Assignment Two

Question 1:
Identify the stakeholders for the case study. For each stakeholder list their name, title, role on the
project (provider, reviewer, approver of requirements), influence on the project, and how they
might be affected by the project.

Name Title Role on the Influence on Project

How They Are
Project Affected by the
Project
Michelle Product/Business Product/Business Michelle has the Michelle is the
Owner Owner most stake in the product and
Approver of project as it is her business owner.
Requirements idea and business to If the project
run. She has the goes poorly, she
ultimate say when it could lose
comes to making money and
decisions. potentially
shoes. If the
project is
successfully, she
will gain
revenue.
Women Users/Customers Users/Customers The users/customers The
Renting Testers would be who user/customers
Shoes Michelle would directly affect
(Users) want to consult for the success of
most of her Michelles
requirements as project/business.
their opinion and If they are
input would lead to unhappy with
how she makes her the product and
revenue. dont continue
to use it,
Michelle will
have no revenue
and her business
will fall apart.
Interactive Local Local Interactive Partners If the project
Partners Design/Analysis Design/Analysis LLC will be goes poorly,
LLC Firm Firm responsible for Interactive
Specification helping Michelle Partners LLC
Creators choose a design and will receive bad
strategy for her reviews from
business/application. Michelle and
They will help her she would be
 finalize the unlikely to
requirements, build recommend
specifications for them to another
her website, and client. Also, she
translate the would tell Jeff
requirements to an Greenberg, her
outsourcing partner. neighbor, that
the company did
a poor job and
he would also be
unlikely to
recommend
them again.
Interactive
Partners LLC
need this project
to run smoothly
so they can
increase their
clientele and
successful
reputation.
Offshore Potential Potential The offshore The offshore
Resources Developers Developers/ resources will be resources will
In charge of responsible for want the project
returning developing to be successful
Deliverables Michelles website so that Michelle
and mobile will recommend
applications. They them for future
will build the business. If the
application based project goes
off her list of poorly, they will
requirements and receive bad
deliver the finished reviews and lose
product to her. an opportunity
to increase
clientele.

Question 2:
Identify at least 10 functional and 5 non-functional solution requirements for the case. Are your
requirements effective? Write your requirements as narrative statements that are SMART:
specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and testable. Number each requirement.
Functional Requirements:
1. Michelle needs her application to display shoes to her users. Preferably in a way where
they could filter the shoes by size, color, price, style, and/or brand. The display could
include pictures of the shoes in a design similar to that shown below. The display would
list the shoe size and price. It would allow the user to click on the listing for further
investigation of the product.

2. Michelle needs a way to upload her shoes onto the application. She needs to be able to
add shoes to her site as she receives new purchases. Ideally, she could fill out a form
where she lists the brand, price, size, and a photograph. Later down the road, this process
could potentially be automated as her method for purchasing shoes evolves.
3. Michelle needs a way for her users to rent or subscribe to the shoes on the
application. The users need to be able to select a shoe for rent. This could be as simple as
an add to cart button (shown in the photo below).

4. Michelle needs a way for her users to create an account. Ideally, the account would
require the user to enter an email address so Michelle could contact them about rentals
and shipping. The user account would also establish a way for Michelle to keep track of
which customers currently have which shoes.
5. Michelle needs a payment method so that she can charge users for the shoes. The
payment method would require users to enter their credit/debit card number or potentially
connect the direct bank account to their account.
6. Michelle needs a method for returning a rental or subscription item. Michelle would need
a process put in place so that when the users rental was overdue, the user would receive
an email reminding them to send back the shoes. The reminder could also include a
packaging label so that the user would only have to box up the shoes, print out the label,
and drop them in the mail box to be sent back to Michelle.
7. Michelle could have a way for users to interact with one another and write comments on
their experiences with different shoes. Her application could have a customer review
section, similar to the one shown below. Customers could write a review that states the
overall comfort and likeability of the shoes. It could include an overall star rating so
future buyers could see what the general opinion on the shoes was.
 8. Michelle could have a customer support email or chat method so that users can report
issues with their payment, delivery, or shoes. The process could be similar to that shown
below, where a user enters their phone number and has a customer service representative
contact them. It could also simply be an email address that users could send their
complaints to or potentially a chat box where the user could live chat with a
representative.

9. Michelle needs a place to store and care for her shoes when they are not being rented. As
her company grows, she will most likely not be able to store the shoes at her home. She
will need a place to keep the shoes when they are not being rented out. Preferably, a safe
place where they cant be stolen or damaged.
10. Michelle needs a way to deter patients from keeping rentals past their return date. She
could charge them a fee based on how long the rental is overdue. The application would
have to be able to recognize that the shoes are overdue and automatically charge the user
based on the preset late fee.

