A requirement is a series of activities/steps within a subprocess. Often, organizations may leverage use case scenarios to explain the requirements clearly. Typically, a use case is a pattern of behavior and a sequence of related activities. Every organization must have the goal of collecting the requirements in the most structured way possible as this smooths out the rest of the project activities, thereby securing success.
Our recommendations for requirement-gathering for a Microsoft D365FO implementation are as follows:
- Requirements should be defined as Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound (SMART).
- Business processes and requirements should contain detailed information about business needs.
- Each requirement is typically expected to be executed by one person.
- Requirements can be shared and reused in multiple subprocesses.
- In the CRP methodology, it's beneficial to have the business blueprint, business processes, and subprocesses all prepared before the start of the initiative.
- All the requirements can be collected at the start, or they can be collected as per the CRP pilot.
- The documentation of the requirements is a must, and various techniques can be leveraged for this.
- Typically, an RTM should be leveraged, which hosts the laundry list of requirements and is used for tracking, linking to activities, and deliverables in a project.
- Ensure that each requirement can be tested and a positive test can be performed on it.
There are several factors to consider while preparing process flows. Based on our experience, we recommend the following factors to leverage while preparing them:
- Related: Document all the related flows that directly or indirectly impact the business process at hand.
- Well-structured: Always bring in a systematic approach of documentation and start with the various inputs and triggers for process flow.
- Uniform: Ensure consistency and uniformity across the flows.
- Consistent: There may be several team members who may be documenting such process flows and details, and it helps to prepare a guideline and an outline for the entire project to follow.
- Clear and unambiguous: Business understanding may be completed right away in one session and so must the process flow documentation. Consider preparing the base flow of the process first, ensuring absolute clarity and no ambiguity or assumptions.
There are a lot of tools available for managing business processes and requirements; for example, BPM, DevOps, SharePoint, Excel, and so on. However, we recommend that you leverage LCS BPM along with Azure DevOps to manage these more effectively in the context of Microsoft D365FO.
Now, let's learn how LCS BPM can be leveraged to manage your entire set of processes and requirements.