Auditing the Requirements Process: Making Projects Worthwhile

SUMMARY

What you don't know about requirements may hurt you; or at least waste your organization's resources.

Requirements are the bedrock of automated systems development and of continuous, stable organizational growth and improvement. As such, their development and management are an appropriate topic for EDP auditors. Auditors should understand their general nature to promote efficient use of developmental and end-user resources and to preclude journeys of technical delight that may not contribute sufficiently (or at all) to the bottom line. Requirements are conditions of being; desired conditions are to be attained and/or maintained. Undesirable conditions are to be avoided or removed. Confusion of requirements with potential solutions wastes time and leads teams astray. Properly structured requirements last until the business changes, not just technology and personalities. They promote focus on and realization of organizational and product objectives. Senior management and other stakeholders must buy in to stated requirements if the organization is to expend resources developing them.