5.4.1 Purpose
The purpose of Assess Requirements Changes is to evaluate the implications of proposed changes to requirements and designs.
5.4.2 Description
The Assess Requirements Changes task is performed as new needs or possible solutions are identified. These may or may not align to the change strategy and/or solution scope. Assessment must be performed to determine whether a proposed change will increase the value of the solution, and if so, what action should be taken.
Business analysts assess the potential effect of the change to solution value, and whether proposed changes introduce conflicts with other requirements or increase the level of risk. Business analysts also ensure each proposed change can be traced back to a need.
When assessing changes, business analysts consider if each proposed change:
- aligns with the overall strategy,
- affects value delivered to the business or stakeholder groups,
- impacts the time to deliver or the resources required to deliver the value, and
- alters any risks, opportunities, or constraints associated with the overall initiative.
The results of the assessment must support the decision making and change control approaches defined by the task Plan Business Analysis Governance (p. 37).
5.4.3 Inputs
- Proposed Change: can be identified at any time and impact any aspect of business analysis work or deliverables completed to date. There are many triggers for a proposed change including business strategy changes, stakeholders, legal requirements, or regulatory changes.
- Requirements: may need to be assessed to identify the impact of a proposed modification.
- Designs: may need to be assessed to identify the impact of a proposed modification.
5.4.4 Elements
.1 Assessment Formality
Business analysts will determine the formality of the assessment process based on the information available, the apparent importance of the change, and the governance process. Many proposed changes may be withdrawn from consideration or declined before any formal approval is required. A predictive approach may indicate a more formal assessment of proposed changes. In predictive approaches, the impact of each change can be disruptive; the change can potentially generate a substantial reworking of tasks and activities completed in previous activities. An adaptive approach may require less formality in the assessment of proposed changes. While there may be reworking needed as a result of each change, adaptive approaches try to minimize the impact of changes by utilizing iterative and incremental implementation techniques. This idea of continuous evolution may reduce the need for formal impact assessment.
.2 Impact Analysis
Impact analysis is performed to assess or evaluate the effect of a change. Traceability is a useful tool for performing impact analysis. When a requirement changes, its relationships to other requirements or solution components can be reviewed. Each related requirement or component may also require a change to support the new requirement.
When considering changes or additions to existing requirements, business analysts assess the impact of the proposed change by considering:
- Benefit: the benefit that will be gained by accepting the change.
- Cost: the total cost to implement the change including the cost to make the change, the cost of associated rework, and the opportunity costs such as the number of other features that may need to be sacrificed or deferred if the change is approved.
- Impact: the number of customers or business processes affected if the change is accepted.
- Schedule: the impact to the existing delivery commitments if the change is approved.
- Urgency: the level of importance including the factors which drive necessity such as regulator or safety issues.
.3 Impact Resolution
Depending on the planned approach, various stakeholders (including the business analyst) may be authorized to approve, deny, or defer the proposed change. All impacts and resolutions resulting from the change analysis are to be documented and communicated to all stakeholders. How decisions and changes will be made and communicated across an initiative is determined by the task Plan Business Analysis Governance (p. 37).
5.4.5 Guidelines and Tools
- Change Strategy: describes the purpose and direction for changes, establishes the context for the change, and identifies the critical components for change.
- Domain Knowledge: knowledge of and expertise in the business domain is needed to assess proposed requirements changes.
- Governance Approach: provides guidance regarding the change control and decision-making processes, as well as the roles of stakeholders within this process.
- Legal/Regulatory Information: describes legislative rules or regulations that must be followed. These may impact requirements and must be considered when making changes.
- Requirements Architecture: requirements may be related to each other; therefore, the business analyst examines and analyzes the requirement relationships to determine which requirements will be impacted by a requested requirements change.
- Solution Scope: must be considered when assessing changes to fully understand the impact of a proposed change.
5.4.6 Techniques
- Business Cases: used to justify a proposed change.
- Business Rules Analysis: used to assess changes to business policies and business rules and develop revised guidance.
- Decision Analysis: used to facilitate the change assessment process.
- Analysis: used to analyze any existing documents that facilitate an understanding of the impact of the change.
- Estimation: used to determine the size of the change.
- Financial Analysis: used to estimate the financial consequences of a proposed change.
- Interface Analysis: used to help business analysts identify interfaces that can be affected by the change.
- Interviews: used to gain an understanding of the impact on the organization or its assets from a single or small group of stakeholders.
- Item Tracking: used to track any issues or conflicts discovered during impact analysis.
- Risk Analysis and Management: used to determine the level of risk associated with the change.
- Workshops: used to gain an understanding of the impact or to resolve changes in a group setting.
5.4.7 Stakeholders
- Customer: provides feedback concerning the impact the change will have on value.
- Domain Subject Matter Expert: has expertise in some aspect of the situation and can provide insight into how the change will impact the organization and value.
- End User: uses the solution or is a component of the solution and can offer information about the impact of the change on their activities.
- Operational Support: provides information on both their ability to support the operation of the solution and their need to understand the nature of the change in the solution in order to be able to support it.
- Project Manager: reviews the requirements change assessment to determine if additional project work is required for a successful implementation of the solution.
- Regulator: changes are likely to be referenced by auditors to confirm compliance to standards.
- Sponsor: accountable for the solution scope and can provide insight to be utilized when assessing change.
- Tester: consulted for establishing impact of the proposed changes.
5.4.8 Outputs
- Requirements Change Assessment: the recommendation to approve, modify, or deny a proposed change to requirements.
- Designs Change Assessment: the recommendation to approve, modify, or deny a proposed change to one or more design components.
