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. Table . Practice-to-Goal Relationship Table | Continuous Representation | Staged Representation | | SG 1 Manage Requirements | SG 1 Manage Requirements | SP 1.1-1 Obtain an Understanding of Requirements | SP 1.1-1 Obtain an Understanding of Requirements | SP 1.2-2 Obtain Commitment to Requirements | SP 1.2-2 Obtain Commitment to Requirements | SP 1.3-1 Manage Requirements Changes | SP 1.3-1 Manage Requirements Changes | SP 1.4-2 Maintain Bidirectional Traceability of Requirements | SP 1.4-2 Maintain Bidirectional Traceability of Requirements | SP 1.5-1 Identify Inconsistencies between Project Work and Requirements | SP 1.5-1 Identify Inconsistencies between Project Work and Requirements | | GG 1 Achieve Specific Goals | | GP 1.1 Perform Base Practices | | | GG 2 Institutionalize a Managed Process | GG 2 Institutionalize a Managed Process | GP 2.1 Establish an Organizational Policy | GP 2.1 Establish an Organizational Policy | GP 2.2 Plan the Process | GP 2.2 Plan the Process | GP 2.3 Provide Resources | GP 2.3 Provide Resources | GP 2.4 Assign Responsibility | GP 2.4 Assign Responsibility | GP 2.5 Train People | GP 2.5 Train People | GP 2.6 Manage Configurations | GP 2.6 Manage Configurations | GP 2.7 Identify and Involve Relevant Stakeholders | GP 2.7 Identify and Involve Relevant Stakeholders | GP 2.8 Monitor and Control the Process | GP 2.8 Monitor and Control the Process | GP 2.9 Objectively Evaluate Adherence | GP 2.9 Objectively Evaluate Adherence | GP 2.10 Review Status with Higher Level Management | GP 2.10 Review Status with Higher Level Management | | GG 3 Institutionalize a Defined Process | GG 3 Institutionalize a Defined Process | GP 3.1 Establish a Defined Process | GP 3.1 Establish a Defined Process | GP 3.2 Collect Improvement Information | GP 3.2 Collect Improvement Information | | GG 4 Institutionalize a Quantitatively Managed Process | | GP 4.1 Establish Quantitative Objectives for the Process | | GP 4.2 Stabilize Subprocess Performance | | | GG 5 Institutionalize an Optimizing Process | | GP 5.1 Ensure Continuous Process Improvement | | GP 5.2 Correct Root Causes of Problems | | For Software Engineering The requirements may be a subset of the overall product requirements, or they may constitute the entire product requirements. |
For Systems Engineering Each level of product-component design (e.g., segment, subsystem) receives the requirements from the higher level. |
SP 1.1-1 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 Lists of criteria for distinguishing appropriate requirements providers Criteria for evaluation and acceptance of requirements Results of analyses against criteria An agreed-to set of requirements Subpractices Establish criteria for distinguishing appropriate requirements providers. Establish objective criteria for the acceptance of requirements. Lack of acceptance criteria often results in inadequate verification, costly rework, or customer rejection. Examples of acceptance criteria include the following: |
Analyze requirements to ensure that the established criteria are met. Reach an understanding of the requirements with the requirements provider so that the project participants can commit to them. SP 1.2-2 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. For Integrated Product and Process Development 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 commit- ments 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 Requirements impact assessments Documented commitments to requirements and requirements changes Subpractices 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. Negotiate and record commitments. Changes to existing commitments should be negotiated before project participants commit to the requirement or requirement change. SP 1.3-1 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 Requirements status Requirements database Requirements decision database Subpractices Capture all requirements and requirements changes that are given to orgenerated by the project. Maintain the requirements change history with the rationale for the changes. Maintaining the change history helps track requirements volatility. Evaluate the impact of requirement changes from the standpoint of relevant stakeholders. Make the requirements and change data available to the project. SP 1.4-2 Maintain Bidirectional Traceability of Requirements Maintain bidirectional traceability among the requirements and the project plans and work products. The intent of this specific practice is to maintain the bidirectional traceability of requirements for each level of product decomposition. 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, test plans, and work tasks. The traceability should cover both the horizontal and vertical relationships, such as across interfaces. Traceability is particularly needed in conducting the impact assessment of requirements changes on the project plans, activities, and work products. Typical Work Products Requirements traceability matrix Requirements tracking system Subpractices Maintain requirements traceability to ensure that the source of lower level (derived) requirements is documented. Maintain requirements traceability from a requirement to its derived requirements and allocation to functions, objects, people, processes, and work products. Maintain horizontal traceability from function to function and across interfaces. Generate the requirements traceability matrix. SP 1.5-1 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 Documentation of inconsistencies including sources, conditions, and rationale Corrective actions Subpractices Review the project's plans, activities, and work products for consistency with the requirements and the changes made to them. Identify the source of the inconsistency and the rationale. Identify changes that need to be made to the plans and work products resulting from changes to the requirements baseline. Initiate corrective actions. | 