Method for discovering functional and system requirements in an integrated development process

• US 8,538,767 B1
• Filed: 08/18/2003
• Issued: 09/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/19/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Hemmat, Merzad
• Primary Examiner(s): Ouellette, Jonathan
• Assistant Examiner(s): THOMPSON, MICHAEL M
• Application Number:
  US10/643,334
• Time in Patent Office: 3,683 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/1.1, 705/500
• US Class Current: 705/1.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06313 Resource planning in a project environment

Abstract

A method for developing a response to a business need that has been initially reduced to a concept and approved for additional development after an initial estimate. The method can consist of capturing functional requirements to implement the defined concept through interaction with end users of the potentially impacted business processes. After the functional requirements have been captured, system requirements, including requirements for potential automation and software systems supporting the impacted business processes, can be captured. System requirements can be captured through interaction with systems analysts for the potentially impacted automation and software systems supporting the impacted business processes. A set of business requirements can be identified with respect to the approved concept and every captured functional requirement can be mapped to one or more identified business requirements. Every captured system requirement can be mapped to one or more captured functional requirements.

Claims

1. A method for developing a response to a business need which has been initially reduced to a concept and approved for additional development after an initial estimate, wherein a set of business requirements has been identified with respect to the approved concept, comprising:

capturing, with a requirements repository tool stored on a computer readable storage medium and executed by a processor, functional requirements by interacting with end-users of business processes potentially impacted by the concept, wherein the functional requirements are functional requirements to implement the concept, and wherein the business processes are business processes of the business;

mapping every captured functional requirement to at least one business requirement in the set of business requirements;

determining a test approach after capturing the functional requirements;

automatically generating test workflows and test cases based on the test approach;

capturing, with the requirements repository tool, system requirements by interacting with systems development analysts for potentially impacted automation and software systems supporting the impacted business processes, wherein the system requirements are system requirements for potential automation and software systems that support the functional requirements, and wherein the capturing the system requirements is performed after completion of capturing and mapping the functional requirements;

mapping every captured system requirement to at least one captured functional requirement;

modeling, with a universal modeling language tool stored on a computer readable storage medium and executed by a processor, inter-system workflows for the potential automation and software systems based on the system requirements prior to performing coding for any applications, wherein the modeling of inter-system workflows is performed after completion of capturing the system requirements;

updating the test approach after capturing the system requirements; and

updating the test workflows based on the updated test approach and generating a preliminary integrated test plan document.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein capturing the functional requirements further comprises:

modeling, with a process modeling tool stored on a computer readable storage medium and executed by a processor, functional workflows of the business processes currently existing that are potentially impacted by the concept, and

meeting with at least one of the end-users of each of the potentially impacted business processes, explaining the concept, and proceeding through the modeled functional workflows step-by-step with the at least one of the end-users and identifying the changes required to the functional workflows to implement the concept, and

capturing the identified changes to the functional workflows as the functional requirements.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one of the end-users of each of the potentially impacted business processes includes functional users and does not include system analysts of the potentially impacted business processes.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the inter-system workflows are used as roadmaps to identify changes to the potential automation and software systems'"'"' functionality.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein identified changes to the potential automation and software systems'"'"' functionality comprise the system requirements.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

developing at least two solutions for providing the captured system requirements as alternatives for the response to the business need as defined in the concept, wherein each solution comprises cost estimates and time estimates to implement the solution.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least two solutions comprise:

a fully automated approach; and

a partially automated approach.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least two solutions comprise:

an initially complete implementation; and

a phased implementation.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least two solutions are selected from the group comprising:

a commercial off the shelf solution;

an internally developed solution; and

a mixed solution comprising commercial off the shelf components and internally developed components.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least two solutions comprise:

a first commercial off the shelf solution; and

a second alternative commercial off the shelf solution.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein each of the at least two solutions provides a distinct set of functionality enabled by the solution.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein every captured functional requirement is mapped to only one identified business requirement.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein every captured system requirement is mapped to only one captured functional requirement.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein:

modeling, with the universal modeling language tool, inter-system workflows for the potential automation and software systems further comprises modeling a sequence of events exchanged between applications prior to performing coding for any of the applications, wherein the modeling the sequence of events is performed after completion of capturing the system requirements.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

modeling, with the universal modeling language tool, interfaces between applications and between applications and brokers prior to performing coding for any of the applications, wherein the modeling the interfaces is performed after completion of capturing the system requirements.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

modeling, with the universal modeling language tool, data attributes that are exchangeable between applications and between applications and any datastores prior to performing coding for any of the applications, wherein the modeling the data attributes is performed after completion of capturing the system requirements.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

modeling, with the universal modeling language tool, a sequence of events exchanged between applications, modeling, with the universal modeling language tool, interfaces between applications and between applications and brokers, and modeling, with the universal modeling language tool, data attributes exchangeable between applications and between applications and any datastores, all prior to performing coding for any of the applications and all after completion of capturing the system requirements.

18. The method of claim 2, wherein the functional workflows are used as roadmaps to determine changes to the existing business processes.

19. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of identifying the changes required further comprises identifying changes which would be beneficial but not required.

20. The method of claim 2, wherein meeting with the at least one of the end-users of each of the potentially impacted business processes comprises meeting with such end-users in a collective meeting.

21. The method of claim 2, wherein meeting with the at least one of the end-users of each of the potentially impacted business processes comprises meeting in separate meetings for each of the potentially impacted business processes.