User Needs

Project Information

Project: PROJECT-NAME
Attached worksheets:
User needs > Interview notes
Related Documents:
Process impact: The statement of user needs captures and explains the actual desires of stakeholders in roughly their own words. What they desire is never exactly what the product provides. Documenting user needs here, independently from the SRS, helps to keep the SRS precise and makes the tasks of verification and validation more effective. This document is not an informal draft of the SRS, it is different document with a complementary purpose.

Agreed Goals

TODO: Has there been a clear statement of the overall goal of this project that the stakeholders agree to? If so, paste it here or add a hyperlink. If not, you should summarize your understanding of the project goals into a brief statement and try to get the stakeholders to agree to it. The text below gives some alternative examples, select one and revise it, or write your own.

We were given a request for proposals that is agreed to by all stakeholders.

After several interviews and brainstorming sessions, we have a revised project description that has been agreed to by all stakeholders.

There are still a few different (but overlapping) visions of what this project needs to achieve. When a single joint vision is agreed to, it will be hyper-linked from here.

There are TWO divergent visions of what this project needs to achieve. We are gathering user needs as a way to evaluate the alternative visions and select one as our agreed goal.

The stakeholders agree that the goal of this project is to build a widely reusable e-commerce engine with a set of features similar to the features found on the big shopping sites.

Environment

TODO: Briefly describe the environment where the product will be used. Describe the environment as it is or will be, not what you would wish it to become.
What is the system's business environment?
Businesses need e-commerce websites to sell their products to consumers. The system provides product information to consumers and automates order-taking. The e-commerce website must integrate with back-end business functions for inventory, order fulfillment, account management, and partners.
Active individual investors make decisions about stocks traded in public markets. Much of the stock data is available through the stock markets, brokerage firms, or from a handful of business news services. Actual stock trades are executed via the back-end systems of our brokerage partners.
Each real estate agent works with a set of potential buyers and sellers. Real estate agents do not share customer data with other agents, because they do not want to share commissions. Information on specific available homes changes daily, and this tool must help them keep up.
BUSINESS-USER works with LEGACY-SYSTEM and/or OTHER-BUSINESS-ENTITY to accomplish BUSINESS-GOAL. They must overcome BUSINESS-CHALLENGE-1 and BUSINESS-CHALLENGE-2. They emphasize BUSINESS-PROCESS-1 over BUSINESS-PROCESS-2.
What is the system's physical environment?
This system consists of a cluster of web, application, and database servers co-located in a data center with 24x7 monitoring, UPS, air-conditioning, etc. Users of this system are usually at their home or office computers.
This product is installed on a single customer server machine that may be located in a data center or office. Users of this system are typically at their offices.
This product is installed on a large set of point-of-sale terminals at retail stores. Users are typically standing at those terminals.
This application runs on hand-held devices that will often be used while the user is walking from one section of the warehouse to another. Lighting is good in that environment, but there are many noises and distractions.
What is the system's technology environment (hardware and software)?
60% of consumers have machines with P-III or equivalent processors, while 30% have P-4 machines, and 10% have less powerful machines. While many users have 17-inch monitors, 15-inch monitors or laptops with 1024x768 resolution are also common.
65% of potential users are using Windows 98 or Me. 30% are using NT, 2000, or XP. The remaining 5% use Mac OS X, Mac OS 9, or Linux.
The e-commerce engine must interoperate with an existing VENDOR database, VENDOR CRM system, and VENDOR supply chain management system. These systems provide APIs, custom server protocols, and web services.
The web application work on standard J2EE application servers. The web pages themselves must take into account the web robots used by search engines and comparison shopping sites. Our web application must implement the hooks needed for effective server monitoring.

Stakeholders / Actors

TODO: List and describe the stakeholders for this product. These can be named individuals or roles that people play. Rank the key needs of each stakeholder. Consider the expected technical expertise of the stakeholders and how often they are likely to use the system, as well as key strengths, weaknesses, preferences, or other characteristics. Use a greater-than sign to indicate more specialized types of actors.
TIP: There are many different types of end-users that use the system differently, and not all stakeholders are end-users (e.g., administrators). Gather information by talking to actual users or user surrogates (people who work with users), such as domain experts, technical trainers, technical support staff, technical writers, supervisors of users, and your own sales and marketing department. Also, review manuals and marketing materials for competing products.
All
All stakeholders share the following key needs:
  1. Security against abuses and fraud
  2. Convenient access to the site any time over the Internet
  3. Efficient interaction with the application to accomplish their goals
  4. Safe operation to prevent accidental operations
Consumer
Consumers want to have a pleasant and efficient shopping experience. That demands access to detailed product information that informs the purchase decision, and a check-out process that they feel confident using. Some consumers visit often, purchase often, and learn to use advanced features. Others are first-time users. Frequent buyers are often power users and have high expectations for the functionality and quality of the site.

Key needs:

  1. Easily browse or search for information about products
  2. Track newly available products in categories of interest
  3. Understand product specs, ratings, and reviews
  4. Easily select products and check out
Consumer > Business consumer
Business users of the shopping website tend to be more goal-oriented than average consumers: they basically know what they want, and they want to conclude the transaction quickly. Business users also tend to spend more and make recurring orders. Professional products themselves tend to be more powerful and reliable than average consumer goods, but they often must be used in combination with other products.

