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New Post 10/17/2007 6:01 AM
User is offline Craig Brown
560 posts
www.betterprojects.net
4th Level Poster




Re: Requiremens Role-play: Bank ATM Example 

Hello Kris! Good luck with the role play.

 
New Post 10/19/2007 3:07 PM
User is offline Adrian M.
764 posts
3rd Level Poster




Re: Requiremens Role-play: Bank ATM Example 

OK... let's get this game started (I'm sure we'll get some more accolades as we make some progress).

To recap what we are doing: I will provide a brief vision/problem statement and you (the jr. BAs) will elicit requirements as well as document them in a clear and logical manner.

Backgrond:

CyberBank is an on-line bank providing consumer banking products and services via the internet.  The types of products and services provided are checking accounts, saving accounts, CD accounts, and bill payment.

Problem Statement:

While the growth of CybeBank has been phenomenal, over the past year it has experienced significant slowdown in new customer acquisition and the retention of existing customers. The greatest complaint revealed by customer's surveys was the inability to receive cash - as this is no possible on-line. The bank has embarked on an initiative to place Automated Teller Machines (ATM) in key locations. While the ATM machine model has been identified the bank needs software which allows the customer perform certain banking transactions from the ATM terminal.

ATM Software Project Initial Steps:

The first step of the project is to identify and document the requirements for the ATM software in order to determine whether any of the existing off-the-shelf software would meet the needs and budget of the bank.

Regards,

- Adrian (fictional Stakeholder)


Adrian Marchis
Business Analyst Community Blog - Post your thoughts!
 
New Post 10/21/2007 10:58 PM
User is offline kris
12 posts
10th Level Poster


Re: Requiremens Role-play: Bank ATM Example 
Hi Adrian (Stakeholder) and Snr BA’s,
I have made a list of questions I would like to ask for the requirement gathering process.
I have tried to arrange the questions into groups and put them down in a table.
I hope this is what you are expecting me to put up and hope am on the right track.
Regards,

Kris

 ATM software solution requirements questions

S.No
Questions
Notes
1
What is the aim/objective of the ATM solution?

To identify an ATM software solution to enable customers perform banking transactions such as withdrawing cash and checking accounts from the ATM terminal.

(I will be able to expand on this more once all the requirements have been identified)

2

This is an online bank and the bank currently does not provide the option of withdrawing cash online, so:

2.1 Is there an alternative way of withdrawing cash?  What is the current process of withdrawing cash if it is not possible online?

2.2 Do Cyberbank customers have to go in person to withdraw cash? (If this is an online account I don’t think this is possible)

2.3 Or does the cash get transferred to a ‘nominated account’ (an account of the Cyberbank customer maintained through another bank)?

2.4 Any other possible scenarios?

I am trying to understand the as-is process if any.

3

Who are the users of the ATM solution?

3.1 Only Cyberbank users

3.2 Other bank users (not a customer of Cyberbank)

3.3 International bank users (not a customer of Cyberbank)

3.4 Cyberbank employee(s) who will have access to do administration/support work of the ATM solution.

 

4

Types of accounts and what accounts are accessed by the ATM solution:

4.1 What are the different types of accounts? Savings accounts, CD accounts? Any other accounts e.g. cheque accounts, credit cards

4.2 Which accounts are accessible from the ATM terminal? E.g. checking balances and printing account balance may be a possible for all accounts? Withdrawing cash may be permitted only for savings account and not CD accounts?

 

5

What functions should the ATM solution perform?

5.1 Check balances?

5.1.1 Step by step process of how the function is carried out by the user

5.2 Withdraw cash?

5.2.1 Step by step process of how the function is carried out by the user

5.3 Deposit cash/cheques?

5.3.1 Step by step process of how the function is carried out by the user

5.4 Print account balances?

5.4.1 Step by step process of how the function is carried out by the user

5.5 What administration work is required by the bank employees?

5.5.1 Step by step process of how the function is carried out by the user

What checks and cross checks should be in place? (to help understand the business rules)

Need to understand the step by step process of how the functions are performed.

