4.18. REQUIREMENTS MANAGEMENT

Purpose

The purpose of Requirements Management (REQM) is to manage the requirements of the project’s products and product components and to identify inconsistencies between those requirements and the project’s plans and work products.

Introductory Notes

Requirements management processes manage all requirements received or generated by the project, including both technical and nontechnical requirements as well as those requirements levied on the project by the organization. In particular, if the Requirements Development process area is implemented, its processes will generate product and product component requirements that will also be managed by the requirements management processes. Throughout the process areas, where we use the terms product and product component, their intended meanings also encompass services and their components. When the Requirements Management, Requirements Development, and Technical Solution process areas are all implemented, their associated processes may be closely tied and be performed concurrently.
The project takes appropriate steps to ensure that the agreed-on set of requirements is managed to support the planning and execution needs of the project. When a project receives requirements from an approved requirements provider, the requirements are reviewed with the requirements provider to resolve issues and prevent misunderstanding before the requirements are incorporated into the project’s plans. Once the requirements provider and the requirements receiver reach an agreement, commitment to the requirements is obtained from the project participants. The project manages changes to the requirements as they evolve and identifies any inconsistencies that occur among the plans, work products, and requirements.
Part of the management of requirements is to document requirements changes and rationale and to maintain bidirectional traceability between source requirements and all product and product component requirements (See the definition of “bidirectional traceability” in the glossary.)
All development projects have requirements. In the case of a project that is focused on maintenance activities, the changes to the product or product components are based on changes to the existing requirements, design, or implementation. The requirements changes, if any, might be documented in change requests from the customer or users, or they might take the form of new requirements received from the requirements development process. Regardless of their source or form, the maintenance activities that are driven by changes to requirements are managed accordingly.
Related Process Areas
Refer to the Requirements Development process area for more information about transforming stakeholder needs into product requirements and deciding how to allocate or distribute requirements among the product components.
Refer to the Technical Solution process area for more information about transforming requirements into technical solutions.
Refer to the Project Planning process area for more information about how project plans reflect requirements and need to be revised as requirements change.
Refer to the Configuration Management process area for more information about baselines and controlling changes to configuration documentation for requirements.
Refer to the Project Monitoring and Control process area for more information about tracking and controlling the activities and work products that are based on the requirements and taking appropriate corrective action.
Refer to the Risk Management process area for more information about identifying and handling risks associated with requirements.

Specific Goal and Practice Summary

SG 1 Manage Requirements
SP 1.1 Obtain an Understanding of Requirements
SP 1.2 Obtain Commitment to Requirements
SP 1.3 Manage Requirements Changes
SP 1.4 Maintain Bidirectional Traceability of Requirements
SP 1.5 Identify Inconsistencies Between Project Work and Requirements

SG 1 Manage Requirements

Requirements are managed and inconsistencies with project plans and work products are identified.

The project maintains a current and approved set of requirements over the life of the project by doing the following:
· Managing all changes to the requirements
· Maintaining the relationships among the requirements, the project plans, and the work products
· Identifying inconsistencies among the requirements, the project plans, and the work products
· Taking corrective action
Refer to the Technical Solution process area for more information about determining the feasibility of the requirements.
Refer to the Requirements Development process area for more information about ensuring that the requirements reflect the needs and expectations of the customer.
Refer to the Project Monitoring and Control process area for more information about taking corrective action.

SP 1.1 Obtain an Understanding of Requirements

Develop an understanding with the requirements providers on the meaning of the requirements.
As the project matures and requirements are derived, all activities or disciplines will receive requirements. To avoid requirements creep, criteria are established to designate appropriate channels, or official sources, from which to receive requirements. The receiving activities conduct analyses of the requirements with the requirements provider to ensure that a compatible, shared understanding is reached on the meaning of the requirements. The result of this analysis and dialog is an agreed-to set of requirements.
Typical Work Products
1. Lists of criteria for distinguishing appropriate requirements providers
2. Criteria for evaluation and acceptance of requirements
3. Results of analyses against criteria
4. An agreed-to set of requirements
Subpractices
1. Establish criteria for distinguishing appropriate requirements providers.
2. Establish objective criteria for the evaluation and acceptance of requirements.
Lack of evaluation and acceptance criteria often results in inadequate verification, costly rework, or customer rejection.
Examples of evaluation and acceptance criteria include the following:
· Clearly and properly stated
· Complete
· Consistent with each other
· Uniquely identified
· Appropriate to implement
· Verifiable (testable)
· Traceable

3. Analyze requirements to ensure that the established criteria are met.
4. Reach an understanding of the requirements with the requirements provider so that the project participants can commit to them.

