Capture and Document the Application's Enhancement Requests from All Stakeholders

This chapter explains how to capture and document requests to enhance an Application, from every stakeholder who has them.

What Enhancement Requests Are

An Enhancement Request is a request to add to or improve an Application: a new capability, an improvement to an existing function, or a change in behavior. Most Enhancement Requests are tied to desired or needed future requirements. They are not Issues, as explained in the chapter “Categorize and Track the Application’s Issues Distinctly and Traceably,” but they are equally important to record, because they represent what stakeholders need the Application to become.

Establish the Capture of Enhancement Requests

Accept Enhancement Requests from every stakeholder, including users, business owners, support teams, engineers, architects, Security, and Risk and Compliance. For each, record:

• What is requested, and why.

• Who requested it, and which stakeholders it would benefit.

• Its expected value and urgency.

• Its status, such as received, under evaluation, accepted, scheduled, delivered, or declined, with the reason for any decline.

• Links to the requirements it becomes when accepted, and to the Release that delivers it.

Establish User Feedback Channels

Provide clear, easy channels through which users can give feedback and request enhancements, such as an in-Application feedback option, a request form, or a regular user forum. Acknowledge feedback, and let users see what happened to their requests.

Document and Share Enhancement Requests

Keep Enhancement Requests in the enterprise’s work management tool, linked from the Application Documentation, and give the Business Application Owner and Application Manager a regularly reviewed view of them to inform Release planning and the Application’s lifecycle strategy.

Best Practice: Capture and Document the Application’s Enhancement Requests from All Stakeholders

It is a best practice to both establish and document the solution for an Application’s future needs: capture Enhancement Requests from every stakeholder through clear channels, record their value, status, and outcome, and link accepted requests to the requirements and Releases that deliver them.

Benefits: Captured Enhancement Requests give owners a complete, evidence-based view of what stakeholders need, which grounds Release planning and lifecycle strategy in real demand. Visible outcomes encourage continued feedback, because stakeholders see that their requests are considered rather than lost.

Connections to Related IF4IT Practices and Inventories

The Systems Development Lifecycle (SDLC) Best Practices addresses intake and requirements capture, through which accepted Enhancement Requests enter delivery.