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1. Below is a PM / BA Writing Assignment that we would like for you to complete by end of day on Tuesday 8/18:
Scenario:
You are a business analyst on a project to custom build a software system to support a hotel’s reception, in
particular the tasks of booking rooms, checking in, checking out, changing rooms for a customer who has
already checked in, and recording services such as breakfasts on a guest’s bill. To do this, the system should
record data about guests, rooms, and services.
Exercise 1.
Write 10 functional requirements for this system, based on your experience and knowledge with hotels.
I have compiled a list of functional requirementsper the scenario described above and created a
spreadsheet, ICF_Func_vDraft.xlsx. Spreadsheets provide the ability to transform conversation into
moveable partsof a whole, both technically and visually. These interfacing toolsprovide
interoperability and readability. They can also be imported into or exported out of BPM tools, such as,
IBM Requisite Pro, JIRA, Infragistics, Visual-Paradigm.
Exercise 2.
Describe your approach to facilitating JAD sessions with hotel staff.
The purposes of the JADs are to:
1. Understand their current business process
2. Solicit ideas for their desired business process
3. Document any functional and non-functional requirements for the new system from the end-user’s
perspective.
As you have already mentioned, JAD sessions are used to understand and develop business
processes to produce viable business requirementsthat lead to a successful system.
There are a myriad of BusinessProcessManagement (BPM) toolsand Project Management
methodologies available that could assist in this process.
I will give a brief synopsis of appropriate methodsthat may be applied to this particular scenario.
PLAN and SCHEDULE.
A sprint planning meeting and/or scrum daily meetingsare nothing more than “lean” JAD sessions.
ROLES and RESPONSIBILITIES.
There isa team of three to five individuals who actively participate in these sessions.
The Scrum Leader providesthe appropriate oversight in facilitating productive dialogue amongst the
group on a continual basisand whose primary responsibility isto manage impediments, “show
stoppers”.
The Product Owner providesdaily oversight of the team managing the Product Backlog List and
prioritizing itemsin that list. They have veto power when determining the statusand/or priority of an
item.
The Team consists of other cross functional memberssuch asdevelopers, power users, line of
business representatives. These individualsare instrumental in figuring out the “HOW” of the system.

2. To understand their current businessprocess, the team may do one or more of the following:
 There are many UML templatesthat may be used as starting pointsto model current
processes.
 Define actorsof a particular processand associate the appropriate user stories to each of
those actors.
 Define Use Caseswhich include but may not be limited to steps, sub-processes, interfaces,
dependencies, and risks.
To solicit ideasfor their desired businessprocess, the team may do one or more of the following:
 Given the fact that we do not have availability of guest/end user to serve on the project team,
surveys may be used to collect necessary data related to customer satisfaction.
 The membersof the team are led through a myriad of sessions that may include any of the
following:
o Role Play
o What If Scenarios
o SeriousPlay
o White-boarding
o Wire framing
o Prototyping
To document any functional and non-functional requirementsfor the new system from the end-user’s
perspective, the production owner or team doesone or more of the following:
 The product owner is responsible fortransposingthat informationinto a designated
repositorysuch as a spreadsheetor system.
Continual Improvement.
The aforementionedprocesses/methodswouldresultintangible,incremental changes that may
provide added value to the customer.