Presented at SharePoint Saturday Atlanta May 7, 2011

1. How to Best Develop
Requirements for
SharePoint Projects
Dux Raymond Sy, PMP
Watch Recording http://vimeo.com/23587778

2. What Does This Mean?
8 5 4 9 1 7 6 3 2 0
Twitter: @meetdux #spsatl

3. What Does This Mean?
SharePoint
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4. Presentation Objectives
¡ In this presentation, you will learn the best practices in
developing requirements for SharePoint projects
¡ In addition, you will be able to identify:
¡ Why having a well defined business case is necessary to
effectively initiate requirements gathering
¡ The key components of requirements gathering process
¡ Why requirements traceability is paramount in defining
ROI in SharePoint projects
Twitter: @meetdux #spsatl

5. Dux Raymond Sy, PMP, MVP
¡ Managing Partner, Innovative-e, Inc.
¡ SharePoint Server MVP
¡ Author, “SharePoint for Project
Management” by O’Reilly Media
¡ For more information, connect with Dux
¡ E-Mail: dux.sy@innovative-e.com
¡ Twitter: twitter.com/meetdux
¡ LinkedIn: meetdux.com/li
¡ Blog: meetdux.com
Twitter: @meetdux #spsatl

6. Agenda
¡ What are Requirements?
¡ Eliciting is Not the Same as Gathering
¡ Analysis Doesn’t Lead to Paralysis
¡ Too Legit to Quit?
¡ Put it on Paper
¡ Q & A
Twitter: @meetdux #spsatl

7. Why are Requirements So Difficult?
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8. Twitter: @meetdux #spsatl

9. What is a Requirement?
¡ A requirement is something wanted or needed
¡ Formally documented and written statements
¡ Capabilities needed to solve a problem
¡ Conditions of a delivered system, services, product, or process
¡ Constraints on the system, service, product, or process
¡ Requirements are not
¡ Verbal, informal statements or conversations in the hallways
¡ Solutions that state how to solve the problem or meet the objectives
¡ Characteristics of other systems, services, products, or processes
¡ Project budgets, plans, or implementation details
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10. What’s So Special About SharePoint?
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11. Requirements Focus
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12. Example: Defining Business Need is a MUST
¡ In a recent study, information workers today
spend 45 mins/day searching for information
¡ In a team of 20 people, that’s 900 mins/day
¡ In 3 months, that’s 54000 mins or about 37 person
days
¡ How much does this cost in time & money?
¡ What if search productivity can be increased by
15%?
¡ That’s gaining 7 mins back from the 45 mins lost
Twitter: @meetdux #spsatl

13. Example: Mapping Requirements
¡ Business requirements
¡ SharePoint shall increase s earch productivity by 15
percent
¡ User requirements
¡ The user shall be able to retrieve search results within five
seconds of submitting a search request that can support
a maximum of 10,000 simultaneous search requests
¡ System requirements
¡ SharePoint server shall have two web front ends and a
dedicated SQL Server which has at least dual processors
Twitter: @meetdux #spsatl

14. How Do You Develop Requirements?
¡ Requirements development is iterative
¡ Business
¡ User
¡ System
¡ Key Steps
1. Requirements Elicitation
2. Analyzing Requirements
3. Validating Requirements
4. Documenting Requirements
Twitter: @meetdux #spsatl

15. Agenda
¡ What are Requirements?
¡ Eliciting is Not the Same as Gathering
¡ Analysis Doesn’t Lead to Paralysis
¡ Too Legit to Quit?
¡ Put it on Paper
¡ Q & A
Twitter: @meetdux #spsatl

16. What is Requirements Elicitation?
¡ Elicitation: gathering and understanding what
stakeholders and users need
¡ Done at both an organizational (business) and a more detailed
user level
¡ Elicitation is a human-based activity
¡ Determine requirements sources
¡ Decide how to gather information
¡ Involves research, reading, talking, and observing
¡ Business-level context and framework
¡ How the end users do their jobs
¡ What would help them do their jobs better
¡ Within the scope of our system, product, or process
Twitter: @meetdux #spsatl

