Requirements Management and Use Cases

This course is an introduction to management of requirements in software projects. It starts by introducing the concepts and ideal for someone who is going to be involved in the requirements management phase of a software project. Hands on exercises allow the students to apply the principles learned throughout the course.

Audience

This course is intended for everyone involved in the requirements gathering aspect of a software project. This includes System and Business Analysts, Managers, Information Developers, Software Designers, QA Professionals, and Sales and Marketing.

Prerequisites

No prerequisites are needed for this course.

Course duration

2 Days

Topics

Introduction to Requirements Management

Problem Analysis and Understanding user needs

Use Cases

Use Case formats

Scope Management

Refinement of System Definition

Traceability to guarantee that the right system is being built

Course outline

1.Introduction

Topics
What is a requirement?
Types of requirements
Important requirement concepts
Requirement levels
Requirement Categories
What is requirements management?
The cost of requirement errors
The game plan towards building quality software
Development Process
The Rational Unified Process
Inception Phase
Example of Functional Requirements
Example of Non-Functional Requirements
Elaboration Phase
Example of a Use Case Diagram
Construction Phase
Software Development Life Cycle with the RUP
Requirement Gathering Roadmap
The roadmap
Step 1 – Analyze the problem
Step 2 – Understand User Needs
Step 3 – Define the system
Step 4 – Manage the scope
Step 5 – Refine the system definition
Step 6 – Manage changing requirements

2. Problem Analysis and Understanding User Needs

Topics
What we plan to accomplish
Problem Analysis Steps
Analysis Steps
Analysis Steps
Stakeholders
Definition of Actors
Bring out the requirements
Interviewing
Step A: Interview every stakeholder
Step B: Requirements Workshop
Requirements Workshop
Organizing requirement workshop
Brainstorming
Brainstorming- Idea reduction
Storyboarding
Use Cases
Prototyping
Step C: Identify Constraints
Example - Given scenario
Example (cont’d)
Registration system – Problem statement
Registration system – Problem statement(cont’d)
List the stakeholders and users in the scenario
List the actors
Identify the constraints in the scenario
Creating a constraint list

3. Vision Document & Managing scope

Topics
Topics - cont’d
Vision document - Objectives
Vision document - Scope
Vision document - References
Vision document - Positioning
Vision document - Positioning (cont’d)
Vision document - User Description
Vision document - Product Overview
Vision document - Feature Attributes
Vision document - Product Features
Vision document - Constraints
Vision document - Quality Ranges
Vision document - Precedence and Priority
Vision document - Other Product Requirements
Vision document - Documentation Requirements
Example of Vision document
Managing Scope
Define a baseline
Example of itemizing list of features requirements
Setting priorities
Example - Setting priorities
Assessing effort
Example - Assessing effort
Adding the risk element
Example - risk element
Get customer agreement on scope
Use iterative development process
Plan Change Request (PCR)

4. Use Case Concepts

Topics
Use-Case Modeling
Use case modeling steps
What are Use Cases?
Benefits of Use Cases
Use Cases
An Example requirement
Identifying the actors involved in this requirement
Write the use case for the above scenario
Use case for the above scenario (contd)
Classifying Use Cases
A business use case
Example of business use case (contn’d)
Levels of use cases
Examples of Summary level use cases
Example of User goal level use cases
Examples of Sub function use cases
For use case modeling
Use cases are only one part
The Problem with Requirements Specifications
Relationship Between Use Cases and Requirements
Who are interested in use cases?
An use case is a collection of scenarios
To Use Case or not to …
General Principles
Scenarios
Primary Scenarios
Example of ATM use case
Use Case interactions
Finding Actors
Finding Actors - continued
Documenting Actors
Where are the actors documented?
Example - Actor profile table
The Actor-Profile table for the course registration system:
Actor-profile table – contd

5. Use Case Modeling – Use cases and supporting documents

Topics
Basic building blocks
Basic Building Blocks of an Use Case
Supporting documents
Conceptual model
Domain Model
Supplementary Specification
Goal List
More use cases
Documenting use cases
Use Case Diagrams
Scope
The scenario we have been working on
Identify the requirements that must be addressed by the system:
Identify the use cases :
Example - use case model
Example - use case model
Example - use case model for Registration system
Lists used to manage scope – In/out list for the above example
Lists used to manage scope – Actor/goal list for the above example
Example - Use Case Specification
Example - Use Case Specification (Contn’d)

6. Writing Use Cases

Topics
Actor Personalities
Goal Levels
Preconditions and Triggers
Example of Preconditions
Guidelines for writing main success scenario
Extensions
Use case linkages
Sub Use Cases
Example - Sub use cases with include & extend relations
Quality Measures for Use Cases
More Quality Measures
Who should write use cases?
Fully Described Use Cases
How much detail?
Completeness & Complexity

7. Use Case Formats

Topics
Formats to choose from
Brief Description Format
Bulleted Outline Format
Conversational Format
When to choose a format
Tools
CASE tools
Reviewing Use Cases
Style
Style Guides
“Do's and don'ts" to consider when describing an use case
“Do's and don'ts" to consider when describing an use case

8. Miscellaneous Topics

Topics
Describing UI Wizards
Make sure that the system is included
Make sure that the user is included
Wrong goal levels
Make the use case easy to read
Collect multiple pieces of data
Do not forget the failure scenarios
Stay away from internal system details
Preconditions should be established by the system
Check the following regarding conditions and preconditions
CRUD Use Cases
Contain the explosion
Example - CRUD Use Case Specification
Example - CRUD Use Case Specification (cont’d)

9. Supplementary Specifications

Topics
What is supplementary specifications
Example of supplementary specifications
Example of supplementary specifications (cont’d)
Brief outline
Functionality
List Functional requirements:
Non-functional requirements
List of non-functional requirements
Usability
Usability
Reliability
List Reliability requirements:
Performance
Performance
Supportability
Design Constraints
Practical Example of supplementary specifications
Purpose
Scope
References
Functionality - Course Registration System
Usability - Course Registration System
Reliability - Course Registration System
Performance - Course Registration System
Performance (cont’d)
Supportability - Course Registration System
Supportability (cont’d)
Design Constraints
Design Constraint - Course Registration System
Design Constraint (cont’d)

Contact Information
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