Requirements Video Transcript
Slide 1
Welcome to the overview of the ProjectONE Requirements Gathering sessions. This overview will provide you with some background of ProjectONE and let you know what to expect when you go to a requirements workshop. Today’s presentation is intended to help you prepare for and participate in workshops. This will help us maximize the time spent in the workshops. Some of you may have already participated in a requirements workshop; this orientation has been provided as a result of your feedback on how to improve this process. Let's take a look at the agenda.
Slide 2
During the course of this presentation, we will be going over the following items: We will be going over, ProjectONE's objectives, timeline and benefits. We will also be talking about what a requirement is, how you can help, what to expect in the workshops, what to expect after the workshops, and finally, what happens next. First, let’s talk about ProjectONE.
Slide 3
ProjectONE Overview
Slide 4
The goal of ProjectONE is to develop and deploy a highly efficient system for the processing of integrated statewide financial and human resource transactions. Staff from the participating agencies, the Comptroller’s office, and the implementation vendor are working together to create one set of books. The resulting system will provide the model for the tools to shine the brightest light on the state’s finances, give decision makers seamless access to state data, and allow the state to make better use of the data at its fingertips. It will also reduce the intensive manual effort in key business processes such as asset management and procurement while improving interdepartmental and interagency communication. Three specific benefits include: One destination for real-time reliable information, A “single source of truth” eliminating conflicting data, and better tracking and standardization of financial information.
Slide 5
Five phases of the project are plan, design, build, deliver, and operate. Right now we are in the second, or ”Design“ phase of the project. In this phase, we are now determining the requirements based on state and federal laws and statutes, state guidelines and policies, and other business needs for the new PeopleSoft system. After requirements are gathered and approved, we will do a fit/gap analysis. This analysis will determine what the PeopleSoft system can currently provide and what is needed to be added if there are any gaps between what is needed and what is currently provided.
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The project has five implementation milestones. The milestones are… April 1, 2010 — This is the end of the requirements gathering workshops. July 1, 2010 — This is the end of the fit/gap analysis workshops of the project. From here, the project will enter the build phase. January 1, 2011 — This is the first actual “go-live” implementation date for ProjectONE. The Texas Department of Transportation, Department of Information Resources, and Texas Department of Motor Vehicles will all have their HR and payroll systems implemented. April 1, 2011 — The five health agencies will have their HR and payroll systems go live. September 1, 2011 — the Texas Department of Transportation, Department of Information Resources, and Texas Department of Motor Vehicles will have their financial systems implemented. So, how are we going to capture all this data? In our Requirements Gathering Workshops.
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Requirements Gathering Overview
Slide 8
What is a requirement? A requirement is a statement that conveys both what the future application will need as well as what will be needed to satisfy business needs. Quality requirements should be short and concise, form a complete sentence, begin with the text “ability to” or “ability for”, be easily understood by the reader, be individually testable, be verifiable through inspection, analysis, demonstration or test, specify a desired end goal or result, record requirements at a consistent level of detail and make sure that the stated requirement does not contradict other requirements, only define requirements that are necessary to PeopleSoft and consider, if the requirement is removed, would a deficiency exist that cannot be fulfilled by another existing requirement. Quality requirements should not include the solution, use long narrative paragraphs that contain multiple requirements, use “and/or” or “etc” in a requirement statement as it suggests that several requirements are combined into one, use bulleted lists within the requirement description, use acronyms in a requirement statement. However, if an acronym is used, translate the acronym into full text. We are capturing each process at a conceptual level, so that later, in the fit/gap workshops, we can compare it to the PeopleSoft system for functionality. These requirements are recorded at the agency level, not the person level. We will be content focused when resolving any inconsistencies. We can only accomplish this with your help. And, we want to hear from you.
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The requirements gathering workshops have four main objectives. Review – analyze and establish requirements. Present – present, discuss and identify any best business practices and processes. Identify – identify all risks and concerns as well as all missing requirements. Lastly, Define – all areas where additional information is needed as well as areas where the business process might be improved.
Slide 10
All requirements are logged and documented in an Excel spread sheet. This ensures that each requirement is addressed in the build phase of the project. Each individual requirement is assigned a unique number for tracking purposes. This Is why single requirement statements are necessary.
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Remember, you have been identified by your agency as a subject matter expert. ProjectONE will eventually be rolled out to every state agency. Therefore, while in these workshops, please keep the following in mind. Acknowledge current business processes while challenging how the State of Texas does things today. Consider leading business practices, Consider business process improvements. Think of the data and information you require. Remember statutory and regulatory requirements. Stay “vanilla” and embrace delivered PeopleSoft functionality whenever possible. De-customize the current state; focus on standard/delivered PeopleSoft functionality and business processes. Adopt a statewide perspective. This is “we” as in Texas government, not “we» as in our agency. Process changes and impacts should be driven by involvement of agency business owners. A steering Committee, comprised of business, IT, and operations leadership, will empower the project leaders to make quick and informed decisions.
Slide 12
In each workshop participants from each agency are expected to describe their agency’s current business process in relation to the workshop topic. The ProjectONE staff will then walk through leading business practices to evaluate all existing procedures and processes. Then, both the participants and ProjectONE staff will review each of the existing requirements and identify any new requirements that are needed.
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Remember your agency identified you as a subject matter expert. Your input in these workshops is requested and beneficial to ProjectONE. You can help in several ways. First, prepare. Materials for the workshops are sent out three days in advance. Please review them beforehand, become familiar with the processes as well as the individual requirements. Workshops run more smoothly when participants come with clarifying questions, new requirements and changes identified. Second, attend. Be at the workshops on time and ready to contribute. Finally, third, engage. We need your energy, enthusiasm and ideas for identifying, uncovering and gathering all relevant business requirements.
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After each session, both ProjectONE and the agencies have responsibilities. ProjectONE will compile and distribute all the pertinent information including meeting minutes, action items, and any related documents to attendees within three days after the workshop ends. Agency attendees should review this documentation to ensure it is accurate and complete and respond with changes and revisions within three days of receiving the minutes.
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After requirements gathering is complete, we will move to the fit/gap and process design activities. We will provide more information about two activities in a future ProjectONE communication. What will each phase require of the agencies? We will need everyone in the requirements gathering meetings to actively participate in sessions and work with ProjectONE to identify any additional requirements. In the fit/gap meetings each participant will need to actively participate in sessions, identify, discuss, and resolve gaps in the requirements. And validate fits in the requirements. During the process design the Chart of Accounts will be finalized. In testing and readiness we will identify resources to participate in testing of the systems and test activities such as the initial development of training and marketing of the new software system. And, finally, go live. The first of the three go live dates begin with the HR payroll modules leading up to the financial model implementation.
Slide 16
In conclusion, there are a couple of things we want you to leave with today. First, prepare. Materials for the workshops are sent out three days in advance. Please review them beforehand, become familiar with the processes as well as the individual requirements. Workshops run more smoothly when participants come with clarifying questions, new requirements and changes identified. Second, attend. Be at the workshops on time and ready to contribute. Your knowledge of the processes will make ProjectONE a success. Third, engage. We need your energy, enthusiasm and ideas for identifying, uncovering and gathering all relevant business requirements. Finally, we are capturing this data at the agency level, not person level. We are focused on resolving these at the conceptual level. Please do not worry about any inconsistencies in knowledge, these will be resolved. Thanks for attending and participating in the requirements gathering activities. We invite you to send questions to our email address: txprojectone@cpa.state.tx.us.
