Gathering Bus. Requirements

The Psychology, Art, and Science of Gathering Business Requirements

If you’ve ever worked on a project that failed, then you’re not alone.

“PMI’s Pulse of the Profession” found that 44% of strategic initiatives are unsuccessful.
“Standish Chaos Reports” showed that 68% of software projects were unsuccessful.
When business executives were surveyed, over 25% attributed project failures to incomplete requirements and lack of user involvement.
98% of large IT projects were not successful.

Gathering business requirements is the litmus test for a project’s success. Success is defined as being on time, within scope, and at or below budget. If the requirements are wrong or incomplete, the project will be unsuccessful.

Unfortunately, while the methodologies work “on paper” and “in theory,” they generally fail once people are added to the mix. This seminar focuses on the psychology, art, and science of gathering business requirements. You’ll learn

The learning (and teaching) concepts to educate team members
Historical overview of IT projects and methodologies
The components of the project equation
The art of managing stakeholders
How to create and position your team members to obtain the business requirements
Encourage your internal/external clients to read the requirements
Techniques to verify the requirements
How to document and present the requirements using simple tools
Hands-on, case study

This seminar is based on over twenty-five years of first-hand, project management experiences. This includes developing custom software applications, as well as upgrading and implementing packaged applications on high profile, multi-million dollar, and/or international projects. The projects were for small businesses, Fortune 500 companies, quasi-governmental, and governmental agencies. Some of the applications included

Financial (GL, AR, AP, cash management, budget, tax, financial reporting)
Manufacturing (supply chain, BOM, shipping logistics, procurement, packaging, WIP, receiving, quality)
Sales (order entry, credit verification, credit/debit card processing, customer management, POS, RMA)
Human Resources (payroll, compensation, recruiting, payroll taxes, job/position management)
Legal (document management)
Governmental entities (city, educational, federal, airport, law enforcement, fee collections, encumbrance accounting, toll tag, student registration, financial aid)

Each situation represented learning experiences that we’ll share during the seminar.