Business Analysis Techniques Series.Acceptance criteria technique
describes a minimal set of requirements to be met for a solution to be worth
implementing, also known as “Must Have” requirements. Typically used when
evaluating only one possible solution and is expressed as pass or fail. Must be
testable. Evaluation criteria define a set of measures to rank multiple options
based on their value to stakeholders, thus allowing a range of scores. Value
attributes can be performance, applicability, scalability, reliability etc.
Evaluation criteria must be able to measure values features provide to
stakeholders. Check out the Business
Analyst Certification Training article for information.
Strengths
●
Agile methodologies require requirements to be expressed
as testable acceptance criteria.
●
Express contractual obligations.
●
Evaluation criteria help in assessing diverse needs and
defining priorities.
Limitations
●
Difficult to change for legal or political reasons.
● Achieving consensus is challenging.
Worked out Example:
Governance, Risk and Compliance
(GRC) management system is developed for the IT and ITES domain. The primary
objective of GRC management system is to help companies implement Governance,
Quality, and Information Security Management Systems in an integrated manner.
It has various features, one of which is to plan and track projects and
programs using standards such as CMMI, ISO 9001, ISO 27001 etc.
Through this example, let us try
to understand the acceptance criteria for a particular user story in the project
schedule management module of the Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC)
management system.
User story
As a Project Manager, I should
be able to upload schedule details in the Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC)
management system by means of an excel.
Acceptance criteria
1.
Sample schedule template to upload shall be available
2.
Option to upload project schedule file should be
available
3.
Only Excel files are allowed
4.
Error message to be provided for incorrect file type or
incorrect template
5.
Upon choosing the file and clicking the upload button,
the data should get inserted correctly in the respective fields of the schedule
management module.
6.
“Data uploaded successfully” message should appear.
7.
The uploaded data should get displayed in the project
schedule management module UI.
8.
The most recent data should appear first in the project
schedule management module.
9.
Display error messages if the data did not get inserted
properly.
10. Display error message if the uploaded file format was different from the format in which data should be uploaded.
Thus, acceptance criteria define
how a particular feature could be used from an end user’s perspective. It is
usually presented in the form of statements which can be verified as pass or
fail. However, one should ensure that these are not too narrowly or too broadly
or complexly written as it may not yield the expected results.
