(To properly view this announcement, use a small monospace typeface such as courier 10.) San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of INCOSE (International Council on Systems Engineering) presents a one-day comprehensive tutorial on +--------------------------------------------------+ | Writing Good Requirements | | Engineering of Complex Systems | | by | | Ms. Ivy Hooks, Compliance Automation, Inc. | | | | Choose Friday, March 29, 1996 | | or Saturday, March 30, 1996 | | at San Jose State University | +--------------------------------------------------+ Tutorial Description ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. Have you been responsible for writing requirements? 2. Have you been responsible for doing something with someone else's requirements? 3. Have you been happy doing either of these jobs? If you answered yes to either 1 or 2, but answered no to number 3, this tutorial is for you. Writing good requirements is hard work. If you know how to write good requirements, you will find it is actually less work than writing bad requirements -- and rewriting and rewriting. This is a one day skills building tutorial. Choose the Friday or Saturday session. Outline ~~~~~~~ MODULE 1: WHY The tutorial addresses why good requirements are so critical to getting a project done within budget and on schedule. It provides examples of problems where poor requirements have resulted in cost overruns and schedule slips, and even program cancellation. It discusses requirements with respect to the project life cycle and the order of developing requirements -- what is needed before you write requirements and who is needed and when within the process to ensure all the requirements are defined at the right time. MODULE 2: WHAT This module addresses what you need in order to write good requirements. It focuses on the pre-requirements development phase, specifically developing the project scope and documenting the needs, goals, objectives, constraints, operational concept, mission statement, and other information that must be clearly defined in order to write a set of consistent requirements. Levels of requirements and different types of requirements, including interface requirements are introduced. At the end of this module, students critique an example of requirements and the resultant product. MODULE 3: HOW This module covers in-depth many of the concepts introduced in Module 2. Students work as teams to develop a project scope. (30 minutes of work plus reporting back period.) Problems with requirements - terminology, ambiguous terms, stating of implementation and operations as opposed to requirements, and level distinctions are addressed. Examples are shown of how to rewrite implementation and operational requirements into verifiable requirements. Students are given a project scope and then do a 15 minute team exercise to define a set of requirements. Management of data relevant to requirements -- rationale, traceability, allocation, and others are discussed. Students are asked to determine what is wrong with a set of requirements. Students taking this class will have a clear understanding of why the requirements they have worked with or written have given them so much trouble. They will have some real data to take back to their management to convince them of the need of doing the right thing right the first time. In addition, the student will be able to: o define project scope before writing requirements; go back to a customer to get needed data in order to either write requirements or to understand the customer requirements; and be empowered to be pro-active in the process, as opposed to merely reacting. o rapidly recognize poor requirements and have the skills to determine the correct requirement. o know what constitutes a verifiable requirement and to ensure that all requirements are verifiable. o determine what should be documented at what level and how to do this clearly. o find that they can write fewer requirements and still get what they want -- usually for less money. Date: Choose Friday or Saturday session (March 29 or 30, 1996) Time: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (includes an hour for lunch; lunch is provided) Place: San Jose State University, Engineering Building Auditorium Cost: As low as $75 for INCOSE members. See cost schedule on Enrollment Form below. About the Instructor ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ IVY HOOKS is president and CEO of Compliance Automation, Inc., a woman- owned small business. She has over 30 years experience, 20 with NASA, where she was the separation integration manager for the Space Shuttle and also manager of Shuttle flight software verification, and 10 in private industry. For the past eight years she has specialized in requirements definition and management, marketing the CAI product Vital Link, as well as conducting training seminars and performing consulting work for government and industry. Ivy is a long-standing member of INCOSE and co-chairs the Requirements Working Group. + + + + + CUT HERE AND MAIL + + + + + Enrollment Form (Early deadline is March 13. Application and remittance must be received by March 13 to qualify.) Name ______________________________________________________ Position ______________________________________________________ Company ______________________________________________________ Mailing Address __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ Day Phone __________________________________________________ Fax __________________________________________________ Email ______________________________________________________ Circle the Amount Non-Member Enclosed INCOSE Non- plus Member Member Membership* Early Registration (deadline Mar. 13) $75 $105 $150 Registration (final deadline Mar. 20) $85 $115 $160 *Note - Non-members can enroll at the member's rate by including the membership fee. Membership is good from 3/1/96 to 5/31/97. Annual membership is $60. I enclose $ ______ made out to INCOSE. Remarks ________________________________________________________ Mail completed form and fees payable to INCOSE to: Lew Lee, SFBAC Tutorial 1088 Petie Way Mountain View CA 94040 Call 408-743-4299 ext 5090 (Lew Lee) to obtain additional brochures or to inquire about membership. + + + + + CUT HERE AND MAIL + + + + + Enrollment Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Enrollment may be made by organizations or individuals. Enrollment is limited to 40 per session. If your session selection is filled, you will be contacted. ENROLLMENTS ARE NOT ACCEPTED PRIOR TO MARCH 1. We recommend non-members consider a membership in INCOSE and pay a lower fee. How to Enroll ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Enrollment is by mail only. Fill out and return the enrollment form provided. Acceptable forms of payment will be personal checks, bank drafts, money orders, and purchase orders. Sorry, credit cards are not accepted. Enrollment must be accompanied by the full fee. Fees are payable to INCOSE. Confirming Enrollment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you do not receive an enrollment confirmation 5 days prior to the scheduled date of the tutorial, please call one of the individuals listed below. Cancellation Policy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Full refunds will be made prior to March 20. No refunds will be made after March 20. Enrollment Packets ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Accompanying the confirmation notice will be an enrollment information package. A map to San Jose State and the classroom will be provided as well as parking information and a phone number to be used in an emergency. Course material will be distributed on the day of the tutorial. Lunch Is Provided ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A one hour lunch break is scheduled. Lunch will be provided and the entree will be a selection of sandwiches with various meats and cheeses. If you have special dietary needs, please indicate on the enrollment form. + + + + + Our thanks to Dr. Ernie Unwin of San Jose State University for making SJSU facilities available for this tutorial. + + + + + For Further Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Barney Morais 408-720-8431, veft63a@prodigy.com Lew Lee 408-743-4299 ext 5090, lew@svl.trw.com + + + + + Find us on the World Wide Web at URL=http://www.relay.net/~lew/sfbac.html + + + + + UPCOMING Tutorial in May, 1996. Announcement to be made in late March.