Hello,

I always struggle with the level of detail that should be expressed for the requirements at the business/user level vs the functional level.  I was wondering if anyone had a good example, like a case study or sample project, with documents describing the business requirements for the project and the corresponding functional requirements?  I am interested to see the level at which the business/user requirements are documented and compare them to the level of detail flushed out in the functional requirements.

This forum is great by the way!  I just came apon it and there is a wealth of great information.  I will be returning often for advice and to bounce ideas around.

Thanks - Jim

Hey

I have two tools I think are useful.

1. The Zachmanenterprise architecture framework.  It targets enterprise analysis but it's principles apply really well to enterprise applications requirements as well.
2. User stories, which are popular with agile project are also useful in a broad range of application dev projects.

You'll find good info on each of these below;

User Stories

Zachman,

Zachman, RUP and UML

But more imprtantly, a developer reminded me today that they are the ones who need to read and understadn specs, so why not go and speak with them about what works best for them?

Tony, the way I understand this is that the different types of requirements are contextual.  That's why I like the zachman model.

Business reqs are about the business goals,functional are about the system.

This also highlights the iterative nature of requiremnts definitions - as you peel off layers more constraints and solution decisions get embedded into the specs.

Of course your data flow diagrams also handle this layered approach to reqirements pretty well.