Requirements Engineering

The ISEB Certificate in Requirements Engineering

Course contents:

Course benefits

Who should attend

Prerequisites

What you will learn

What you will cover

How you will learn

Duration and availability

Course of the month

Course directory

Public schedule and prices

Terms of business

Course benefits:

This course prepares candidates to sit the examination for the Certificate in Requirements Engineering.

This certificate is concerned with the Requirements Engineering approach to requirements definition. Its focus is on using a systematic approach to eliciting, analysing, validating, documenting and managing requirements.

Candidates are required to be able to understand and explain the Requirements Engineering approach and to adopt relevant techniques at all stages of this approach. The syllabus requires that the candidate should be able to describe the following aspects of the approach:

• The structure (for example, phases and connections between phases).
• The activities (for example, the tasks and possible techniques).

Candidates are required to understand a range of Requirements Elicitation techniques. For each technique, the candidate should be able to:

• Describe the technique.
• Interpret and develop any documentation produced when using the technique.

Candidates are also required to appreciate the importance of modelling techniques in Requirements Analysis. Two modelling techniques are prescribed in the syllabus: candidates must be able to interpret a data model and are required to be able to develop a process/function model.

Who should attend:

This course is aimed at Business Analysts who wish to gain the ISEB Certificate in Requirements Engineering. Systems analysts and business users will also benefit from attending the course.

Prerequisites:

There are no specific pre-requisites for entry to the examination, however candidates should be suitably prepared and possess the appropriate skills and knowledge to fulfil the objectives.

What you will learn:

Holders of the ISEB Certificate in Requirements Engineering should be able to:

• Describe the roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders in the requirements engineering process.
• Demonstrate the application of a range requirements elicitation techniques.
• Explain the use of requirements elicitation techniques and the relevance of the techniques to given situations.
• Document and prioritise user requirements for an information system.
• Identify problems with requirements and explain how requirements documentation may be improved.
• Create a process/function model of requirements for an information system.
• Interpret a model of the data requirements for an information system.
• Explain the importance of linking project objectives and requirements to the Business Case.
• Describe the principles of Requirements Management and explain the importance of managing requirements.
• Describe the use of CASE tools to support Requirements Engineering.
• Explain the principles of Requirements Validation and define an approach to validating requirements.

What you will cover:

1. Lifecycle for business change

1.1 Business plans and objectives

2. Nature and problems of Requirements

3. Hierarchy of Requirements

3.1 The Business rationale - Terms of Reference/Project Initiation Document (PID)
3.2 Functional Requirements/Non-functional requirements
3.3 General/Technical Requirements - relationship with the Business Case
3.4 Service Level Requirements

4. Stakeholders in the Requirements process

4.1 Project stakeholders - Project Manager, Business Analyst, Developer
4.2 Business stakeholders - Project Sponsor, Domain expert, End users and managers
4.3 External stakeholders - Customers, Regulators, Suppliers

5. Requirements Elicitation

5.1 Knowledge types - Tacit and Non-tacit
5.2 Elicitation techniques:

Interviews
Workshops
Observation: - Formal/informal, Shadowing, Ethnographic study
Prototyping
Scenarios
Document Analysis
Special Purpose records
Questionnaires

6. Use of models in requirements engineering

6.1 Developing a process/functional model
6.2 Read a static (data) model

7. Documenting the requirements

7.1 Requirements Catalogue:

Identifier
Description
Acceptance criteria
Source/Owner
Rationale/Benefits
Non-functional requirements
Priority
Related requirements/documents
Version control/status

8. Requirements Analysis

8.1 Prioritising requirements
8.2 Congruence with business objectives
8.3 Overlapping requirements
8.4 Identifying and negotiating conflicts between requirements
8.5 Requirements ambiguity
8.6 Requirements realism/feasibility
8.7 Requirements testability

9. Requirements Validation

9.1 Reviews
9.2 Prototyping
9.3 Sign-off of requirements document

10.Requirements Management

10.1 Stable and volatile requirement
10.2 Management of change to requirements
10.3 Traceability and ownership
10.4 CASE for Requirements Engineering

11. Benefits Confirmation

11.1 Requirements testing/User Acceptance Testing
11.2 Post-implementation Review
11.3 Roles of requirements actors

How you will learn:

The course comprises short and focused lecture sessions with exercises to practise appropriate techniques. Discussion of the problems and issues experienced by attendees will be encouraged.

The format for the examination is a one hour written (open book) examination based on a business scenario with 15 minutes reading time. Candidates who are awarded a pass for the examination are awarded the ISEB Certificate in Requirements Engineering.

Duration and availability:

Three days non-residential. Public and in-house.

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