Requirements Gathering for Catalog Items?

jesusemelendezm · ‎04-25-2014

I need to design several catalog items, however the clients don't have a clear definition of the workflow and variables. Whats the best way you have found to capture the requirements from the clients?

I am looking for best practice advise on this (templates, methods, and tips).

Thank you!

jemers · ‎04-27-2014

Hi Jesus,

I generally start out with a basic questionnaire for the client. I work for a healthcare organization, that is broken up into a variety of departments so no two requests are alike. At some point, I am going to create a catalog item for such requests as a starting point. In the meantime, I schedule a meeting with my clients, provide examples of my past work and go from there. Because I used to work on a help-desk, I have a better insight (in most cases) of what the end-user needs to see in terms of layout, my suggestion to my clients is to keep it simple as possible. That goes for naming the catalog item and placing it on the ESS portal in an easy to find place.

I make it a point to know who the audience is that the catalog request is going to be submitted by. The form needs to have a certain "flow" at all times.

I get the client's "wish list" and make no guarantees. Although you aim to please the client, best practice still needs to be followed. I try not to get in over my head with complicated process, sometimes it can't be avoided. It's more beneficial to you, the client and the end-user in the long run. Below is an example of the most common questions I ask a client that wants a catalog item created. I use it as a visual aide to begin visualizing the workflow.

1. List of questions that the user will need to fill out. — an attachment you mentioned will suffice in the format you wish to use.

2. Decide among the questions which ones are required before submission (mandatory).

3. Does there need to be a separate section dedicated to other departments that are involved in the process? What type of information do they need to enter on the form?

4. Discuss your process with all parties involved to ensure that it is exactly how you and other departments involved want it to be.

· Initial routing: Who (individual analyst or assignment group) receives the request first, second, third etc..

· Email notifications: Does a specific analyst or members of a department need to be notified about this type of request? If so, when? What will the email notification subject line and body contain?

· Will the requestor need to be sent a specific notification at a certain point in the process after it has been submitted? If so, when? What will the email notification subject line and body contain?

5. Is there an approval required? If so, it is for certain individuals or to a certain group? When does the approval need to be requested?

6. Will users be able to open requests on behalf of others? Does that option need to be made available on the form?

7. How is your routing determined? Is it straight forward after submission?

8. Will you need any type of training documentation to disperse to users or team members before the request is posted into Production?

If you are going to use templates, they work for me in the workflow on the catalog tasks. They come in handy when the same department wants a different request but have some of the same assignment groups involved in the process.

Templates will also work to your benefit if you will be using record producers. I am also a huge fan of the order guide.

Sorry for the lengthy reply, I'm just happy to finally be able to contribute something to the community that may help you.

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randrews · ‎09-08-2014

I always like to start by helping them to build a process workflow.... when someone calls you and opens a ticket what happens with it.... big blocks of what is expected, required... from there you can break each one of those big blocks into smaller process flow charts...

you can't hope to build out an effective catalog item until you have first assisted the BU in clearly defining their internal process... <love the question how do you do this NOW> once you and they have a clear understanding of the process for their item.. then the questions required will be more evident and from there you can work on the workflow etc.

we have a rather large catalog and a full time BA whose primary job is to do these things with the customer it is VERY beneficial once they get to building the template out for the form to have a tech with them in the meetings to answer can we do that questions.. that tech needs to be senior enough to not just answer can we but more importantly SHOULD we.

we also use a template for catalog items.. it is an excel spreadsheet...

tab1 has all of the questions you need to build the item, title , descriptions, assignment group, delivery time etc

tab 2 is the form design.. it has a column for question, type of field, expected responses, and design notes <hide/show default answer etc>

we are adding a new row for data validation so we can have that on the form if needed.

the third tab is a visio of the workflow they want and is built out by the BA after the meetings

the fourth tab lists all actiities.. catalog tasks needed emails sent etc.... it is a form in excel and each step has fields required to build workflow items...

the next tab has a screen shot of the actual workflow and is filled out by the engineer that builds the item

the next has the item screen shot.

__________________

so as a time line..

first meet and work out the process currently in place

next have meetings and build out the first two tabs...

next have a final sign off meeting where the BU signs off on the first THREE tabs <including the workflow>

then you can begin building the item out in dev and have them do initial testing <you asked for an apple make sure i didn't build you an orange>

move the item to test and have them do a thorough UAT (ok we build an orange but is it the RIGHT orange and can we move it between environments reliably>

then schedule a release and move to prod....

have a follow up meeting a week or two later to find out if the item is working correctly, and possibly one a month later to go over any revisions needed.

____________________________________

in my experience the hardest part is the prep work BU's almost NEVER have a defined process for their jobs and rely on tribal knowledge for them... if you work this out first you will save yourself a LOT of grief on reworks.. also keep in mind that if the BU does NOT have a clearly defined process when you start then you will probably need a few revisions to get the item RIGHT... as they will miss things when they do define the process.

AmritaT · ‎04-20-2018

Hi, I am new to Service Catalogs and I have to do the requirement gathering for my client who has zero knowledge about how it works in ServiceNow. Is there any way you could share a template which 'll give me a visual insight of the Service Catalogs and help me understand the process to follow.

Jackie20 · ‎02-06-2025

Hello, can you share the excel spreadsheet?

Sonal Shrivast1 · ‎03-09-2020

Hi Jesus,

You can ask them so write a rough demand and then you can enhance it in stories with proper acceptance criteria.In between,you can give them a guided tour of the module so that they are able to define their needs.

I prefer the demand management cycle as it doesn't leave a scope for confusion.

Please mark this answer correct if it resolved the query and mark it helpful too if it helped you at all.

Regards,

Sonal