Don’t let the cute video disarm you!
2. Requirements and Needs
A critical step to successfully replatforming is to understand the difference between ‘what is required’ versus ‘what is needed’. While requirements will lead to a list of prerequisites, understanding what is needed will allow the creation of user stories that can encapsulate your organizations objectives in a more thoughtful manner.
One practical approach to documenting these needs is to move forward as if you were preparing for an RFP (Request for Proposal), and think of all of the information outside vendors would need, in order to present a compelling solution for you to give consideration.
Even if this document was just for internal use, all resources would greatly benefit, and have a sense of confidence, from knowing that there is indeed, a complete picture that can be thoughtfully explained by the project owner.
When creating the document, it is advisable to include the following:
- Clearly explain your Current State and Future State objectives;
- Explain the ‘why’ of current operational practices;
- Detail all internal and external current dependencies;
- Allow the vendor to problem solve and not simply checkoff functionality prerequisites.
- Allow the vendor to recommend complementary and supporting third party peripherals and services;
Once this step is completed, it needs to be reviewed and refined, by obtaining the buy-in from all of your affected stakeholders, which leads us to the next topic, Stakeholder Buy-in.
Part 3. Stakeholder Buy-in