{"id":597,"date":"2016-12-07T15:53:05","date_gmt":"2016-12-07T20:53:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/intranet\/era\/?p=597"},"modified":"2021-01-28T11:04:53","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T16:04:53","slug":"how-superheroes-can-help-us-understand-era-system-requirements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/era\/how-superheroes-can-help-us-understand-era-system-requirements\/","title":{"rendered":"How Superheroes Can Help Us Understand eRA System Requirements"},"content":{"rendered":"

Contributed by Jessica Burnette, Marley Thrasher, and Gwen Hazlehurst<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAt one point, I worked up a list of five requirements for a superhero: superpowers, a costume, a code name, a mission and a milieu. If the character had three out of the five, they were a superhero. But that\u2019s just my definition.\u201d -Kurk Busiek, American comic book writer<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

What do superheros and the eRA project have in common? Requirements of course! We need our superheroes to have certain abilities, just like we will our eRA system! We recently started holding focus groups for all the people and groups who are invested in our new system. The goal of these sessions is to gather input on requirements. So, what are requirements and why do they matter?<\/span><\/p>\n

According to dictionary.com, a requirement is defined as \u201ca need or necessity.\u201d Superheroes <\/span>need <\/span><\/i>superpowers! What do we <\/span>need<\/span><\/i> our new research administration system to do? That\u2019s what we\u2019re asking for your help with\u2026 <\/span>defining system requirements or a <\/span>condition or capability needed by a system user to solve a problem or achieve an objective.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, what goes into a good requirement? Common<\/span> traits include:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"superhero-sideways-fly\"<\/p>\n

Think back to our superhero requirements. Do the requirements listed fit this description? Yes, our list (superpowers, a costume, a code name, a mission and a milieu) does. This list is clear, concise, feasible (if you\u2019re a superhero) and verifiable too. <\/span><\/p>\n

Because we are purchasing a system instead of developing one from scratch, we don\u2019t need to write requirements that explicitly state what we want the system to do. In fact, we want to leave enough flexibility in the requirements to recognize vendors that solve problems in unexpected but effective ways or who provide functions we hadn\u2019t considered or features we didn\u2019t know existed but from which we could benefit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just like Kurk uses specific needs to define an effective superhero, defining eRA system requirements is a crucial step in choosing the most effective system for NC State. These requirements will lay the foundation for the RFP (defined here<\/a>) we will issue for vendors to respond to. The requirements must be sufficiently detailed to define the processes to be supported, the needs to be met and the problems to be solved (i.e. the outcomes of the system) without prescribing how the system should do so. <\/span><\/p>\n

A good requirement also has a priority\/category associated with it to clearly convey its importance. Priorities\/categories frequently used are:<\/span><\/p>\n