The document discusses establishing a Requirements Management Office (RMO) to provide governance and management of requirements across projects. It describes how an RMO can define requirements standards, implement tools and repositories, and provide reporting on requirements quality and compliance. Lessons learned include prioritizing requirements for the RMO, gaining stakeholder buy-in, establishing an RMO role, implementing the RMO iteratively, and ensuring projects are supported.

1. Requirements Management Office
(RMO)
John Cheesman
IIBA 13th March 2013

2. Abstract
A Requirements Management Office (RMO) is a
structured way to manage requirements and
specifications.
It is a co-ordinating organisational function providing
tooling, standards, policies and governance across
projects for requirements.
Similar to the PMO (Project Management Office) for project
management.
This talk describes the purpose of an RMO and
experiences working with companies to set them up.
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3. Topics
• Requirements for Requirements
• The RMO
• Example Processes and Reports
• Lessons Learned
• Q&A
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4. Project Disciplines – the V Model
RDM
Business Operational Have we
Objective Reporting built the
right system?
Business Acceptance
Requirements Testing
System System
Specification Testing
Have we
High-Level Integration
Design Testing
built the
system right?
Unit Unit
Design/Dev Testing
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5. Single Source of Truth
REQS
Multiple Stakeholders
Collaboration and Business
Communication
Cross-discipline consistency
Single Source of truth
PM BA Test
RDM
Design/Dev
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6. Structured Requirements
Business Requirements Requirements-
Business Capability Driven Projects
Business
Objective /
Requirement
Business Process
System Specification
Solution-Driven
System
Use Case Projects
Requirement
REQS
Requirements Structure
System Standards
ALM Mappings and
Consistency
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7. Multiple Requirements Forms
Business Requirements
Business Capability
Business
Objective /
Requirement Business Process
System Specification REQS
Standardised Requirements
Functional Use Case Types
Requirement
Story Step
User Interface System Rule
Notification Message
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8. Projects and Architecture
Projects have a vertical focus, Architecture has a horizontal focus.
Project Project Project Project Project Project
Business Architecture
Application Architecture
Technology Architecture
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9. Traceability and Consistency
REQS
Vertical Traceability
Requirements Traceability
Architectural Consistency
Business Capability
Project /
Business Architecture Business Process Release
Focus
Application Architecture Use Case
System
Architecture Governance / Consistency
Product / Roadmap Focus
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10. Requirements for Requirements
REQS REQS
Multiple Stakeholders Requirements Structure
Collaboration and Standards
Communication
Cross-discipline consistency ALM Mappings and
Single Source of truth Consistency
REQS REQS
Standardised Requirements Vertical Traceability
Types Architectural Consistency
REQS
+ Support (Standards, Tooling)
Governance (Consistency,
Compliance, Reporting)
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11. The Governance Burger
Ensuring consistency across projects
RMO ACTIVITIES
POLICY MGT TOOL ING REPORTING
Architecture,
Standards & Policies Compliance
Support
Project Requirements
DISCOVERY BUILD & TEST IMPLEMENTATION
DELIVERY ACTIVITIES
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12. Requirements Management Office
Standards
(Types, Structure)
RDM
Repository
& Tools
Policies (ALM,
Architecture)
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13. Requirements Lifecycle Process
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14. Status Reporting
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15. Quality & Delivery Dashboard
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16. Establishing an RMO – Lessons
• Prioritise (scope) Requirements for Requirements
• Gain stakeholder buy-in (like any other project)
• Create an RMO role and champion(s)
• Establish tooling / repository
• Implement iteratively – standards, measures, reports
• Deliver early wins
• Ensure projects are supported
• Light-touch compliance (initially)
• Incremental RDM improvement
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