% Some pieces from BABOK

# Requirements life cycle

The purpose is to ensure that business, stakeholder, and solution requirements and designs are aligned to one another and that the solution implements them.

## Trace  

Business Needs <-> Business Requirements <-> Stakeholder Requirements <-> Solution Requirements (Design <-> Code <-> Test)

## Maintain

The purpose is to retain requirement accuracy and consistency throughout and beyond the change during the entire requirements life cycle, and to support reuse of requirements in other solutions.

## Prioritize

Typical factors that influence prioritization include:

* __Benefit__: the advantage that accrues to stakeholders as a result of requirement implementation, as measured against the goals and objectives for the change. The benefit provided can refer to a specific functionality, desired quality, or strategic goal or business objective. If there are multiple stakeholders, each group may perceive benefits differently. Conflict resolution and negotiation may be employed to come to consensus on overall benefit.
* __Penalty__: the consequences that result from not implementing a given requirement. This includes prioritizing requirements in order to meet regulatory or policy demands imposed on the organization, which may take precedence over other stakeholder interests. Penalty may also refer to the negative consequence of not implementing a requirement that improves the experience of a customer.
* __Cost__: the effort and resources needed to implement the requirement. Information about cost typically comes from the implementation team or the vendor. Customers may change the priority of a requirement after learning the cost. Cost is often used in conjunction with other criteria, such as cost-benefit analysis.
* __Risk__: the chance that the requirement cannot deliver the potential value, or cannot be met at all. This may include many factors such as the difficulty of implementing a requirement, or the chance that stakeholders will not accept a solution component. If there is a risk that the solution is not technically feasible, the requirement that is most difficult to implement may be prioritized to the top of the list in order to minimize the resources that are spent before learning that a proposed solution cannot be delivered. A proof of concept may be developed to establish that high risk options are possible.
* __Dependencies__: relationships between requirements where one requirement cannot be fulfilled unless the other requirement is fulfilled. In some situations, it may be possible to achieve efficiencies by implementing related requirements at the same time. Dependencies may also be external to the initiative, including but not limited to other teams’ decisions, funding commitments, and resource availability. Dependencies are identified as part of the task Trace Requirements (p. 79).
* __Time Sensitivity__: the 'best before' date of the requirement, after which the implementation of the requirement loses significant value. This includes time-to-market scenarios, in which the benefit derived will be exponentially greater if the functionality is delivered ahead of the competition. It can also refer to seasonal functionality that only has value at a specific time of year.
* __Stability__: the likelihood that the requirement will change, either because it requires further analysis or because stakeholders have not reached a consensus about it. If a requirement is not stable, it may have a lower priority in order to minimize unanticipated rework and wasted effort.
* __Regulatory or Policy Compliance__: requirements that must be implemented in order to meet regulatory or policy demands imposed on the organization, which may take precedence over other stakeholder interests.

## Assess changes

The purpose is to evaluate the implications of proposed changes to requirements and designs. The task is performed as new needs or possible solutions are identified.

* is it align to the change strategy and/or solution scope?
* will increase the value of the solution?
* has conflicts with other requirements?
* or increase the level of risk?
* can be traced back to a need?

## Approve

The purpose is to obtain agreement on and approval of requirements and designs for business analysis work to continue and/or solution construction to proceed.

Business analysts are responsible for ensuring clear communication of
requirements, designs, and other business analysis information to the key stakeholders responsible for approving that information.

Approval of requirements and designs may be formal or informal. Predictive approaches typically perform approvals at the end of the phase or during planned change control meetings. Adaptive approaches typically approve requirements only when construction and implementation of a solution meeting the requirement can begin.

Business analysts work with key stakeholders to gain consensus on new and changed requirements, communicate the outcome of discussions, and track and manage the approval.