More often than not in any system implementation you would come across a solution which caters to just the one particular business challenge, this is what is termed as the "PCS - Point & Click Solution". As the name suggests this tends to be a solution that is provided for only what is seen and not for what is not in focus but still constitutes vital working elements in the overall environment.
It is also very likely that there have been other significant changes that have come about in other process areas due to this particular solution that has been implemented. Doing a proper "Requirement Profiling" will help eliminate a situation like this occurring.
The key steps of Requirement profiling :
- Identify the business system landscape and where exactly in this landscape does the business challenge reside.
- Identify information tunnels flowing inwards and outwards from this business area.
- Ascertain if the solution needs to be deployed in any preceding or succeeding activity as well. This can done by drawing up a process map.
- Identify the impacted users of this business, which departments they relate to etc.
- Identify the business drivers behind the requirement. Who and what changes in the business has brought about this requirement.
- Identify the business risks of deploying the solution in the current business areas and also other integrated business functions.
- Most importantly also try and identify other solutions that are being put in other areas of the business which could potentially be integrated later on.
Performing the above profiling activities will help to understand the overall environment where this business requirement & challenges reside and also help with identifying the best approach in deploying a solution.
There are many other similar approaches to profiling a requirement and these would be carried as part of requirement gathering / blueprinting , however this doesn't always happen and therefore performing a thorough requirement profiling activity as part of requirement gathering would certainly help.
Hope you found this post informative. There is so much more that can be added on this topic which I shall do later on in my future posts.
Have a nice day.
