CPRE - Certified Professional for

Requirements Engineering

Stefan Sturm, IREB, at iSQI CertDays 2018

About me

2

Who am I?

Stefan Sturm, Managing Director of IREB GmbH

What is the IREB GmbH?

What is the IREB e.V.?

International Requirements Engineering Board (IREB) e. V.

Operating company of the IREB e.V.

MotivationThe importance of RE

Insufficient Requirements Engineering is one of the main

reasons (87%) for project failure!

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* Standish Group: Success rate of Software and IT Projects

MotivationThe importance of RE

• Numerous studies show that about 60% of the errors

of system development projects originate in

the Requirements Engineering stage.

• Effort to fix a requirement defect:

4

testing

stage

up to 100 times higher

programing

stage

up to 20 times higher

RE

stage

x

* B. Boehm. Software Engineering Economics. Prentice Hall. 1981

MotivationRequirements Engineering - A profession with a long tradition

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26th IEEE Requirements Engineering Conference – Alberta 2018

24th REFSQ conference – Utrecht, 2018

17th REConf – Munich 2016 – over 400 participants

4th APRES – Melaka 2017

Asia-Pacific Requirements Engineering Symposium

http://asiapacificre.org

But….

MotivationIs it really well established?

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We are Business Analysts, not

Requirements Engineers!

• BA Planning and Monitoring

• Enterprise Analysis

• Solution Scope

• Requirements Elicitation

• Requirements Documentation

• Requirements Modeling

Requirements Validation (Review)

• Requirements Negotiation (Conflict

Management)

• Requirements Engineering Tools

• Requirements Management

• Solution Assessment and Validation

Requirements

Engineering!They all do Requirements Engineering

in one or the other way!

We are Testers, not Requirements Engineers!

We are Product Owners, not Requirements Engineers!

We are Project Managers,

not Requirements Engineers!

We are Systems Engineers, not

Requirements Engineers!

Requirements Engineering

Why “Engineering”

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Very obvious for• Safety

• Security

• Medical

• Defense

• ….

But as well for• Consumer products

• Lifestyle

• Gadgets

• User centered

approaches

• Agile projects!

You’ve got

one shot

only!

Requirements Engineering

Common terminology, techniques and methods

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Different implementation of Requirements Engineering• At customers, suppliers, partners

• In distributed teams at different locations, offshore, near shore

• In different industrial sectors

Problems in communication due to• different languages

• different cultures (ethnological and company specific)

Misunderstanding of “agile”• Elicitation of requirements is underestimated

• Documentation and traceability of requirements is neglected

Why do we need it?

Requirements Engineering

The problem

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Customers, suppliers and development partners

talk past each other when defining requirements

• Incomplete Requirements

• Ambiguous Requirements

• Missing common understanding of Requirements

• Different prioritization of Requirements

• Conflicts between project partners

• Time and cost overruns

• Missing, wrong or „gold plated“ functionality

Consequences (incomplete)

Requirements Engineering

Challenges

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Common understanding of terms• Within distributed teams

• Between customers, suppliers and development teams

• Over language and cultural boundaries

Elicitation, documentation and administration of Requirements• Over release cycles

• In the context of agile development

• Within distributed teams

Know-How Transfer• To new employees / with staff fluctuation

• Within distributed teams……(see first point)

Different skill levels• Many practitioners do not have an education in systems/software

engineering

Requirements Engineering

Certification – How does it help?

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Why not “just” Training?

Training

• Provides the fundament for Know-How acquisition

• Is a recognized form of qualification

• Is part of employee motivation

Certification

• Provides an international recognized fundament for training

Training Providers align their trainings to a standard – the

syllabus of the certificate

• Common definition of terminology to improve communication

and Know-How transfer

• Motivates professionals to improve their skills

• Motivates companies to invest in training

• Offers a possibility to companies to demonstrate their expertise

International Requirements Engineering Board (IREB)

Members of the board: • Personal board members: Renown experts from industry,

research, consulting and education

• Associate Members: Committed persons in the field of RE

See http://www.ireb.org/about/persons/

Activities of the board• Elaboration of the curriculum, glossary and exams for the

„Certified Professional for Requirements Engineering“

• Translations of the artifacts in many languages, e.g. Chinese

(Mandarin), Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Polish,

Spanish, Swedish, Russian, Portuguese (Brazil)

• Publishing of articles, textbooks and references

The IREB

The board

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Operating Company of the IREB e.V.

• Facts • Since April 1st, 2011

• 100% owned by the IREB e.V.

• Activities• Organizational support for the board, workgroups and

supporting members

• Coordination of IREB tasks such as

• Elaboration of the curriculum and the exam

questions for the CPRE

• Coordination and organization of training providers

and certification bodies

• Marketing of the CPRE certificates

• Press and media releases

• Publishing of articles

Stefan Sturm

Managing Director IREB GmbH

The IREB

The IREB GmbH

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Certification BodiesTST,….

International

Requirements

Engineering

Board (IREB)

Training Providers

Trainees /

Exam candidates

IREB GmbH

IREB GmbH

IREB GmbH

Allocation of tasks to clearly separated and independent organizations

ensures fairness and neutrality.