Key needs:

  1. Browse product information about all products in a product line or category to make selections
  2. Understand relationships and dependencies between professional products
  3. Quickly place reorders or recurring orders
  4. Place bulk orders at a pre-negotiated discount
  5. Bill orders to authorized corporate accounts
  6. Review and manage corporate accounts
Department manager
Department managers are responsible for optimizing the sales in one or more categories on the website. They select products to feature, put on sale, or drop from the product catalog.

Key needs:

  1. View reports on sales figures by item and date
  2. Update the product catalog entries for products
  3. Work with partners to clear excess inventory
STAKEHOLDER-1
STAKEHOLDER-1 are responsible for BUSINESS-PROCESS. They must make decisions about BUSINESS-OBJECT. They are familiar with TOOL or TECHNOLOGY. They tend to work in SITUATION on SCHEDULE.

Key needs:

  1. OPERATE on BUSINESS-OBJECT
  2. Understand BUSINESS-OBJECT as part of BUSINESS-PROCESS
  3. Work with OTHER-STAKEHOLDER to help with BUSINESS-GOAL
STAKEHOLDER-2
STAKEHOLDER-2 are responsible for BUSINESS-PROCESS. They must make decisions about BUSINESS-OBJECT. They are familiar with TOOL or TECHNOLOGY. They tend to work in SITUATION on SCHEDULE.

Key needs:

  1. OPERATE on BUSINESS-OBJECT
  2. Understand BUSINESS-OBJECT as part of BUSINESS-PROCESS
  3. Work with OTHER-STAKEHOLDER to help with BUSINESS-GOAL
STAKEHOLDER-3
STAKEHOLDER-3 are responsible for BUSINESS-PROCESS. They must make decisions about BUSINESS-OBJECT. They are familiar with TOOL or TECHNOLOGY. They tend to work in SITUATION on SCHEDULE.

Key needs:

  1. OPERATE on BUSINESS-OBJECT
  2. Understand BUSINESS-OBJECT as part of BUSINESS-PROCESS
  3. Work with OTHER-STAKEHOLDER to help with BUSINESS-GOAL

Notes from Interviews and Brainstorming

TODO: Keep a log of your requirements gathering. Paste in notes from any face-to-face or telephone conversations with stakeholders or from brainstorming sessions with members of the development team. If the communication took place via email, link to it in the archive or paste it here.
DATE, INTERVIEWEE
interview with INTERVIEWEE
DATE, INTERVIEWEE
NOTES FROM INTERVIEW...(pasted here)
DATE, INTERVIEWEE
NOTES FROM INTERVIEW...(pasted here)
DATE, PARTICIPANTS
NOTES FROM BRAINSTORMING SESSION...(pasted here)
DATE, PARTICIPANTS
email from INTERVIEWEE

User Stories

TODO: Write brief user stories to demonstrate how various actors would interact with the system (directly and indirectly) to accomplish a real-world goal. User stories are not use cases: user stories are brief (3-6 sentences) paragraphs that describe one specific scenario in concrete terms. In this description of user needs, do not make assumptions about details of the system, instead focus on the users. Note the source of each user story.
gift-shopping
Janet is shopping for a birthday gift for her sister. At first, she does not have a specific product in mind. She browses the categories for electronics and books. She selects a book on travel, but then remembers that her sister needs luggage. She browses 36 bags before selecting one, discards the book, and checking out. (Source: INTERVIEWEE)
reorder-plus-recommendations
Carl is a business customer who regularly orders laser printer toner from the e-commerce site. He logs in, and clicks one link to reorder the toner. He then notices a related product: recycled toner cartridges. He reads the product information and learns that the recycled cartridges are compatible with his printer, have good ratings from other customers, and cost 20% less. He checks out with both products. (Source: PERSON-NAME)
STORY-NAME-1
PERSON-NAME is a TYPE-OF-USER. PERSON-NAME does STEP-1. PERSON-NAME does STEP-2. PERSON-NAME UNDERSTAND-INFORMATION and MAKES-DECISION. PERSON-NAME does STEP-3. He/she ACCOMPLISHES-GOAL.
STORY-NAME-2
PARAGRAPH
STORY-NAME-3
PARAGRAPH

Performance and Capacity Needs

TODO: Briefly list the stakeholders' estimated values for various parameters of the system capacity. If you have a good idea about averages or rates of increase, note that as well.

By the end of the first year of service, we expect to reach the following capacity usage levels:

  • 50,000 user records in the customer account database (rate: 50-500 new registrations each day)
  • 100 users browsing the web site at any moment
  • 1000 products offered
  • 400 KB max disk space for each product description (average: 15 KB)
  • 25 advertising partners posting ads on the site
  • 500 actual advertisements in the database
TODO: Check for words of wisdom for additional advice on this template.
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Copyright © 2003-2004 Method Labs. All rights reserved. License terms. Retain this copyright statement whenever this file is used as a template.