SP 1.2 Obtain Commitment to Requirements

Obtain commitment to the requirements from the project participants.

Refer to the Project Monitoring and Control process area for more information about monitoring the commitments made.

IPPD Addition
When integrated teams are formed, the project participants are the integrated teams and their members. Commitment to the requirement for interacting with other integrated teams is as important for each integrated team as its commitments to product and other project requirements.

Whereas the previous specific practice dealt with reaching an understanding with the requirements providers, this specific practice deals with agreements and commitments among those who have to carry out the activities necessary to implement the requirements. Requirements evolve throughout the project, especially as described by the specific practices of the Requirements Development process area and the Technical Solution process area. As the requirements evolve, this specific practice ensures that project participants commit to the current, approved requirements and the resulting changes in project plans, activities, and work products.
Typical Work Products
1. Requirements impact assessments
2. Documented commitments to requirements and requirements changes
Subpractices
1. Assess the impact of requirements on existing commitments.
The impact on the project participants should be evaluated when the requirements change or at the start of a new requirement.
2. Negotiate and record commitments.
Changes to existing commitments should be negotiated before project participants commit to the requirement or requirement change.

SP 1.3 Manage Requirements Changes

Manage changes to the requirements as they evolve during the project.

Refer to the Configuration Management process area for more information about maintaining and controlling the requirements baseline and on making the requirements and change data available to the project.
During the project, requirements change for a variety of reasons. As needs change and as work proceeds, additional requirements are derived and changes may have to be made to the existing requirements. It is essential to manage these additions and changes efficiently and effectively. To effectively analyze the impact of the changes, it is necessary that the source of each requirement is known and the rationale for any change is documented. The project manager may, however, want to track appropriate measures of requirements volatility to judge whether new or revised controls are necessary.
Typical Work Products
1. Requirements status
2. Requirements database
3. Requirements decision database
Subpractices
1. Document all requirements and requirements changes that are given to or generated by the project.
2. Maintain the requirements change history with the rationale for the changes.
Maintaining the change history helps track requirements volatility.
3. Evaluate the impact of requirement changes from the standpoint of relevant stakeholders.
4. Make the requirements and change data available to the project.

SP 1.4 Maintain Bidirectional Traceability of Requirements

Maintain bidirectional traceability among the requirements and work products.

The intent of this specific practice is to maintain the bidirectional traceability of requirements for each level of product decomposition. (See the definition of “bidirectional traceability” in the glossary.) When the requirements are managed well, traceability can be established from the source requirement to its lower level requirements and from the lower level requirements back to their source. Such bidirectional traceability helps determine that all source requirements have been completely addressed and that all lower level requirements can be traced to a valid source.
Requirements traceability can also cover the relationships to other entities such as intermediate and final work products, changes in design documentation, and test plans. The traceability can cover horizontal relationships, such as across interfaces, as well as vertical relationships. Traceability is particularly needed in conducting the impact assessment of requirements changes on the project's activities and work products.
Typical Work Products
1. Requirements traceability matrix
2. Requirements tracking system
Subpractices
1. Maintain requirements traceability to ensure that the source of lower level (derived) requirements is documented.
2. Maintain requirements traceability from a requirement to its derived requirements and allocation to functions, interfaces, objects, people, processes, and work products.
3. Generate the requirements traceability matrix.


SP 1.5 Identify Inconsistencies Between Project Work and Requirements

Identify inconsistencies between the project plans and work products and the requirements.

Refer to the Project Monitoring and Control process area for more information about monitoring and controlling the project plans and work products for consistency with requirements and taking corrective actions when necessary.
This specific practice finds the inconsistencies between the requirements and the project plans and work products and initiates the corrective action to fix them.
Typical Work Products
1. Documentation of inconsistencies including sources, conditions, and rationale
2. Corrective actions
Subpractices
1. Review the project’s plans, activities, and work products for consistency with the requirements and the changes made to them.
2. Identify the source of the inconsistency and the rationale.
3. Identify changes that need to be made to the plans and work products resulting from changes to the requirements baseline.
4. Initiate corrective actions.