complex software the following questions: development project, you may have • Is it a requirement that must be part of struggled with these types of requirements. the solution, but the client isn’t likely to Where should they be stored? Should they ask for? be shared with the client? And, wouldn’t it • Does this requirement need to be be great if these requirements could documented and traced throughout the magically make their way into the solution project? build? If you answered yes to this last question, you may be Supplemental Requirement Examples wrestling with what has • Audits commonly been called • Globalization and localization supplemental requirements. • Legal or regulatory issues When building a software
I
solution, a Business Analyst will elicit requirements from a client – either from clients outside of your company or from other groups within your company. In many cases the solution will also be affected by requirements that originate from sources other than the client. Often these supplemental requirements are overlooked because they are not explicitly stated by the client.
• Hardware and software interfaces • Project glossaries • Operational • Performance requirements • Privacy requirements • Quality requirements • Failure and disaster recovery • Maintainability • Scalability • Safety • Security
• Training What is a Supplemental Requirement? • Should this A supplemental requirement is a requirement be communicated to your requirement that doesn’t directly support a client for approval? particular function, but that the software solution must nevertheless meet. In other How should Supplemental words, even if these requirements are Requirements be stored? initially hidden to your client, they are Often supplemental requirements will be necessary for the solution or business. reusable across different projects. For Version 1.6 of the IIBA Business Analysis example, security requirements at your Body of Knowledge (BABOKTM) refers to these as Quality of Service Requirements company or industry are likely to be defined as requirements that capture similar no matter what the project’s conditions that do not directly relate to the context. Consider convening a group of
subject matter experts to write these types of supplemental requirements. If you use a requirements management tool, you should add these reusable, supplemental requirements to your project template so they will be pre-populated with the creation of each new project. If you don’t use a requirements management tool, create a master document that includes all of these supplemental requirements and store it somewhere that is accessible by your Business Analyst community. For companies or projects with a lot of supplemental requirements, designate an owner to maintain and update these requirements at certain intervals. If your company’s security team updates its policies on a quarterly basis, then make sure a security representative updates the supplemental security requirements appropriately. Should the client approve Supplemental Requirements? In most cases, your requirements elicitation process will create a document that is sometimes referred to as a Software Requirements Specification (SRS). This document acts as a contract between the group building the solution and the client. Supplemental requirements should be handled as any other sort of requirement is handled. They should be included in the SRS and should go through the same approval or sign-off process as all other requirements. If you can gather, store, communicate, and manage these supplemental requirements, your solution will no doubt profit from it. I
the bridge l Fall 2006 10