System Specifications
Research shows that investing time in a skilled project initiation phase to develop detailed requirements, and to really debate the designs and specifications produces significant returns for clients. Yet, IT projects all too often become very focused on technical requirements, functions and features, whilst other critical influencers on success are placed down the list of priorities.
There is an interesting phenomenon in IT whereby we try to capture requirements in a very very granular way so as to try and exclude the possibility of mistakes or we perhaps we adopt Agile as the opposite end of the scale because it seems not to require such committent. Both approaches are unsound albeit for different reasons.
When Arc writes a detailed specification we not only consider the technology, but also the culture of your organisation and of your potential supplier. The methodologies and business requirements you chose need to fit with your specific organisation and your internal processes (such as decision making) otherwise you will encounter difficulties. A process that works for another organisation will more than likely not just copy over to yours successfully.
Arc sets out to cover the:
- Alignment of probable outcomes with your operational requirements and strategic aims
- Setting both parties’ expectations for the project regarding time, quality, and cost.
- Identify risks so that they can be factored into the specification.
- How much availability your decision makers have to direct the project.
- How much time and access we can have to end users for feedback.
Arc provides this experience to our own customers and as an independent service to organisations that would like impartial expertise to be applied to the documents that they will be issuing to their existing suppliers.