In this economy it’s hard to stay affloat and ahead of the game. This past year so many companies have gone out of business and the ones that are predicted to go under this coming year are astonishing. T Mobil, Reader’s digest, and Blockbuster are but a few of the listed companies that are in too much trouble to dig out of.

However, one of the best ways to make sure you have a superior company with better customer service is to constantly test and re-test your employees and your methods.

Employing a business analyst within your company is a great way to keep day to day tabs on what is being done well and what needs improvement. These individuals are sharp, focused, and diligent. The great ones are trained by Pierson Requirements Group.

Pierson aims to make you and your people run at their absolute best through targeting weak areas, retraining and even overhauling of old processes and methods.

Review the many ways in which they can offer your business the tools needed to stay in the black for years to come by making sure no one out there does what you do better or more efficiently.

Contact Pierson Requirements Group for more information on seminars and training classes today.

Starting a business of any kind can be a very different experience depending on the amount of help you get and how muc experience that help has. With the current economy it is difficult to strike out on your own, but the consultants and methodology used by Pierson Requirements Group can really help you understand what you are getting into and the best steps to take toward success.

They use Joint Application Development or JAD. This is a technique used for gathering business software requirements. The purpose of JAD is to bring together the technical/creative team and the business community in a structured workshop setting to extract consensus based software requirements. This is accomplished by using a trained JAD facilitator and customized, planned agendas to assist the participants in arriving at complete, high quality requirements.

Another method employeed frequently by Pierson Requirements Group is Rapid Application Development or RAD which is a process that speeds the delivery of functionality to end-users by segmenting software into pieces for delivery rather than delivering all of the software functionality in one large implementation. It is an iterative process utilizing a spiral methodology and is also customer driven following an evolutionary process using continuous application engineering in a time-boxed fashion with a dedicated professional team. The goal of the iterative approach is to reduce the time between requests and delivery of Business Application Software.

Pierson Requirements group can take some of the sting and frustration generally associated with the start of a company out of the equation. Contact their offices for more information.

A system analyst is someone within a company who researches problems, makes plans for a solution, and deals with the intricacies of developmental plans for meeting business or other requirements. A well trained analyst should be familiar with several different types of approaches to problems. Also they should be familiar with a variety of programming languages, operating systems, and different types of hardware and software to be used within a company.

” Because they often write user requests into technical specifications, the systems analysts are the liaisons between vendors and IT professionals. They may be responsible for developing cost analysis, design considerations, and implementation time-lines.” - Web Definition

The Pierson Requirements group aims to get your analyst to the top of his or her game by providing the best possible approach to all of these areas of expertise. They have training courses such as  a 2 day course entitled ‘Project Management Training’.

The Introduction to Project Management class offers training in the basic skills that a Project Manager would use to effectively manage an IT Project. The participants will learn how to scope and plan projects for IT initiatives. The seminar focus is on:

• How to be an effective project manager and what skills are required
• How to define the project vision and scope
• How to create and manage an effective project plan
• How to manage the project communication process
• Each seminar participant receives a Seminar Handbook with sample templates, checklists, procedures guide and a solution set.

Iterative Development is a process that speeds the delivery of functionality to end-users by segmenting a system into pieces for delivery, rather than delivering all of the system functionality in one large implementation. The iterative process utilizes a spiral methodology and is also customer driven following an evolutionary process using continuous application engineering in a timeboxed fashion with a dedicated professional team. The goal of the iterative approach is to reduce the time between requests and delivery of Business Application Systems. Some of the primary characteristics of iterative development projects are:

·         There is a strict deadline for basic functionality

·         Can be released in increments

·         Uses techniques such as time-boxing, dedicated teams and focus sessions

·         Business users are involved throughout the project and JAD is used

·         Total project time is usually 3 - 6 months

Roles

The execution of an Application Project can involve a number of different actors, each with a specific role and set of responsibilities. The following table defines all the different roles and responsibilities that can be found on an Application Development Project. These roles always exist although the size and characteristics of the project may cause the same person to carry out more than one role.

Add and remove roles as appropriate.  Make sure the responsibilities of each role are clearly understood.  It is as important to list client responsibilities to ensure client resources have the appropriate authority.

The purpose of an iterative development approach is to separate a development project into logical and manageable units for incremental delivery.  The completion of each iteration adds to the knowledge about the system being developed and reduces the risk when progressing to the next iteration.  It also provides a repeatable method for business system development.  It provides business user sign off and approval before continuing to commit resources to the project.

Reusability is also described throughout the system development process.  Reusing previously developed parts in a product is a significant way of decreasing the product’s life cycle cost.  Reuse in software engineering means deliverables that can be reused later.  This includes all the information and knowledge that has been developed, such as; system architectures, development methods, program code and completed algorithms.

Use Case Template

Types of Questions:

Questions to open communication and creativity…

•          What do you think about…?

•          What options do you see…?

•          What are the pros/cons…?

•          How does the rest of the group feel?

Discovery questions -

•          What are your goals in developing this system/enhancement?

•          What critical problems, issues, or opportunities initiated this project?

•          What is the most important business goal of the system/enhancement?

Confirmation questions -

•          How will you recognize success?

•          Are we in agreement with how I’ve described this?

Evaluation questions -

•          Will the system/enhancement make the customer or you be more efficient? How?

•          What will the new system/enhancement accomplish that is not currently accomplished manually or with other systems?

•          Will the system/enhancement change the way you are doing things now? QA

Put yourself in the customers’ place:

Imagine yourself learning the user’s job

•          What tasks would you need to perform?

•          What questions would you have?

•          Who all performs this task?

Questions could begin with:

•          What else could…….

•          What happens when….

•          Would you ever need to…..

•          Does anyone ever…..

Try to bring out the user’s assumptions

•          What features or characteristics is the user expecting to be included without  having said so?

Walk through the processes that users follow to make decisions when performing tasks to extract the underlying logic.

•          Use Flowcharts, Activity Diagrams, Process Mapping

•          Decision Trees

•          Mind Mapping

10 Key Principles, and how Agile Development fundamentally differs from a more traditional Waterfall approach to software development, are as follows:

1. Active user involvement is imperative
2. The team must be empowered to make decisions
3. Requirements evolve but the timescale is fixed
4. Capture requirements at a high level; lightweight & visual
5. Develop small, incremental releases and iterate
6. Focus on frequent delivery of products
7. Complete each feature before moving on to the next
8. Apply the 80/20 rule
9. Testing is integrated throughout the project lifecycle – test early and often
10. A collaborative & cooperative approach between all stakeholders is essential