Non-Functional Requirements:
1. The application must be scalable. Since Michelle wants to get her business up and
running as quickly as possible, she needs a design that will allow her to start small, but
assume that it can support more users as her business grows. The app would have to
support multiple users placing orders at once.
2. The application must have high security. Michelles customers will be placing
debit/credit transactions to order the shoes through her application. This will require tight
security because she wouldnt want people hacking into her app and seeing users
transaction history or card numbers.
 3. The application should have high performance. Michelle wouldnt want her app to freeze
when users navigated to different pages or tried to place an order. She would want her
application to be sleek and user friendly. She would also want it to be easy to learn so
that users could open it up right away and start using it.

Question 3:
What strategy would you use in this project to prioritize the requirements? Prioritize the
requirements found previously according to your strategy.

For prioritizing the requirements, I would use a categorical priority scale made up of the
following categories: critical, important, and desirable. Michelle wants to get her application out
as quickly as possible and she is open to releasing the application features in versions. Therefore,
I would make sure that during the first release of the application all the critical requirements are
included because they would be necessary for the application to run. During the next release, the
important requirements could be included and in the following releases the desirable
requirements could be added based on cost and time benefit.
I would use the Delphi Process to rank the requirements within the categories. I would
present the requirements to the group of stakeholders and have them anonymously estimate
which category each requirement belonged in based on their experiences and opinions. I would
then discuss each requirement with the group and order the requirements based on the general
consensus.

Critical Important Desirable

Way to Display Shoes Good Security Way for Users to

Way to Upload Shoes
User Profile to
Contact User & Keep
Track of Rented
Shoes
Way for Users to
Rent/ Subscribe
Payment Method
Way for Users to
Return Shoes
Charge Late Fee
Scalable Application Rate
High Experience/Comment
Performance/User
Friendly Application
Customer Support
Email/Chat
Place to Care/Store
Shoes When Not
Rented
Question 4:
A conversation with several managers in the order processing department has revealed that about
1 out of every 30 orders for outfits is unusual. How many previous orders should you inspect if
you want to have a 95% level of certainty that you covered all variations? What criteria would
you use to select these orders? Be sure to show your work.

Critical value for 95% confidence = 1.96

Probability = (1/30)
Variance = 2 = (1/30)*(1-(1/30)) = 0.032
n = 0.032*(1.96/0.05)2 = 49.17
Randomly select 50 orders.

Question 5:
Using a mind mapping tool such as FreeMind create a mind map for a 3-5 page paper on the
following topic: Offshore Outsourcing of Software Development: Does It Really Reduce
Software Development Costs?. This outline will be a set of discussion points and a preliminary
outline for a blog entry for your IS blog. Write the blog using your previously brainstormed
ideas. Keep the blog to 1000-1500 words. Be sure to cite (and link) your sources.

Blog Post:
http://is3500portfolioloomis.weebly.com/blog/offshore-outsourcing-of-software-development-
does-it-really-reduce-software-development-costs

Offshore outsourcing is the process of exporting jobs, typically IT-related work, to a

company located in another country. There has been a long debate in the software industry over
whether offshore outsourcing is beneficial or actually harmful to the company doing the
outsourcing. Companies interested in offshore outsourcing are usually looking to save costs on
project development and implementation or completing a task they are currently not capable of
carrying out in-house. Many companies choose to outsource business tasks that are not of their
top priority. This way they can pass the task along to a company that is specialized in the
industry and they can focus on their primary business missions. Based on your companys
business activities and priorities, offshore outsourcing may be the appropriate decision for you.
The main benefits of offshore outsourcing are the reduced operational, recruitment, and
time costs. Because you do not have to build or install the software yourself, you do not have to
worry about wasting your time recruiting and employing adequate staff members to complete the
task. Also, labor costs will be cheaper. Labor costs are typically lower in countries other than the
United States, and you wont have to worry about unemployment tax, Social Security and
Medicare taxes. Additionally, you dont have to worry about spending money on resources,
tools, or technology needed to complete the project because whoever you outsource to will be
responsible for handling all of these requirements.
Another great benefit of offshore outsourcing is that because you are hiring a company of
experts. Ideally, the company you hire will have a main mission that is focused on an industry
that aligns with the task you need them to complete. The employees at the outsourced company
will be proficiently trained to complete the task you give them. Therefore, they will be able to
complete the project swiftly and professionally. You can assume that the work will be high-
quality.
Because you are decreasing your workload by shifting some of your lower priority
projects to offshore companies, you will have more time and energy to focus on your businesss
main urgencies. The backend, support tasks of your company can be taken off your plate so that
you can focus on making your business missions most profitable. Offshore outsourcing can help
increase your productivity because you wont have to balance your time on multi-tasking
secondary areas.
A final benefit of offshore outsourcing is that you will be able to share your project risks
with the offshore company. The offshore team will share the burdens of financial risks imposed
by software tools, hiring new employees, and extending infrastructure. Additionally, because you
are hiring the company to complete a project for you, all the project risks will fall on their
shoulders. If something goes wrong with the project, they will be primarily responsible for fixing
the issue and will ultimately have to take the fall.
Although offshore outsourcing has several benefits, it also has several downfalls that may
not make it the right choice for your company. One major disadvantage is the increase in
management. Because you are working with a company located in a different country, you may
have to worry about management issues that previously were not a concern. The company might
have employees that speak a different language or have a completely different cultural
environment, which would require you to find a way to break the barrier. The difference in
language and culture may make it very difficult to communicate your project objects and
requirements. Also, the company may be in a different time zone, making it so that you have
limited time slots to schedule meetings. You may also accumulate time and money costs with
having to travel to the offshore company or pay for their employees to travel to your own
company.
Although offshore outsourcing is thought to lower your companys project costs, it may
in fact end up costing you more. Before signing a contract with the offshore company, you would
want to read it thoroughly and potentially pay for a lawyer to look over it for you. Some offshore
companies charge additional fees for errors. Also, if you think of an additional feature you would
like your deliverable to have while the company is in development, it may cost you extra to add
on. However, if you were performing the task in-house, you would have more flexibility to
change the project requirements without inflicting additional costs.
Another major drawback of working with an offshore outsourcing company is that they
may not be entirely focused on you as a customer. Because they are most likely a consulting
company, they will have other clients besides your company. Therefore, their only focus wont
just be on delivering you the best project possible. Their resources and time will be balanced
among other customers. This may lead to delayed support and focus. If something does not go
according to your project plan, the offshore company may not be able to handle the issue
immediately due to limited resources.
Security and confidentiality are also factors to think about when consulting an offshore
company. If your project pertains to payroll, medical, client, or login data, the offshore company
will need access to that data. Additionally, they may need access to proprietary information and
business secrets. If the data is hacked or leaked, it could be detrimental to your business. You
should make sure that you have a method in place to counteract data loss before handing over
any rights to your companys stored information.
Overall, there are many advantages and disadvantages to consider when deciding if your
company should outsource a project. Before deciding to offshore outsource, you should list all
the benefits and weaknesses. Then, you should compare the two lists. If the benefits outweigh the
weaknesses, it is in your companys best interest to outsource the project. However, if there are
more downsides in outsourcing your project, you should consider finding the resources to
perform the task in-house. In conclusion, offshore outsourcing may reduce your companys
software costs depending on your companys circumstances.

