Most BAs don't have access to sophisticated requirements management tools. We are keeping our requirements in MS office documents. I am interested in where you are storing all of these documents. Sharepoint? Documentum? How are these repositories working? At the World Congress for Business Analysis conference this week in Orlando I will moderating a discussion on home grown requirements repositories. I am interested in any suggestions that you may have.
Thanks, Barb
8 Comments
I have been using wiki solutions, which allows easy linkage of pages, change control and the ability for both the tech and business side to post comments and questions. In my current project we are using Confluence as our wiki platform.
In the past we stored them right along side the code repository in Microsoft VSS. We have now moved to a Wiki sollution and I like it much better. Easier for everyone to find information and be nofitied of updates. We are also using Confluence.
We are using SharePoint and marking the requirements with Metadata that can filter out the requirements. You could also create a column called Requirements and have the different types as choices.
I’ve used a variety of different solutions, depending on the technology available at the company. Sharepoint repositories have really helped expose requirements documentation to the business at large. And coupling a Sharepoint repository with a project-specific site is a great way to keep things in one place, but also provide a home for project documentation.
Other options have been custom Access databases and shared drives. When using a shared drive, I’ll often create a spreadsheet, for example a use case list, with direct links into all the documents. It helps keeps things organized and gives people one place to go to link to all the project documentation.
Laura
http://www.bridging-the-gap.com
We have been using MS Excel to document requirements but storing them on project specific Sharepoint sites.
As Laura mentioned in her response…Sharepoint provides a medium to collaborate with entire project team. All deliverables from every project team can be stored in Sharepoint which can be linked to the project plan.
Sharepoint provides an easy to use document library which can be pre-defined/customized further for each project.
The only drawback I have seen w/o a formal requirements management tool is that whenever updates are made to requirement docs…the notification to entire project team is possible but not effective enough in sharepoint.
The target user had to define the alerts for changes per deliverable but alerts cannot be defined by a particular user for entire project team.
Interwoven is another collaboration tool which helps to manage documents for a particular project/phase.
Hope this helps.
Jinesh
I am using Confluence currently for all these repository needs. Although I have also worked with Sharepoint and Livelink in past but if you dont have access to these softwares then the best approach is to use MS excel and storing them on any project sharing application.
I’d recommend that you explore Mingle (from ThoughtWorks). It’s an interesting combination of requirements management tool with virtual card wall and hook up to code base.
Thanks.
Requisite Pro from Rational Rose is also a good tool for requirements management. It allows some more advanced features – linking use cases to requirements for traceability, a web url for others in the company to access, et al