Need to understand what the required results should be.

Need to understand what will happen if the required results do not happen. E.g. error messages.

6

How will the ATM solution perform these functions?

6.1 Will the user require a password to start the transaction?

6.2 What happens if an incorrect password is entered? What information is displayed in case of errors? Currently the common practice when an incorrect password is entered thrice, the ATM will swallow the keycard (security reasons). Would the Cyberbank follow such as process and if yes how would such an issue be resolved?

6.3 Will there be any verification process with the banks internal systems? E.g. customer account details managed by other systems in the bank

6.4 Will there need to be an administrator to manage administrative features of the ATM solution? If yes what type of administration features need to be implemented?

6.5 What happens when the ATM runs out of cash/envelopes before the set time? E.g. Sunday, public holiday?

6.6 How will the cash be replaced? How frequently will the cash be replaced?

6.7 How will the Cyberbank administrator be notified of such issues (6.6 & 6.7)? Will there be a workflow process to notify the Cyberbank administrator?

What checks and cross checks should be in place? (to help understand the business rules)

Need to understand the step by step process of how the functions are performed.

Need to understand what the required results should be.

Need to understand what will happen if the required results do not happen. E.g. error messages.

7

Are there external devices attached to the ATM solution?

7.1 Keycards, keypad, envelops, cash, printing devices and printing paper.

7.2 Will the ATM use different types of bills. E.g. Notes, cheques, coins etc?

7.3 Will the bank accept only debit cards or will it accept credit cards?

 

8

Will the ATM solution have to interact with other systems of the bank?

8.1 If yes what data would be required and what is the importance of the data? E.g. account balances.

 

9

What security aspects need to be taken into consideration for the ATM solution?

 

10

Any functions that should not be performed by the ATM solution? (Not required to be implemented)

 

 

 

 

 

 
New Post 10/23/2007 1:03 AM
User is offline Adrian M.
764 posts
3rd Level Poster




Re: Requiremens Role-play: Bank ATM Example 

Hi Kris,

Wow... this is great!  This is what I expected and more.  ;-) 

Your list of questions are a great example of the types of questions that the business analyst needs to ask.  But I'll let the other Senior BAs comment on your approach and I'll continue to play the stakeholder role by answering your questions.  Note that, in some cases, I will try to simulate types of responses that you might get in real life.

So for now, here are some answers to some of your questions from the business/stakeholder perspective:

