COEPD – Center of Excellence for Professional Development Happy Learning
Elicitation is one of the most important part in any software development. It is communication-intensive and challenging stage of the software development life cycle.
It plays a vital and crucial role in SDLC because the Scope of the project, determination of Budget and time estimation to complete any project are determined in this stage only.
There are multiple Elicitation Techniques which is used in the software development Process.
Elicitation techniques are :-
- Brainstorming
- Document Analysis
- Reverse Engineering
- Focus Group
- JAD Sessions
- Observation
- Interview
- Prototyping
- Workshop
- Questionnaire ( Survey )
1. Brainstorming :- Brainstorming is one of the most important requirement elicitation technique used in the SDLC. It Can be conducted individually or In groups also.
It is used in identifying all possible solutions of any problem and simplifies the detail of opportunities.
There are three stage in brainstorming
- Preparation for Brainstorming
- Conduct Brainstorming Session
- Wrap up the Brainstorming Session
2. Document Analysis :- Document Analysis is One of the Compulsory technique in any Project development.
In this requirements elicitation process, business analysts review existing documentation with the intent or identifying requirements for changes or improvements. It is done before scheduling more in-depth requirements elicitation interviews with stakeholders.
Stages of Document Analysis :-
- Preparation
- Analysis
- Wrap-up
3. Reverse Engineering :- It is generally done for Mitigation Project.
if we hare not having enough knowledge of working of any software or the manual of that software is very outdated but its necessary to know the working of that software, reverse engineering is used.
There are two types of Reverse Engineering
- Black Box
- White Box
4. Focus Group :- Focus group is used for bringing out the ideas and perception about a specific product. In focus group relevant stakeholders give feedback to refine the processes, ideas or solutions that turn up as an outcome of earlier Elicitation Activities like Brain storming and Document Analysis.
Types of Focus group are :-
- Homogenous
- Heterogenous
5. JAD Sessions :- Joint Application Development technique is an extended , Facilitated workshop. It Involves Collaboration between Stakeholders and system Analysts to identify needs or requirements in a concentrated and Focused effort.
6. Observation :- Observation is an Elicitation technique in which the observer, Shadows the users or even used to do some part of their job to understand the process clearly, It provides information of existing processes, inputs and outputs.
Observation also helps in understanding the requirements based on observations related to process flows and work environments of stakeholders.
It also helps business analysts to elicit real data which can’t be captured by the other elicitation techniques.
7. Interview :- Interview is a structured approach to gather information from a person or group people in an informal or formal setting by talking to the person.
Business analysts organizes group interview or one-to-one interviews session in an informal or formal setting to obtain Project requirements through questions directed at Subject Matter expert, Stakeholders and End-Users.
8. Prototyping – Prototyping is most important phase of the requirements elicitation process, It helps Product owners as well as Users to visualize realistic models of Applications before they are fully developed.
By using Prototype of any product we can take feedback which helps to enhance stakeholder participation in requirements Elicitation.
9.Workshop :- It can Comprise 6-10 users/ stakeholders. Workshops are extremely important for those projects where Multi-stakeholder are involved. For complex projects also it plays a very vital role.
workshops are one of the most resource-efficient methods to elicit requirements. Intense, focused, and highly productive workshop plays important role in any project to keep all stakeholders onto the same page.
10. Questionnaire ( Survey ) :- In Survey multiple Experts and stakeholders are involved in a project. Business analysts performs a survey for the elicitation of requirements.
Every participants are given a questionnaire to fill out. All the responses are analyzed to find the requirements.
