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Update from the Sakai Requirements Working Group

Mark Norton

Mara Hancock

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Overview

• The REQ-WG

• The Requirements Process

• Current Status

• Going Forward

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The Requirements WG

• Formed in Aug. of 2005 to gather inputs into the Sakai development process.

• The group has about 8 active members who meet regularly to review new inputs.

• Group participation is open to anyone so please join in!

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Responsibilities

• Making or using tools to suppor the requirements collection process.

• Review and cluster incoming requests.

• Manage the community ranking process.

• Assist Chuck and Peter in engaging developers to work on priority items.

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Terminology

• The word “requirement” includes:– Things we must have in the future based

on local needs– Suggested improvements to existing tools

or software– Ideas for new tools or services

• It does not mean that all suggestions will be implemented.

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The Requirements Process

Let’s look at the requirements part of the process more closely ….

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Register Requirements

• The requirements process uses the Jira issues management system.

• A form (like the one on the next slide) is used to capture your requirements information.

• This approch allows Sakai to track the suggestion all the way through to implementation and bug fixing.

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http://bugs.sakaiproject.org/jira/secure/CreateIssue.jspa

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Review Submissions

• Periodically, members of the the REQ-WG review new submissions.

• Duplicates are merged.• Submissions are sorted into on of

serveral categories for tracking purposes.

• Bugs are forwarded to Peter for handling.

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Requirements ClusteringAll Requirements Mark Norton

Assessment and Tools Krystol Hancock

Collaboration and Communication

Mara Hancock

Content Management Salwa Khan

Framework and Documentation Tom Lewis

Global Aspects TBD

New Tools and Unknown Aaron Zeckoski

User Interface Daphne Ogle

Worksite and Admin Tools Peter Knoop

Portfolio Jay Fern

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Prioritize Requirements

• Twice a year, the group conducts a prioritization exercise open to the entire Sakai community.

• This gives everyone a chance to indicate which suggestions should be worked on.

• The next round of prioritization will be in Feb/Mar of 2007.

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Status

• We’ve gone one full round of the requirements process.

• Several requirements have led to important changes in Sakai, such as time release and ordering in the Resource Tool.

• More work to do, but suggestions are always welcome!

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Going Forward

• The group will be improving the on-line suggestion process using work flow features in Jira.

• A central collection of all requirements is being made in confluence.

• The requirements process is the first step in the overall Sakai development process.

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Questions and Discussion