S.No
Questions
2
This is an online bank and the bank currently does not provide the option of withdrawing cash online, so:
2.1 Is there an alternative way of withdrawing cash?  What is the current process of withdrawing cash if it is not possible online?
A: Currently, there is no direct way of getting cash directly from CyberBank. Of course, the customer, can use their debit card to get cash from non-CyberBank ATMs (for a cost). They can also go to the local grocery store and get cash-back on debit card purchase or cash checks.
2.2 Do Cyberbank customers have to go in person to withdraw cash? (If this is an online account I don’t think this is possible)
A: Not today. But we do want to install ATM machines so that the customers can get cash in person with no fees.
2.3 Or does the cash get transferred to a ‘nominated account’ (an account of the Cyberbank customer maintained through another bank)?
A: Yes, they can do this today (in addition to writing checks and using their debit card) but we want them to keep their money with CyberBank.
3
Who are the users of the ATM solution?
A: For the first phase only CyberBank customers but we could make money by allowing other users to use the ATM for a fee. Also for the first phase we don’t envision employees using the ATM for admin/support purposes.
4
Types of accounts and what accounts are accessed by the ATM solution:
4.1 What are the different types of accounts? Savings accounts, CD accounts? Any other accounts e.g. cheque accounts, credit cards
A: checking, savings, CDs, and money market accounts.
4.2 Which accounts are accessible from the ATM terminal? E.g. checking balances and printing account balance may be a possible for all accounts? Withdrawing cash may be permitted only for savings account and not CD accounts?
A: All accounts should be accessible in one form or another from the ATM machine
5
What functions should the ATM solution perform?
5.1 Check balances? A: Yes
5.2 Withdraw cash? A: Yes
5.3 Deposit cash/cheques? A: Yes. Actually, after further discussion with the business units, this is also a very high priority for this project as today customers have to mail their checks to CyberBank (unless they have direct deposit). Currently CyberBank cannot accept cash deposits via mail for obvious reasons.
5.4 Print account balances? A: Yes
5.5 What administration work is required by the bank employees? A: None
6
How will the ATM solution perform these functions?
6.1 Will the user require a password to start the transaction? A: Our goal is to use a similar system as other banks (Pin #) as we will be using the standard ATM networks. It would be nice if the customer could use the same login name/password as on-line but we have not seen any of our competitors offer this feature.
6.2 What happens if an incorrect password is entered? What information is displayed in case of errors? Currently the common practice when an incorrect password is entered thrice, the ATM will swallow the keycard (security reasons). Would the Cyberbank follow such as process and if yes how would such an issue be resolved? A: If the password is wrong I the ATM access should be locked and but the debit card should be returned to the user. The user will probably be able to unlock their account by calling our toll free number or on-line.
6.3 Will there be any verification process with the banks internal systems? E.g. customer account details managed by other systems in the bank A: This might be a great question for the IT folks ;-).  
6.4 Will there need to be an administrator to manage administrative features of the ATM solution? If yes what type of administration features need to be implemented? A: Great question… let’s wait for this till phase 2. For now – let’s just let our users access their accounts.
6.5 What happens when the ATM runs out of cash/envelopes before the set time? E.g. Sunday, public holiday? A: For now let’s go to pilot and then we’ll figure this out later. Can the ATM machine notify operations when it’s running low?
6.6 How will the cash be replaced? How frequently will the cash be replaced? A: This is more of an operations concern but we will be using our cash deliver company to do this once a week. We can adjust this if needed.
6.7 How will the Cyberbank administrator be notified of such issues (6.6 & 6.7)? Will there be a workflow process to notify the Cyberbank administrator? A: there should be something in place.
7
Are there external devices attached to the ATM solution?
7.1 Keycards, keypad, envelops, cash, printing devices and printing paper. A: To start, we will be using a standard ATM machine with built-in card reader, keypad, cash dispenser, deposit slot, receipt printer, etc.
7.2 Will the ATM use different types of bills.E.g. Notes, cheques, coins etc? A: The machine will not accept coin deposit nor dispense coins. It will accept all paper denominations and checks.
7.3 Will the bank accept only debit cards or will it accept credit cards? A: For phase 1, only debit cards.
8
Will the ATM solution have to interact with other systems of the bank?
8.1 If yes what data would be required and what is the importance of the data? E.g. account balances. A: I’m sure it will have to interact with our main on-line application where all the account and transactional information is housed.
9
What security aspects need to be taken into consideration for the ATM solution? A: Very secure:
10
Any functions that should not be performed by the ATM solution? (Not required to be implemented) A: Nothing should be implemented unless specifically agreed to.


Adrian Marchis
Business Analyst Community Blog - Post your thoughts!
 
New Post 10/23/2007 10:07 AM
User is offline Chris Adams
323 posts
5th Level Poster






Re: Requiremens Role-play: Bank ATM Example 
Kris,

Your approach to the requirements gathering process is essentially a "survey approach". This is of course expected given that you are communicating with your stakeholder electronically.

You've asked some great questions and the stakeholder has provided some good insight. Now that you have answers, how do you plan to organize the information you have received in a concise and understandable way? Eventually, as you continue with your questioning you may end up with a lot of piecemeal answers mixed throughout several versions of your survey.

Chris (Sr. Analyst)


Chris Adams
Core Member – ModernAnalyst.com
LinkedIn Profile
 
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