On the surface, this could be regarded as “just another good software company winning just another industry award.” However, it’s more significant than that.First off, the CODiE awards are a big deal. More than 785 individual software solutions were evaluated through an extensive review process. The evaluation was performed by industry leading subject matter experts, analysts, journalists, and other IT professionals. These evaluation were hands-on, meaning that all of the considered solutions were independently tested.

Of these, only three vendors were named finalists in the “Best Software Development Solution” category.What’s significant here is that over the past 10 years, no business analyst/requirements definition focused vendor of any kind has ever been recognized. The winners have always been development or test-centric platforms and tools. Past winners in the CODiE “Best Software Development Solution” category have included: Borland development products, BEA development products, Infragistics NetAdvantage, Host Front from Seagull, IBM Rational IDE products, and NetBeans 4.1 from Sun Microsystems, etc.Of course, Blueprint is focused squarely on the business analyst. Being named a finalist in this category is not simply an honor for a single company, but rather a recognition that the role of the business analyst has become fully integral to software development success.Business analyst empowerment has become the next major area of SDLC optimization, and is dramatically more important today than just a few short years ago. As IT projects become more complex — and the integration between silos of application software become the paramount goal within the Global 2000 — ensuring requirements are right is a strategic beachhead for business and IT alignment.So to all of the business analysts out there, congratulations!

Read more about the recognition here.

With the rapid pace of business change and the massive sums being expended in software maintenance, modernizing business applications is no longer a choice – it must happen. You won’t want to miss the latest episode of the popular “Requirements Unplugged” podcast where industry luminary Kathleen (Kitty) Hass discusses the importance of having a business perspective when modernizing applications and how the business analyst it pivotal to the success of these initiatives.

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Application Modernization Resources: Blueprint+HP

A very Happy New Year to everyone. 2009 was a stellar year for requirements.net and all indications are that 2010 will be even more exciting. We’re fortunate at Requirements Unplugged to have such a tremendous base of listeners and want to thank you for all your feedback, comments, and suggestions for topics that came in during the past year. We look forward to your active participation again in 2010 and would appreciate it if you could take a moment to rate our show and/or leave comments in iTunes to show your support!

We get this new year off to great start with our first 2010 episode of the popular Requirements Unplugged podcast, this one focused on the theme of Application Modernization featuring Phyllis Carroll, a Requirement Analyst and president of the Rochester, New York chapter of the IIBA. The topic of Application Modernization has become one of the most requested on requirements.net as companies struggle to modernize their application inventories.Enjoy this episode and have a great 2010 !

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Requirements.net, the industry’s largest consortium for the advancement of Business Analysis empowerment, today announced the winner of the inaugural Requirements Lifecycle Award. Kathleen McGoey, Director of Development Support Services at LexisNexis was honored with the award for her ongoing work in leading significant improvements in her organization’s software requirements practice.

The requirements improvement initiatives led by Kathleen McGoey focus on key client-facing, Web-based applications, back-office applications and other development initiatives. In order to be more responsive to customer needs, LexisNexis is transforming requirements definition and management, and implementing new processes. These include performance of visual requirements simulation for development cycles to ensure that all requirements are clearly understood before costly implementation commences.

McGoey has been able to achieve a commitment for continued improvement and investments in the practice across the company, and LexisNexis is moving toward establishing a center of excellence to continue that work. Specific, ongoing improvements under McGoey’s guidance include:

• Definition and visualization of requirements through simulation, resulting in clearer requirements understanding.
• Creating a single reference for development and test, providing all stakeholders, including the business client, with a single location to find the requirements information they need.
• Standardizing project frameworks and roadmaps, allowing stakeholders to see historical, current, and planned work and quickly drill-down into the detailed requirements for any of it.

LexisNexis’ requirements process improvements are delivering significant business value, helping to build applications that are aligned with business and customer needs, and reducing costly rework cycles.

“We commend Kathleen on her remarkable continued work at LexisNexis to truly change the way requirements are defined, visualized and articulated throughout the organization,” said Andy Simon, Partner at Centerline Partners, and spokesperson for Requirements.net. “She is a great example for others, showcasing how organizations can work to significantly improve their requirements process and thereby drive better communication, understanding and efficiency among all stakeholders in the business.”

For more detailed information watch a video interview of Kate McGoey of LexisNexis.

For a full press release read MarketWatch

The Global Business Analyst podcast series continues: Interview with Adam Kahn of BA Times

You don’t want to miss this podcast with Adam Kahn, one of the key people behind BA Times and the BA World events. With BA Times’ membership now over 28,000 Adam provides a unique perspective on the interests, issues, trends, and direction of the Business Analyst role and its evolution including the emergence of Requirements Center of Excellence.

Be sure to download and listen to this podcast today, or subscribe to “Requirements Unplugged” via iTunes.

The article was authored by Jeremy Wilson of Omadasite.

You can access the article here: http://www.omadasite.com/d/forming_agile_teams_from_waterfall

Have you, or do you know someone, who has made a positive difference in their organization software requirements lifecycle? The Requirements Lifecycle Award recognizes the achievements of individuals who have led transformations in their organization’s software requirements lifecycle through education, process, and automation initiatives to reduce waste and inefficiencies. Good requirements are the key to software project success and companies today are searching for ways to improve. This award provides recognition for your efforts and lets others know there are ways to make meaningful improvement.

Fill out a nomination today!

Be sure to get Blueprint’s latest whitepaper that provides an overview of what is the latest trend in software requirements – the Requirements Center of Excellence. It provides an overview of what a Requirements Center of Excellence is, its benefits, and information about how to set one up. Also, check-out the recent podcast on the same topic featuring an interview with Chris O’Day of Centerline Partners.

Download the whitepaper

Along with Matt and Keith, Chris speaks on the current trend of organizations going to the ‘next-level’ of maturity with respect to their software requirements practices – setting up a Requirements Center of Excellence. Issues related to setting up such a center are discussed and practical recommendations and practices put forth to ensure success.

Accompanying this podcast is a new whitepaper by consortium member Blueprint entitled “Building and Managing a Requirements Center of Excellence”.

Download the podcast

Download the whitepaper