Non-Functional Requirements

Bite sized training sessions:

Objectives
To understand
What non-functional requirements are When they can be defined How they can be defined

To be able to
Define non-functional requirements

What are non-functional requirements?

They are requirements

They are not functional, data or process requirements

IIBA Business Analysis Body Of Knowledge (BABOK) v1.6 suggests "Quality of service requirements [] are also known as non-functional requirements

ISEB book on Business Analysis suggests Non-Functional Requirements are concerned with performance and level of operation of the system
Sad but true: Business Analysis profession which specialises in analysis and definition has no (and can have no) definition for a set of requirements named on the basis of what they are not! Also sad but true: we do need to define requirements which are not functional or data or process requirements

Chain Of Reasoning:

Stakeholders

Stakeholders

Drivers

Drivers

Drivers

Drivers

Objectives

Objectives Objectives Objectives Objectives

Change Requirements

Change Requirements

Change Requirements

Change Requirements

Change Requirements

Change Requirements must be assumed to be wrong until they are proved to be right

 Change requirements can be for (amongst others)

Processes Organisation units Locations Channel Data Applications Technologies Non-functionals oh and the valid intersections!!!

Scope of analysis of change requirements

Requirements Scope Example

We need to change how we take orders (process) by the tele-orders team (organisation unit) at our Leeds contact centre (location) by phone or email (channel) to capture alternate delivery addresses (data) on the Chordiant system (application) running on the intranet (technology) and make it available 24/7/365 (non-functional).

How to forge links in the Chain Of Reasoning

Driver
Addressed as measured by

Problem / opportunity analysis

SMART objectives

Project Objective
Delivered by

Business Functional Non-functional

Change Requirement
Enforces

high level mid level

Process model Process specification Non-functional specifications Data model Attribute specification

Business Rule

low level

EXAMPLE way of documenting

Problem / opportunity analysis

Driver
Addressed as measured by

SMART objectives

Project Objective
Delivered by

Business Functional Non-functional

Change Requirement

high level mid level

No 1 2

EXAMPLE High Level Non Functional Requirement Training will accommodate 40 delegates over 5 training sessions Training support will be able to process up to 5 queries at any one time

Maps To Objectives 1,2,3,4,5 1,2,4,5

EXAMPLE way of documenting

Problem / opportunity analysis

Driver
Addressed as measured by

SMART objectives

Project Objective
Delivered by

Business Functional Non-functional

Change Requirement
Enforces

high level mid level

Process model Process specification Non-functional specifications Data model Attribute specification

Business Rule

low level

EXAMPLE PROCESS RULES

A BA can request one of 4 types of support: 1. Phone or email based query about a specific point 2. Informal review of a project deliverable 3. Formal review of full set of project deliverables 4. Facilitated workshop of how to apply analysis to a specific project

Process execution rules

1. In the case of phone or email query about a specific point the BA poses the question and the training provider will provide guidance for how the technicalities of Business Analysis apply to the problem Informal reviews of project deliverables will be done by email and will only discuss the technicalities of Business Analysis in relation to the document Formal reviews will involve the BA sending the full set of Analysis deliverables to the training provider who will critique them from a technical perspective and then deliver the feedback in a one-to-one structured feedback session on the client site Facilitated workshops will be initiated by the BA - the training provider will supply workshop agenda and prerequisites which the BA will use to organise the workshop. The training provider will then facilitate the workshop for the project. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Who is interacts with process Where they are Availability of process Volumetrics Performance of process Security & Authorisation levels

Time to start Training course Conduct Training

BA requests support Provide BA support

Analysis Phase Of Project concludes

Non-functional Rules
Monitor Analysis quality

Process dependency rules

EXAMPLE DATA RULES Non-Functional Rules

1. 2. 3. Who is allowed access to the data? How long must this data be kept? How many instances of it must be supported?

Data content rules

Course.Start Date Definition: the date/time the course is scheduled to start Data type: Numeric Size: 12 Domain: Datetime Data rules: Format is DD/MM/YYYY HH:MM When created must be in the future Cannot be a Saturday or Sunday or Bank Holiday

Course

Attributes 1. Name 2. Start Date 3. Course duration Attributes 1. Name 2. Description

Attends

Attributes 1. Name 2. Contact details

Delegate

receives

Support Type

Supplies

Analysis Deliverable

Attributes Data 1. Name 2. Content 3. Review feedback

relationship rules

Exercise
You are business analysts working in re-Evolution Coffee Houses Document some high level non functional requirements Document some process non-functional requirements Document some data non-functional requirements Time: 20 minutes Deliverable: flipchart The business are available to answer any questions If you need to make any assumptions, document them

Questions?