This section is designed to explore the concept of defining requirements, from a business perspective, that can be used to inform system developers or implementers on what is needed to achieve business goals.
This is all very well but how do you know you need to change something?
The first step in any system specification is to accept that you need something. Part of the process of defining what you need is deciding why you need it and what other purposes you would fulfill if this requirement was met.
In many cases business changes things for the sake on change – the old adage “new broom sweeps clean” is the worst case of this – every time someone new comes into the organisation they want to change things to something they know or have experience with. Unless a decent business case can be presented for changing things or adding new things, you must resist the temptation of changing things for changes sake.
Once you understand the reason for change you need to specify the requirements of your new system. It is completely useless trying to compare multiple products against each other becasue all you will end up with is the best product that you can afford – without any bearing on what you actually need. Rememebr tht once you buy a product or system for you organisation you are stuck with it for many years – if it does not realise benefits for you from day 1 – then why are you changing?
You system requirements must come from the people within the business. don;t be tempted to find a consultant to define your requirements. Consultants are great for helping you surface requirements, sort or order them and research the ramifications of the requirements but they do not understand your business like the people who work for you. Make sure that you surface the correct requirements for the correct reasons or you will have a new system that only partially fulfills your business requirements.