Context

Our client, a private bank in the Channel Islands wanted to deliver Microsoft Dynamics 365 as a technology platform to manage their client data and relationship management processes.  CBO was engaged to deliver a clear set of business requirements for the platform.

The client’s objective was to deliver the platform through a ‘minimum viable product’ (MVP) release approach. This would allow the platform to be implemented as soon as possible with further enhancements delivered incrementally thereafter.

CBO was tasked with delivering the business requirements in a ‘user story’ format.  These user stories had to articulate the needs of the business and define the initial MVP scope. They were to be the foundation for supplier procurement, delivery, and testing for the project.

CBO’s Approach

CBO’s objectives were:

• To capture all relevant business requirements
• To ensure requirements were prioritised, organised, reviewed and signed-off
• To document clear and consistent acceptance criteria for every requirement
• To produce all outputs in line with industry standards

CBO approached these objectives by first consolidating existing information and documentation that had been produced through a ‘discovery period’ with a supplier, and converting these into a draft requirements document.  The document was then enhanced and updated by engaging with business users in interviews and facilitated workshops.  This was followed by analysis and refinement of the identified requirements to ensure the best possible quality.  The CBO Business Analyst acted as a central point of control for the document, whilst gaining ownership and approval from business requirements owners.

CBO’s Impact

Quality

CBO’s approach produced a rich, valuable, and complete set of requirements, across the wider scope of the platform.  Quality control measures implemented by the CBO Business Analyst ensured that consistent and high-quality output was produced, and that documentation was clearly understood and acted on by the platform suppliers.

Ownership

Owners were defined for every requirement.  These owners had the responsibility to articulate, represent and justify their inclusion.  Defining this ownership early helped to ensure that only relevant requirements were included, and that they were linked to a business objective.  Ownership also defined a single point of contact for all subsequent queries and changes.

Prioritisation

Requirement prioritisation approach ensured that the maximum value for the least complexity would be delivered through the first release of the platform (“what will we do now”) whilst a backlog of future requirements was also captured (“what might we do later?”).  This prioritisation was achieved through consensus in workshops to ensure decisions were made with full context.

“The Business Analyst from CBO, our trusted partner, became a core member of project team and worked closely with all stakeholders and suppliers to ensure that the requirement’s objectives were met.  The Business analyst developed excellent relationships with all those close to the project and documented the user stories in a way which was clear for suppliers and very clear to the business owners of those requirements, so they could be confidently validated, and acceptance criteria confirmed. CBO then undertook a careful prioritisation process of those user stories, creating a clear MVP and a well-documented backlog of requirements for future phases, putting us in an excellent place to move forwards on our digital journey.” Head of Business Change