Software Scope Definition

Scope definition is the process of analyzing, prioritizing, agreeing on and documenting the scope of the project while managing a consistent stream of communication to the stakeholders. While this usually is a continuous process throughout a project, a definite foundation on which the scope is built on will define the project (product or service) outcome.

This process draws out the functionality the business is looking to get and also identifies any constraints and  potential risks avoiding surprises at a later time.

The process touches all the teams and departments that would be involved creating a collaborative and transparent environment and reducing friction.

Whatever methodology your organization uses – Agile (Scrum), Kanban, etc or a traditional Waterfall model, our engagements start off with a thorough analysis of the business problem.

We use a domain specific approach to define the scope of the project. We have domain expertise in several areas of

• Technology

• Capital markets

• Healthcare

• Insurance

Translation of the business problem into a technical specification is a multi-step process. The process involves collecting, documenting and disseminating information of the following items:

• Identify all the stakeholders who will need to be involved in the process

  • Is there a buy-in from all the stakeholders?

  • What if any are the concerns of any of the stakeholders?

• Determine an appropriate high level software based approach to the problem

  • How is the problem approached today?

  • What is the most time-consuming part of the process?

  • Are there opportunities to automate the process?

• Determine the integration points with other systems

  • Is there a documented API available?

  • What kind of security protocols are available to ensure an easy an secure connection?

  • What is the structure of the data available?

• Identify the audience

  • What kind of devices does the solution have to work with?

  • How many different roles need to be defined and what responsibilities do these roles have?

  • Is the user-base internal/external/mixed?

  • What kind of load is expected on the system on day 1 -> year 1 -> year 3

• Define the core software functionality?

  • Define the technology stack

  • Define the data model

  • Define the UI flows

  • Define the build and deployment strategy

The output of this exercise is a specification that is ready of implementation.