Analyze requirements to balance stakeholder needs and constraints.

Stakeholder needs and constraints can address such things as cost, schedule, product or project performance, functionality, priorities, reusable components, maintainability, or risk.

Example Work Products

1.    Assessment of risks related to requirements

Subpractices

1.    Use proven models, simulations, and prototyping to analyze the balance of stakeholder needs and constraints.

Results of the analyses can be used to reduce the cost of the product and the risk in developing the product.

2.    Perform a risk assessment on the requirements and definition of required functionality and quality attributes.

Refer to the Risk Management process area for more information about identifying and analyzing risks.

3.    Examine product lifecycle concepts for impacts of requirements on risks.

4.    Assess the impact of the architecturally significant quality attribute requirements on the product and product development costs and risks.

When the impact of requirements on costs and risks seems to outweigh the perceived benefit, relevant stakeholders should be consulted to determine what changes may be needed.

As an example, a really tight response time requirement or a high availability requirement could prove expensive to implement. Perhaps the requirement could be relaxed once the impacts (e.g., on cost) are understood.