Scope
Starting the process for evaluating the severity (i.e. loss of estimated income) to the output. This document takes the form of register in order to orderly make available all information regarding the actual situation.
It will be fed by any input collected during the Risk Analysis or the Issue Management Register / Report. The result of this analysis will be managed through the Impact Analysis Report.
Quality
The effectiveness can be measured with these parameters:
- Accuracy. All information is linked to its sources
- Timeliness. It depends upon the following factors
- Risk Proximity
- Complexity of the required work
- Clarity. Beside the indication of the actual status, a brief explanation has to be integrated with specific references (verifying that those documents were updated and accessible to the reader)
- The following checks need to be strictly integrated with the existing documentation both on product and on plan – especially resources (skills, availability, costs).
Process
This document will supply information for creating the Impact Analysis Report. After that, it depends upon the sort of “issue” (e.g. Request for Change or Off Specification – see post ) for the next step. Usually as follows:
- Request for Change will be dealt by the Change Board
- Off-Specification requires some probations possibly in the production process (e.g. Plans), then reviewing test within the Quality (Acceptance Criteria).
RACI (who does what)
| Operation desc./Roles [1] | Spr | PM | BA | SME | TL | Prd | Stkhd |
| Quick assessment of the issue | I | A | R | C | C | C | C |
| Updating the weekly “Issue & Risk” meeting agenda. | I | A | R | I | I | I | C |
| Starting the process of Impact Analysis | I | A | R | C | C | C | C |
| Verifying the soundness of the outcome | I | A | R | C | C | I | C |
| Chairing the “Issue & Risk” meeting | I | A | R | C | C | I | C |
| Compiling the Report | C | A | R | I | I | I | C |
Document structure
Distribution list
This kind of information can be considered sensitive. Therefore, it depends upon the implemented “profiling policy” (see post). However, it is suggested to inform all the interested stakeholders as described in the “Communication Management Strategy”.
Registrar section
These are the key fields
| Impact Analysis ID | |
| Issue ID | |
| Issue Type. | RFC/OS (see post) |
| Date of last update. | It is a register; therefore any action has to be logged in order to make sensible history |
| Authors | People involved in the process |
| Stakeholder | The issue’s author |
| Issue Description | As stated / modified by the author |
| Priority | To be set (see post about Triage ). |
| Severity | To be set (based on the available allowances either time or budget) |
| Status | Working / Pending / Close |
| Situation | Brief and clear explanation of what has been found. |
| Recommendations | What it has been suggested for solving the problem or at least reducing the impact. |
| Approved by |
|
Implications of the Proposed Change |
|
| Questions | Sources / Notes |
| Identify any existing requirements in the baseline that conflict with the proposed change. | PBS / WBS / Quality Resources |
| Identify any other pending requirement changes that conflict with the proposed change. | Business Case |
| What are the consequences of not making the change? | PBS / WBS / Quality |
| What are possible adverse side effects or other risks of making the proposed change? | Risk Analysis |
| Will the proposed change adversely affect performance requirements or other quality attributes? | Acceptance Criteria |
| Will the change affect any system component that affects critical properties such as safety and security, or involve a product change that triggers recertification of any kind? | |
| Is the proposed change feasible within known technical constraints and current staff skills? | Resources |
| Will the proposed change place unacceptable demands on any computer resources required for the development, test, or operating environments? | + Plans |
| Must any tools be acquired to implement and test the change? | + Cash flow |
| How will the proposed change affect the sequence, dependencies, effort, or duration of any tasks currently in the project plan? | WBS / Resources |
| Will prototyping or other user input be required to verify the proposed change? | Communication Management |
| How much effort that has already been invested in the project will be lost if this change is accepted? | Benefit Review Plan |
| Will the proposed change cause an increase in product unit cost, such as by increasing third-party product licensing fees? | Business Case |
| Will the change affect any marketing, manufacturing, training, or customer support plans? | |
System Elements Affected by the Proposed Change |
| This shall be used as checklist: |
| Identify any : |
| user interface changes, additions, or deletions required |
| changes, additions, or deletions required in reports, databases, or data files. |
| the design components that must be created, modified, or deleted. |
| hardware components that must be added, altered, or deleted. |
| the source code files that must be created, modified, or deleted. |
| changes required in build files. |
| existing unit, integration, system, and acceptance test cases that must be modified or deleted. |
| help screens, user manuals, training materials, or other documentation that must be created or modified. |
| other systems, applications, libraries, or hardware components affected by the change. |
| third party software that must be purchased. |
| impact the proposed change will have on the project’s software project management plan, software quality assurance plan, software configuration management plan, or other plans. |
| impact the proposed change will have on fielded systems if the affected component is not perfectly backward compatible. |
| Estimate the number of new unit, integration, system, and acceptance test cases that will be required. |
| Quantify any effects the proposed change will have on budgets of scarce resources, such as memory, processing power, network bandwidth, real-time schedule. |
|
Effort Estimation for a Requirements Change |
||
|
Resource Name |
Effort |
|
| Update the SRS or requirements database with the new requirement | ||
| Develop and evaluate prototype | ||
| Create new design components | ||
| Modify existing design components | ||
| Develop new user interface components | ||
| Modify existing user interface components | ||
| Develop new user publications and help screens | ||
| Modify existing user publications and help screens | ||
| Develop new source code | ||
| Modify existing source code | ||
| Purchase and integrate third party software | ||
| Identify, purchase, and integrate hardware components; qualify vendor | ||
| Modify build files | ||
| Develop new unit and integration tests | ||
| Modify existing unit and integration tests | ||
| Perform unit and integration testing after implementation | ||
| Write new system and acceptance test cases | ||
| Modify existing system and acceptance test cases | ||
| Modify automated test drivers | ||
| Perform regression testing at unit, integration, and system levels | ||
| Develop new reports | ||
| Modify existing reports | ||
| Develop new database elements | ||
| Modify existing database elements | ||
| Develop new data files | ||
| Modify existing data files | ||
| Modify various project plans | ||
| Update other documentation | ||
| Update requirements traceability matrix | ||
| Review modified work products | ||
| Perform rework following reviews and testing | ||
| Recertify product as being safe, secure, and compliant with standards. | ||
| Reviewing Risk Analysis | ||
| Reviewing existing plans | ||
| Evaluating the impact on the “Critical Path” | ||
| Other additional tasks | ||
| TOTAL ESTIMATED EFFORT | ||
Technical domains
- Integrated Master Plan / Schedule
- Stage / Work-package plan
- Product Description
- Quality management strategy
- Risk management strategy
- Resource allocation plans
Financial / Commercial domains
- Business Case (e.g. time to market)
- Cash flow
- Suppliers’ contracts
- Customer’s contract
Notes
References
This page has been produced on the basis supplied by:
www.processimpact.com/process_assets/impact_analysis.doc
[1] Spr Sponsor, PM Project manager, BA Business Analyst, TL Technical Leader, Prd Producer, Stkhd Stakeholder
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