Can anyone please help me get some data from industry reports or vendor reports on quantitative benefit of using better requirements activities? Any pointers will be really helpful.
Submitted by colinrice on Wed, 2009-06-10 23:02. *
Here is some information on requirements metrics that I have seen, but references would need to be gathered to verify the information. Therefore this information should be treated as anecdotal.
Incorrect requirements, changing requirements and lack of user contribution / input account for about 12% each of the factors contributing to project failure. This means that requirements related issues are about 36% of the reason for failed projects. Combine this with an estimate that 70% of development projects are said to fail and draw your own conclusions. Note that getting the scope right, estimating the benefits, or having the correct sponsorship are not included in these numbers.
About 70% of the business rules that are collected for application development projects are captured in the data model. (Note that the information model should be used to verify the process model and vice versa.)
The user satisfaction rating for business requirements developed by novice analysts (less than 5 years experience) is 3.5 out of 7. This rises to 5.5 with experienced analysts.
40% (not really sure about this number, it may be as high as 60%) of the defects in the business requirements are implemented in the delivered application.
Key predictors of the ability of a business analyst to define high quality requirements are
familiarity with the business and technology
has done business analysis before (i.e. experience)
knows multiple business analysis techniques
participation of the business user
defined processes and templates for developing / documenting requirements.
Anecdotal Requirements Metrics
Here is some information on requirements metrics that I have seen, but references would need to be gathered to verify the information. Therefore this information should be treated as anecdotal.