17. Elicitation Process
1. What do I need to know?
2. Where do I get this information?
3. Get the information
4. Organize what you know
5. Do I have enough information?
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18. Goal is to Build a SharePoint Solution
¡ How would you like to drive a Lamborghini Diablo?
¡ BTW, you just learned how to ride a bike yesterday
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19. Agenda
¡ What are Requirements?
¡ Eliciting is Not the Same as Gathering
¡ Analysis Doesn’t Lead to Paralysis
¡ Too Legit to Quit?
¡ Put it on Paper
¡ Q & A
Twitter: @meetdux #spsatl

20. What is Requirements Analysis?
¡ Requirements analysis takes elicited information and
makes sense of it
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21. Analysis Process
1. Profile Users
2. Model stated requirements
3. Gap analysis
4. Identify the real requirements
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22. Example: Process Flow Diagram
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23. Agenda
¡ What are Requirements?
¡ Eliciting is Not the Same as Gathering
¡ Analysis Doesn’t Lead to Paralysis
¡ Too Legit to Quit?
¡ Put it on Paper
¡ Q & A
Twitter: @meetdux #spsatl

24. What is Requirements Validation?
¡ Requirements validation allows the user(s) to confirm and
prioritize the real requirements
¡ Essential to identify what it will take to deploy SharePoint
¡ Resources
¡ Time
¡ Skillsets
Twitter: @meetdux #spsatl

25. Example: Prioritizing SharePoint Features
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26. Agenda
¡ What are Requirements?
¡ Eliciting is Not the Same as Gathering
¡ Analysis Doesn’t Lead to Paralysis
¡ Too Legit to Quit?
¡ Put it on Paper
¡ Q & A
Twitter: @meetdux #spsatl

27. Generate a Requirements Document
¡ Formally communicates
¡ Overall quantitative and qualitative characteristics
¡ Functionality of the desired end result or outcome
¡ Should include
¡ Requirement Statements
¡ Process Diagrams
¡ Traceability Matrix
Twitter: @meetdux #spsatl

28. What Makes a Great Requirement?
Content + Structure = Readability
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29. Writing Requirement Statements
¡ <Subject> shall be able to <capability> within <criterion>
¡ <Subject> shall be able to <capability>
¡ Where criterion is assumed to be 100 percent of the
stated capability
Twitter: @meetdux #spsatl

30. Example: Defining SharePoint Requirements
¡ Business requirements
¡ SharePoint shall increase user productivity by 15 percent
¡ User requirements
¡ The user shall be able to retrieve search results within five
seconds of submitting a search request that can support
a maximum of 10,000 simultaneous search requests
¡ System requirements
¡ SharePoint server shall have two web front ends and a
dedicated SQL Server which has at least dual processors
Twitter: @meetdux #spsatl

31. Example: Requirements Document
Twitter: @meetdux #spsatl

32. Agenda
¡ What are Requirements?
¡ Eliciting is Not the Same as Gathering
¡ Analysis Doesn’t Lead to Paralysis
¡ Too Legit to Quit?
¡ Put it on Paper
¡ Q & A
Twitter: @meetdux #spsatl

33. Resources
¡ Article: How to Prioritize Business Needs Before Implementing
SharePoint http://bit.ly/8sCiVR
¡ Article: How to Define Measurable and Traceable
Requirements for SharePoint Projects http://bit.ly/9AzTDy
¡ Article: Project Management Resources for SharePoint 2010
Projects http://bit.ly/cBYl7X
¡ Download: Innovative-e Requirements Development Sample
Templates http://www.meetdux.com/dl/req4sp.zip
Twitter: @meetdux #spsatl

34. Questions?
E-Mail: dux.sy@innovative-e.com
LinkedIn: meetdux.com/li
Blog: meetdux.com
Twitter: twitter.com/meetdux
How did you like the presentation?
http://meetdux.com/feedback
Twitter: @meetdux #spsatl

35. Thank You!