Comparing the BABOK and SEBOK, Part 6

The BABOK Knowledge Area called “Elicitation” shares some overlap with some of the contents of the SEBOK Knowledge Area called “Concept Definition”, which discusses the elicitation of requirements, among other topics related to concept definition. 

How do the BABOK and SEBOK compare in their coverage of requirements elicitation?

The BABOK “Elicitation” Knowledge Area

This Knowledge Area’s topic is the drawing forth of requirements from the various stakeholder, and documenting these requirements.

The first thing that strikes me about the BABOK’s coverage, is that it’s extremely generic and lacking any real depth.  Most of the discussion touches on what the elicitation tasks are, what the most common inputs are, what the most common elicitation techniques are, and what the most common outputs are.  Notice that I prefixed each item in the list with a ‘what’, because that is pretty much all that the BABOK covers. 

It does not address the why’s and the how’s.  It merely mentions nouns with very little fleshing out.   As an example, one of the outputs is a Requirements Management Plan.  There is no discussion about such a plan contains.  The BABOK identifies which tasks produce this plan, and which tasks use it as input, but that’s about it.

SEBOK Elicitation Coverage

The SEBOK does not have a specific Knowledge Area focused solely on Elicitation.  However, elicitation of stakeholder requirements is discussed under “Stakeholder Needs and Requirements”, which is a topic under the ‘Concept Definition’ Knowledge Area.

The SEBOK distinguishes between ‘needs’ and ‘requirements’.  In fact, it speaks of activities necessary to ‘identify and prioritize the needs of stakeholders, as well as transform those needs into requirements’

The SEBOK stresses that the stakeholder needs (which are obtained as a result of the process of elicitation), are to be transformed into stakeholder requirements.  I could not find something similar in the BABOK, which seems to treat the elicited stakeholder needs as requirements, evidenced by a statement like this:

“Requirements [Stated, Confirmed]: Identical to Requirements [Stated] for all practical purposes, including use as an input to other tasks.”

The SEBOK explains that requirements come from needs (i.e., they are more formal and precise expressions of needs).  It also goes into fair detail about the different types of needs:

• Real Needs
• Perceived Needs 
• Expressed Needs 
• Retained Needs
• Specified Needs
• Realized Needs

Comparison of Elicitation Techniques

Both the SEBOK and BABOK give us a list of common techniques used for elicitation.  This table blow shows their lists:

BABOK	SEBOK
Brainstorming	Structured Brainstorming Workshops
Document Analysis	Technical, Operational, and / or Strategy Documentation Review
Focus Group
Interface Analysis
Interviews	Interviews
Observation
Prototyping (including Storyboarding, Navigation Flow, Paper Prototyping, Screen Flows)	Prototyping
Requirements Workshops
Survey / Questionnaire	Questionnaires
	Simulations and Visualisations
	Modelling
	QFD (Quality Function Deployment)
	Use Case Diagrams
	Activity Diagrams
	Functional Flow Block Diagrams

Comparison of Outputs

The BABOK ‘Elicitation’ activities and the SEBOK ‘Stakeholder Needs and Requirements’ activities produce outputs. The table below compares the outputs:

BABOK Outputs	SEBOK Artefacts	Remarks
Elicitation Results	Stakeholder Interview Reports	A record of what was elicited from the stakeholders.  This is subject to further processing and formalisation.
Scheduled Resources		A schedule of when the elicitation activities will take place, when, how, and who will be involved
Stakeholder Concerns [Unconfirmed / Confirmed]		Issues identified by the stakeholders.  These include assumptions, concerns, risks, and constraints.  The Confirmed version has been signed-off by the stakeholder.
Supporting Materials		“Any materials required to help explain the techniques used or perform them” (BABOK).
Requirements [Stated / Confirmed]	Stakeholder Requirements Document	BABOK - Stakeholder needs as stated by the stakeholder. The confirmed version is signed-off by the stakeholder. SEBOK – does not provide an description of ‘Stakeholder Requirements Document’
	Stakeholder Requirements Database
	Stakeholder Requirements Justification Documents	SEBOK – The SEBOK says this is for ‘traceability purposes’

Comparison of Tasks and Processes

The BABOK provides a clear list of key Tasks related to Elicitation and I have listed them in the table below.  Unfortunately, the SEBOK does not gather the activities in such a defined way.  I collect the main activities mentioned throughout the text and list them in the same table below, for ease of comparison.

BABOK Elicitation Tasks	SEBOK Activities	Remarks
Prepare for Elicitation
Conduct Elicitation Activity	Elicitation
Document Elicitation Results
Confirm Elicitation Results

In conclusion, the SEBOK coverage has more depth and meat.  The BABOK coverage could provide more information in upcoming versions.  As it stands, its current coverage is merely a mapping of inputs to outputs with virtually no description of what characteristics a good quality output should have, and no description of the processes that produce the outputs.  I also think it should deliver more distinction between stated needs and the requirements derived from those needs.