Friday, June 13, 2008

System Requriements

It used to be easy when developing system requirements to identify who signs off. It was the guy that handed you money and said, 'build me one of these'. Many corporations are deploying commercially available software applications (COTS) as a general service, such as Sharepoint, Tomoye, LiveLink, etc. If the corporation is big, then who signs off? It's really important to get this established early on in the requirements development process - everyone seems to want to sign off!

Who is paying the bill? They always have to sign off! But this isn't always easy. Councils and steering committees who usually fund these kinds of efforts are typically the holders of the general vision and won't be able to sign off on specifics.

What is the scope of the work? If the people paying the bill say stand it up as-is, is there budget to get wider adoption? Was that part of the original estimate? You may have to be firm on this and it won't be easy, cause, who doesn't want to get wider input on requirements?

If the budget for the scope of work allows, a no brainer is getting together a steering committe of representatives from the different organizations that will be impacted.

Getting sign off from those who manage the corporation IT security is important. With the heavy emphasis on security these days, they are critical path.

Who is managing the product/service road map? They will need to sign off.

The bottom line is: know the budgeted scope of the activity and identify stakeholders early. Let them know that they will be expected to sign off on requirements.

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