This document provides a comprehensive overview of our requirements engineering process. It is designed to help experienced professionals understand how we collect, document, and manage requirements using Azure DevOps. By adhering to this guide, we ensure consistency, traceability, and compliance throughout our projects.
## Overview
Our requirements engineering process is a structured approach that takes us from the initial stakeholder conversations to a finalized set of requirements. We emphasize:
- **Clarity and Testability:** Requirements should be simple statements that are testable.
- **Traceability:** Maintaining a clear line from requirements through to implementation and testing.
- **Compliance:** Ensuring all regulatory requirements are identified and addressed.
- **Stakeholder Engagement:** Actively involving stakeholders throughout the process.
- **Risk Management:** Identifying and mitigating risks associated with requirements.
We use **Azure DevOps** with the **CMMI process template** to manage our Work Items, facilitating collaboration and traceability.
## Process Steps
### 1. Initial Engagement
**Objective:** Establish a foundational understanding of the project and build relationships with stakeholders.
- **Activities:**
- Conduct initial meetings to understand project vision and objectives.
- Establish communication channels and protocols.
- Set expectations for the requirements gathering process.
### 2. Stakeholder Identification
**Objective:** Identify all individuals and groups who have an interest in or influence over the project.
- **Activities:**
- Create a stakeholder register.
- Analyze stakeholder roles, interests, and influence.
- Prioritize stakeholders based on their impact on requirements.
### 3. Requirements Gathering
**Objective:** Collect detailed requirements from stakeholders.
- **Activities:**
- Conduct interviews using our [Interview Questionnaire](requirements-gathering-interview.md) (refer to the separate file).
- Hold workshops and brainstorming sessions.
- Observe existing systems and workflows.
- **Outcome:**
- Capture raw requirements and create initial Requirement Work Items in Azure DevOps.
### 4. Requirements Documentation
**Objective:** Document requirements clearly and comprehensively.
- **Activities:**
- Use the "Requirement" Work Item in Azure DevOps to record each requirement.
- Include detailed descriptions, affected regulations, and stakeholder information.
- Ensure each requirement is a simple, testable statement.
### 5. Requirements Analysis
**Objective:** Refine and validate the collected requirements.
- **Activities:**
- Analyze requirements for clarity, completeness, and feasibility.
- Identify and resolve conflicts or duplicates.
- Validate requirements with stakeholders.
### 6. Traceability
**Objective:** Maintain end-to-end traceability of requirements through the project lifecycle.
- **Activities:**
- Link Requirement Work Items to related Specifications, Design Documents, Implementation Tasks, Test Cases, and other artifacts in Azure DevOps.
- Use a Traceability Matrix to map relationships (see [Traceability Matrix](#traceability-matrix)).
### 7. Requirements Management
**Objective:** Manage changes to requirements systematically.
- **Principles:**
- **Immutability of Requirements:** Once a requirement is baselined, it should not be altered. If changes are needed, deprecate the old requirement and create a new version.
- **Version Control:** Use Azure DevOps to track changes and maintain history.
- **Activities:**
- Implement a change control process for requirements updates.
- Communicate changes to all stakeholders.
### 8. Risk Management
**Objective:** Identify and mitigate risks associated with requirements early in the project.
- **Activities:**
- Document risks in the Requirement Work Items or as separate Risk Work Items.
- Assess the impact and likelihood of each risk.
- Develop mitigation strategies.
## Azure DevOps Guidelines
### Requirement Work Item Structure
When creating a Requirement Work Item in Azure DevOps, ensure the following fields are populated:
- **Title:** Clear and concise summary of the requirement.
- **Description:** Detailed explanation, including purpose and background.
- **Acceptance Criteria:** Conditions that must be met for the requirement to be considered fulfilled.
- **Affected Regulations:** List any laws, standards, or regulations impacting the requirement.
- **Stakeholders:** Names or roles of stakeholders associated with the requirement.
- **Tags:** Keywords for easy filtering and identification.
- **Attachments:** Include supporting documents if necessary.
### Custom Fields and Links
To capture all necessary information:
- **Custom Fields:**
- **Stakeholders:** If not already available, add a custom field to list stakeholders.
- **Regulations:** Add a field to specify affected regulations or compliance requirements.
- **Links:**
- **Affected By:** Use to link the requirement to regulations or higher-level requirements.
- **Related Work Items:** Connect to tasks, user stories, or bugs.
- **Test Cases:** Link to associated test cases validating the requirement.
### Maintaining Traceability
Traceability is crucial for tracking requirements through all stages of development.
#### Traceability Matrix
We use a Traceability Matrix to map requirements to other project artifacts.
**Template:**
| Requirement ID | Requirement Description | Affected Regulations | Stakeholders | Specification ID | Design Doc ID | Implementation IDs | Test Case ID(s) | Status |
When writing requirements, use the following format to clearly articulate the need, the stakeholder’s perspective, the desired outcomes, and the rationale. Adhere strictly to this structure:
When [condition or situation triggering the requirement],
As [stakeholder role],
I want [specific actions or outcomes to achieve].
This ensures [reason or benefit for implementing the requirement].
Key Guidelines:
1. Condition or Situation: Clearly state when or under what circumstances the requirement applies. Use "When..." to frame this.
2. Stakeholder Role: Explicitly identify the stakeholder requesting the requirement. Use "As [stakeholder role]..." to reflect the stakeholder's voice.
3. Desired Outcomes: Use "I want..." to specify what the stakeholder expects or desires to be achieved. List actions or outcomes in a concise, actionable manner.
4. Rationale: Use "This ensures..." to explain why the requirement is important or what benefit it provides.
5. Add a list of relevant acceptance criteria
Example:
When creating or modifying documents,
As IT QA CSV representative,
I want every document to:
- Record the author.
- Include timestamps for creation and all modifications.
This ensures compliance with the "Attributable" principle of ALCOA+.
Acceptance criteria:
- The author's name is recorded on every document.
- Timestamps are added for document creation and all modifications.
The input data is:
Requirement title: Pipeline for configuring Azure DevOps Repos with Ansible
Stakeholder: IT Cloud Stream Lead
Requirement description: Creation of git repositories should follow a review process and thus team members should never manually create repositories. They should create a branch, add the new repo to a configuration file, and submit a pull request. The pipeline should then create the repository after approval automatically.
