Bite sized training sessions:

Non-Functional Requirements

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

Stakeholders

Drivers

Objectives Objectives Objectives Objectives Objectives

Drivers Drivers Drivers

ChangeRequirements

ChangeRequirements

ChangeRequirements

ChangeRequirements

ChangeRequirements

Chain Of Reasoning:

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

Stakeholders

Scope of analysis of change requirements

• Change requirements can be for (amongst others)– Processes– Organisation units– Locations– Channel– Data – Applications– Technologies– Non-functionals…oh – and the valid intersections!!!

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

Problem / opportunity analysis

SMART objectives

Business…Functional…

Non-functional…

…high level…mid level

Process modelProcess specification

Non-functional specificationsData model

Attribute specification

…low level

Driver

ProjectObjective

ChangeRequirement

Business Rule

Addressed asmeasured by

Delivered by

Enforces

EXAMPLE way of documenting…

Problem / opportunity analysis

SMART objectives

Business…Functional…

Non-functional…

…high level…mid level

Driver

ProjectObjective

ChangeRequirement

Addressed asmeasured by

Delivered by

No EXAMPLE

High Level Non Functional Requirement

Maps To Objectives

1 Training will accommodate 40 delegates over 5 training sessions 1,2,3,4,5

2 Training support will be able to process up to 5 queries at any one time 1,2,4,5

EXAMPLE way of documenting…

Problem / opportunity analysis

SMART objectives

Business…Functional…

Non-functional…

…high level…mid level

Process modelProcess specification

Non-functional specificationsData model

Attribute specification

…low level

Driver

ProjectObjective

ChangeRequirement

Business Rule

Addressed asmeasured by

Delivered by

Enforces

EXAMPLE PROCESS RULES

ConductTraining

Time to startTraining course

ProvideBA support

MonitorAnalysis

quality

BA requestssupport

Analysis Phase Of Projectconcludes

A BA can request one of 4 types of support:1. Phone or email based query about a specific point2. Informal review of a project deliverable3. Formal review of full set of project deliverables4. Facilitated workshop of how to apply analysis to a specific project

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 problemInformal reviews of project deliverables will be done by email and will only discuss the technicalities of Business Analysis in relation

to the documentFormal 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 siteFacilitated 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.

Process execution rules

Process dependency rules

1. Who is interacts with process2. Where they are3. Availability of process4. Volumetrics5. Performance of process6. Security & Authorisation levels

Non-functional Rules

Course

Delegate

AnalysisDeliverable

Attends

Supplies

EXAMPLE DATA RULES

Support Type

Data relationship rules

receives

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

Non-Functional Rules

Attributes1. Name 2. Start Date3. Course duration

Attributes1. Name 2. Contact details

Attributes1. Name 2. Content3. Review feedback

Attributes1. Name 2. Description

Course.Start DateDefinition: the date/time the course is scheduled to startData type: NumericSize: 12Domain: DatetimeData rules: • Format is DD/MM/YYYY HH:MM• When created must be in the future• Cannot be a Saturday or Sunday or Bank Holiday

Data content 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?