Requirements Analysis - Requirements Engineering and Management for Software Development Projects - page 63

Table 4.2 Gap analysis

Feasbility
(Y/N)

would have discussed the product features and the possibility of meeting their
needs with the existing product features and collated their views. Now, based on
those discussions and the notes taken, we now have to identify the gaps between
the product features and the stated organizational needs. We enumerate these
differences for all the proposed modules. Using this list, we identify those gaps that
need customization of the product. Table 4.2 shows a suggested format for gap
identification.
Determine the Schedule of Implementation of Requirements—Scheduling is
the activity of assigning calendar dates to planned activities. When we carry out
requirements analysis, we may not be in a position to assign absolute calendar
dates to implement the requirements because we may still need to resolve some of
the issues uncovered during analysis itself. Based on the priorities assigned to all
the enumerated requirements, we can prepare a tentative schedule with an assumed
start date. If we use a tool such as MS Project, Primavera or PMPal, we can shift
the start date and the tool would take care of the rescheduling of the remaining
dates. Before we schedule the implementation of requirements, we need to esti-
mate the effort required for the remaining activities of software development and
implementation (if included). This schedule would assist the end users to assess
the project execution and plan their further activities. Discussion on effort esti-
mation and scheduling is beyond the scope of this topic. Interested readers are
advised to refer to the topic ''Software Estimation: Best Practices, Tools and
Techniques for Software Project Estimators'' by Murali Chemuturi, Published by
J.Ross Publishing, Inc. 2009.