ABSTRACT
Projects typically arise in response to the needs, wants or wishes of an individual, group, organisation or community. Project management endeavours to capture, analyse, prioritise, justify and transform these needs and wants into desired outputs and outcomes that deliver and deploy the required functionality, or performance, to the target community. Determining needs is never simple: it involves analysts intimately collaborating with users, clients and stakeholders. One of the crucial skills for analysts involved in needs analysis is the ability to distinguish between needs and wants. Articulated needs serve as the basis for formulating the plans for the project in terms of the agreed aspects that need to be represented in the proposed system. This calls for transforming the defined needs into a set of requirements that will underpin the project. Requirements serve as the foundation for developing solutions and delivering projects.
