Functional and Non-Functional Requirements – Simply Put!

Functional and Non-functional Requirements Can Make or Break Your Project

Defining solution-level requirements (aka functional and non-functional requirements) is a core competency for anyone in an organization responsible for defining future Information Technology (IT) applications. In this book you will learn simple and repeatable techniques for extracting solution-level specifications from business and stakeholder requirements that are expressed in complete sentence form.

My co-author, Angela, and I have used these techniques on hundreds of IT projects around the globe and we know the value each provides. Using these approaches will improve your ability to identify and document requirements at the level of detail that solution providers (vendors or developers) need to deliver the right technology for their organization.

The presented techniques will work on any set of well-expressed requirement statements. However, they were specifically designed for and work best with requirement statements that follow the “Rules for Writing Effective Requirements” that we present in our book “How to Write Effective Requirements for IT – Simply Put!”.

Regardless of your job title or role, if you are involved in defining future business solutions, this book will help you communicate your business needs to solution providers. It will reduce the potential for misunderstandings that undermine IT’s ability to deliver the right technology for the business.

How to get the most out of this book?

To maximize the learning effect, you will have optional, online exercises to assess your understanding of each presented technique. Chapter titles prefaced with the phrase “Exercise” contain a link to online exercises with immediate feedback featuring our recommended resolution and the rationale behind it. These exercises are optional and they do not “test” your knowledge in the conventional sense. Their purpose is to demonstrate the use of the technique more real-life than our explanations can supply. You need Internet access to perform the exercises. We hope you enjoy them and that they make it easier for you to apply the techniques in real life.

Specifically, this eWorkbook will give you techniques to:

• Decompose Business and Stakeholder Requirement Statements to identify Functional and Non-Functional Requirements
• Give those responsible for designing, building, and/or buying the solution the kind of information they need to make the decisions that are right for the business
• Identify Informational, Performance, and Constraining Requirements from a list of Functional Requirements
• Document and manage Business, Stakeholder, Functional and Non-Functional Requirements
• Capture and clarify Business Rules and External Constraints that mandate limits to the delivered solution
• Develop measurable Solution Requirements that facilitate End-User Acceptance Testing

You can learn more business analysis techniques by visiting the Business Analysis Learning Store to see a wide selection of business analysis books, eCourses, virtual and face-to-face instructor-led training, as well as a selection of FREE Business Analysis training.

• Product Owners
• Business Analysts
• Requirements Engineers
• Business- and Customer-side Team Members
• Agile Team Members
• Subject Matter Experts (SME)
• Project Leaders and Managers
• Systems Analysts and Designers
• AND “anyone wearing the business analysis hat”, meaning anyone responsible for defining a future IT solution

• Preface
• Setting the Stage for Requirements Decomposition
• Discovering Functional and Informational Requirements
  • Capturing Functional Requirements
  • Exercise: Decomposing Requirements to Functions
  • Documenting Functions
  • Capturing Informational Requirements
  • Exercise: Discovering Informational Components
  • Attributes of Informational Requirements
    • Documenting Informational Components
    • Usability Requirements Define User Views
    • Defining Data Elements
    • Algorithms for Derivable Data
    • Data Element Accuracy
  • Exercise: Assessing Precision and Currency
  • Summary of Functional Requirements
• Capturing Non-Functional Solution Requirements
  • Performance Requirements
  • Exercise: Measurable Qualities
  • Common Performance Measures
  • Identifying Performance-Related Functions
  • Exercise: Discovering Performance-based Functions
  • Business Rules and External Factors
  • Discovering Constraining Requirements
• In Closing
  • Requirements Management Ideas
  • Process and Rule Review
  • Exercise: Final Exam
  • What Should You Do Next?