Resources:
http://www.tiempodev.com/corporateblog/the-hidden-costs-of-offshore-software-development
https://www.thebalance.com/top-6-outsourcing-disadvantages-2533780
https://www.flatworldsolutions.com/articles/advantages-disadvantages-outsourcing.php
http://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/offshore-outsourcing
http://www.apoyocorp.com/13-ultimate-pros-and-cons-of-outsourcing-and-offshoring
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/pros-cons-outsourcing-offshore-companies-76794.html

Question 6:
Create a 10-minute presentation of a requirements management tool (as assigned/picked via
Blackboard).

Presentation:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/15GoRD8xBm65G9PxrIQELJgq7dqYIgBycVXq9tblrTe
s/edit?usp=sharing

Question 7:
Develop a checklist that can be used during peer review sessions by an analyst to ensure that
requirements activities (elicitation, management, prioritization, etc.) were done properly. The
checklist must contain at least twenty items. Use the web to help you find rules of thumb. The
following are two examples:

Were insights garnered from previous project retrospectives incorporated into the
requirements activities?
Were preconditions elicited to assure that missing requirements have not been missed?

Use online resources and your own experiences to find these heuristics.
 Were steps taken to ensure that all users needs were addressed within the listed
requirements?
Were the requirements reviewed for unclear, incomplete, ambiguous, or contradictory
language?
Was a process set in place to manage change of the requirements as the product
develops?
Was the traceability for each requirement documented (who suggested it, why it exists,
what other requirements its related to)?
Was signoff received on the final requirements list from all major stakeholders?
Were SMART objectives developed for each requirement?
Was a proper requirements gathering technique used to discover the requirements
(Brainstorming, Mind Mapping, Use Case Workshop, Interviewing)?
Were the requirements documented in a place where all stakeholders and project
members can easily access the list to reference later?
Did the analyst fully understand the project domain and the process of application
development before gathering the requirements?
Was the requirements language consistent throughout the elicitation and prioritization
process?
Were diagrams, pictures, or sample data used to reinforce requirements meanings?
Were requirement dependencies documented?
Were requirements ordered by overall business value (benefit, risk, priority, etc.)?
Does each requirement have an owner to ensure stakeholder support and adequate
information?
Are requirements broken down into their simplest components by separating capabilities,
conditions, and associated business rules?
Was the requirements solicitor familiar with the organizations language and how it
operates?
Were existing applications of the same or similar function researched for comparison
prior to requirements discovery?
Was an impact and feasibility analysis performed on each requirement?
Do the requirements fit the project budget and timeline?
Are the requirements possible with the current technology?

Resources:
http://www.slideshare.net/menameissa/business-requirements-gathering-and-analysis
https://www.batimes.com/articles/verifying-requirements-documentation.html
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Business_Analysis_Guidebook/Documenting_and_Managing_Req
uirements#Gather.2FElicit_Requirements
http://www.theitba.com/category/checklist/