The CPRE

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The principles of the certification

The CPRE

Success story

Over 53,000 Examinees in total – worldwide!

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2018 Jan-July only

The CPRE

Worldwide in 76 countries

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina,

Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Curaçao,

Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece,

Hong Kong (China), Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Latvia, Lebanon,

Lesotho, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova,

Mozambique, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Palestine, Papua New Guinea,

Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Serbia,

Singapore, Sint Maarten, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri

Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates,

United Kingdom, Uruguay, USA, Venezuela 20

Certified Professional for Requirements Engineering

Personal certificate for requirements engineering• not time limited

Three step certification program

• Foundation Level

• Advanced Level

• Expert Level

CPRE Foundation Levelaccessible to everyone, as there are no prerequisites

The CPRE

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FL

AL

EL

Most important education in RE worldwide –

besides the university education!

The CPRE

Three level certification program

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CPRE Foundation Level

CPRE Expert Level

E&C Modeling Management RE@Agile

RE@Agile Primer

Prerequisite:

CPRE Foundation Level!

CPRE Advanced Levels

Prerequisite: None

Prerequisite:

3 Advanced Levels;

2 Advanced Levels may be substituted!

Fundamental understanding of RE

Languages• Chinese (Mandarin), Dutch, English, French, German, Italian,

Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, Swedish and Russian

No prerequisites!

Companion Books • Books available in Dutch, English, German, Portuguese (Brazil),

Chinese (Mandarin), French in preparation

Multiple choice exam

The CPRE

Foundation Level

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FL

1. Introduction and Foundations

2. System and System Context

3. Requirements Elicitation

4. Requirements Documentation

5. Documentation of Requirements using Natural

Language

6. Model-based Documentation of Requirements

7. Requirements validation and negotiation

8. Requirements Management

9. Tool Support

The CPRE

Foundation Level - Topics

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FL

CPRE Foundation Level

• Multiple choice test ~ 45 questions

• 75 minutes plus 15 minutes extension for non native speakers

• 70.00% of the total point required to pass

The CPRE

Foundation Level - The exam

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FL

• Become familiar with the relevant terminology of

Requirements Engineering and Agile

approaches;

• Understand the role and importance of

Requirements Engineering in Agile processes as

well as the value of agility in Requirements

Engineering

• Learn how to select the right activities at the right

time to ensure high quality requirements before

they are to be implemented.

• No prerequisites!

The CPRE

RE@Agile Primer

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@

• RE@AGILE ® is the vision to link the two worlds

of Requirements Engineering and Agile.

• RE@AGILE ® is the future perspective for REs,

BAs and CPREs in an Agile Context.

• RE@AGILE ® transfers a proven tool set for RE

into the Agile world in order to improve Agile

development and make it more sustainable.

The CPRE

RE@Agile Primer

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@

The CPRE

RE@Agile Primer - The exam

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CPRE RE@Agile Primer

• Certification exam:

• Multiple choice test ~ 22 questions

• 45 minutes plus 10 minutes extension for non native speakers

• Certificate for successful candidates

• Online self assessment

• Available on the IREB website

• 30 minutes

• Multiple choice test, 16 questions

• No certificate! PDF confirmation of participation for download

upon successful completion

@

???

The CPRE

Questions?

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Independent Modules • Requirements Elicitation & Consolidation

Major update end of 2018

• Requirements Modeling

• Requirements Management

• RE@Agile

Languages• Requirements Elicitation & Consolidation: English and German

• Requirements Modeling: English and German

• Requirements Management: German, English in 2019

• RE@Agile: English and German

Prerequisite• CPRE Foundation Level certificate

The CPRE

Advanced Level

30

AL

Requirements Elicitation & Consolidation

• Skills of the requirements engineer in the field of

elicitation and consolidation

• Requirements sources

• Elicitation techniques

• Consolidation techniques

Currently major revision on-going. Launch of new version end of 2018

The CPRE

Advanced Level

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AL

Requirements Modeling

• Basic Principles of Requirements Modeling:

Why, where, basics

• Context Modeling in RE

• Information Structure View

• Dynamic View

• Scenario Modeling in RE

The CPRE

Advanced Level

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AL

Requirements Management

• Definition of Requirements Management

• Requirements Information Model

• Attributes and Views

• Rating and prioritization

• Versioning and changing

• Traceability

• Variant Management

• Reporting

• Management of RE processes

• RE management in agile processes

• RE management tools

The CPRE

Advanced Level

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AL

RE@Agile

• What is RE@Agile

• Visions and Goals, Stakeholders, and Scope

• In an agile context:

• Elicit functional requirements

• Elicit quality requirements (non-functional requirements)

• Prioritizing and Estimating Requirements

• Scaling of RE and development

The CPRE

Advanced Level

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AL

CPRE Advanced Level

• Part 1: multiple choice test

• 75 minutes plus 15 minutes extension for non native speakers

• 60% of the total point required to pass

• Part 2: written assignment within 1 year after part 1

The CPRE

Advanced Level - The exam

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AL

Each Advanced Level module has its

own exam and certificate!

???

The CPRE

Questions?

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The IREB

RE Magazine http://re-magazine.ireb.org/

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Contact

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Stefan.Sturm@ireb.org

www.ireb.org

http://re-magazine.ireb.org