Iiba babok Categories

The IIBA BABOK committee discussed categories of requirements for hours, each member bringing his or her own system to the group. Although there was general agreement on most topics, this one was not easily resolved. In the end, the group decided that there is not one right system that will work for all organizations. All of the committee members agreed that any logical system will work if used properly. The BABOK lists a few example categories as common practices: business requirements, stakeholder requirements, solution requirements (functional and non-functional requirements), and implementation or transition requirements. (The latest version of the IIBA BABOK definition of each is available at www.iiba.org.)

A Recommended Categorization System

If you are just developing a categorization system, it is recommended that you use three main categories to organize requirements: business, functional, and technical. An additional section of requirements called non-functional will support the functional category. These categories are fairly common and are used by many organizations. Organizations are most successful when they initially implement a simple system with a small number of categories to get the people in the organization used to the categorization idea.

Business Requirements

Business requirements are the detailed descriptions of information, business activities, business rules, and external interactions needed to accomplish the business mission. They are described using business terminology and presented in formats that are easy for business people to review.

Business requirements address business problems, needs, and goals independent of how they might be solved and accomplished. Business requirements include the project initiation components (statement of purpose, objectives, risks, etc., discussed in Chapter 3) and the core components of data, process, and business rules. These components are described using business terminology and together comprise a picture of the business which may also be referred to as the business model. Business requirements should be understood in detail. A common misconception is that business requirements are high level only. This view causes analysts to miss critical business needs. These requirements are elicited and analyzed to gain a complete understanding of the business in order to recommend effective solutions. If the business is not understood—in detail, solution recommendations may be inappropriate and not solve the business problem.

Business requirements do not describe how work is done but rather what work is accomplished. This what vs. how difference is very important. Business requirements are elicited, analyzed, and documented by business analysis professionals. BAs must be able to differentiate between a business need (what) and a procedural or software function (how).

To understand the difference between a what and a how, look at a business process like sell product. This process is a business requirement because it is a core business need (refer to the section on what a business process is in Chapter 4) and is named to describe the business goal without indicating how the goal is accomplished. There could be many ways that this business process can be performed. Once a product is sold in a store with a customer and salesclerk talking face to face, the customer could pay for the product with cash, a check, or a credit card. The clerk could record the sale in a ledger book, on a cash register, or with a scanning machine. The customer could carry the product out of the store or request that it be delivered. Another way the business process could be accomplished is the product could be sold via the Internet. A customer in a remote location could select the product from an online catalog, pay through an online service, and request shipping. The “salesclerk” in this case may be a fulfillment worker who boxes the product and gives it to the shipper. If the product can be transferred electronically, another possible sale could be a download to the customer.

All of these possible procedures support the core business process sell product. Business requirements are those core, fundamental components of a business that don’t change much over time. They are the most important requirements because all procedures, software, solutions, etc. should support the core business requirements. Identifying the true fundamental business needs allows many possibilities for delivery or distribution. These possibilities are the hows or functional requirements.