Defining the Scope in IT Projects – Part V – Defining the Data

Defining the Scope in IT Projects – Part V – Defining the Data (#5 in the series Defining the Scope in IT Projects)
By Neville Turbit – Project Perfect

This approach is similar to functionality, and should be used in conjunction with functionality. The process is likely to capture what users expect to see in a system. The intention is not to make the business users, data modelers. The intention is to get the business users to verbalize their requirements for information in a structured manner. Ask the users what are the people, places and thing they want to keep track of. In this case, the focus is on nouns.

This approach will not capture data that may be required to technically make the system work. For example, it will not capture things like transaction log files, archive files, SQL script files etc. Post workshop, the Project Manager will need to sit with a data modeler to sort out what else is required. The hardest part is to stop doing a data model. Keep the focus on where the data is to come from, and identify what is new, where the interfaces are likely to be, is existing data suitable, is the data currently captured etc.

Data Definition Example

Name	Description
Companies	Details of the company including address, overseas offices, and up to ten contacts
Licenses	Licenses for all software and hardware used in the organisation. Include contracts,
correspondence, quotes and any other related documents. Does not include manuals
Renewal dates	Dates the license is due for renewal and the cost of the renewal. .
Etc.

Previous article: Defining the Scope in IT Projects – Part IV – Define the Functionality

Project Perfect is a project management software and project infrastructure consulting organisation based in Sydney Australia. Their focus is to provide creative yet pragmatic solutions to Project Management issues as well as to set up the infrastructure an organisation requires to successfully manage projects.

Project Perfect sell “Project Administrator” software, which is a tool to assist organisations better manage project risks, issues, budgets, scope, documentation planning and scheduling. They also created a technique for gathering requirements called “Method H”, and sell software to support the technique. For more information on Project tools or Project Management visit www.projectperfect.com.au