Become a Business Analysis Detective

• Good business analysts figure out what their users really need, and why they need it

What are requirements?

• Requirements are something that someone needs, in this case, needs as stated by a stakeholder
  • To be a requirement, it must be quantifiable and verifiable
    • Not to make something “prettier” or “more user-friendly,” since this not measurable
• The stakeholder, not the Business Analyst or Salesforce Admin, owns the requirements

Why do we need requirements?

• Requirements tell:
  • Salesforce Admin what problem needs to be solved,
  • Test Engineers what to test, and
  • Managers how they can see the progression of a project
• Requirements document a contract between you and the stakeholder, identifying what needs to happen before a project can be considered “completed”

Requirement elicitation

• Several ways to gather requirements, each with their pros and cons. Ex:
  • Interviews
  • Workshops
  • Using comparable, rival products

Documenting

• Once you arrive at a comprehensive list of requirements, its critical to document them
  • Documenting creates clarity for the project
• More requirements do not equal better requirements
  • Try to write each requirement as one short sentence
  • Not necessary to get the wording perfect on the first try - keep them simple and concise
• Once you think the requirements are in a good place, the next step is to send them to the stakeholders and review together
  • Together, you can then agree on what you’ve discovered and what a complete project will look like
• When all the stakeholders sign off and agree to the written requirements, you can mark the elicitation project complete