What is a Concept of Operations Document?
The Concept of Operations document (CONOPs)
describes how the system is envisioned to work from different
stakeholder viewpoints, such as end-users, operators, maintenance, and
customers.
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The Concept of Operations document is
one of the first documents to be written in the Software Development
Lifecycle.
Where is it in the Software
Development Lifecycle?
This is written up during the
Planning Phase of the Software Development Lifecycle
(SDLC).
Once it is written up, it feeds into
the
Functional Requirements,
Software Requirements Specifications and, by extension, the
Design Document.
Why write a Concept of Operations
document?
Let’s say your company has a problem.
You have 10 departments scattered
across the country all using different systems, different email
products, different interfaces and other such horrors. It’s a mess.
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You need to streamline all of these to
make the obvious cost-savings and allow your company to work more
productively. Makes sense?
Before you start any kind of coding,
you need to do explore what it is that users will actually need and
while
not down to the interface level but the general
high-level requirements they have.
For example, they need access to email
from remote locations.
How you do this is another question but
the requirement is – remote email access!
This is a very simple example but you
get the idea.
What’s next?
The next thing to do is get permission
to prepare a
Concept of Operations document.
This will do three things:
Current System – describe the current
system and why it cannot fulfill the users’ needs, i.e. its limits and
constraints
Proposed System – describe the proposed
system and how it will implemented and operated etc. in other words, how
it will overcome the current and constraints
Justification - describe why
your company needs to adopt a new system (urgently!) and the benefits it
stands to gain, e.g.
better customer service, quality, data quality, process
improvement, rationalization etc.
How much detail should I provide?
The level of detail you provide will be
determined by the respective project. There is no hard and fast rule.
Provide enough information so that the
decision makers can make an informed decision, i.e. to fund the project
or re-assess the situation.
What should I focus on?
Describe how/where it will be used,
users’ roles and responsibilities, the personnel involved in its
implementation and operation and the high-level user needs.
What's the benefit to Project
Stakeholders?
Developing the concept of operations
document ensures that all stakeholders agree on a common view of the
proposed system.
It can also be used as a reference
point for new team members, including new employees and contractors
brought in to help with the system implementation, operation, or
maintenance.
How to capture user’s requirements?
Develop
use cases that illustrate the
most common scenarios/processes that users will perform.
Use cases can be high-level or dig a
little deeper if required.
You can also develop an Excel or Word
checklist and capture requirements this way.
Write them in plain English and avoid
jargon. Make sure that the stakeholders can read and understand the
users’ needs and check that they are reasonable and comprehensive.
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What happens next?
These requirements (i.e. needs) are
used to define system requirements that will determine how the system is
designed.
This information will also be used to work out
technical support contracts and
Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
Read more:
1.
How to write the Concept Operations Document
2.
What it a Concept Operations Document?
3.
How to Define the Goals, Objectives and Rationale
4.
What you need to put into a Concept Operations Document
5.
How to Justify the New System to Project Stakeholders
6.
How to develop Use Cases to capture Work Scenarios
7.
What's the Connection Between the Concept of Operations and
Functional Requirements Document
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Concept of Operations Template
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Table of Contents
toc
1 Introduction
1.1 Document overview
1.2 Background
1.3 Identification
1.4 Goals, objectives & rationale
1.5 Points of contact
2 Current System
2.1 Background
2.2 Scope
2.3 Policies and Constraints
2.4 Description of current system
2.5 Modes of Operation
2.6 Users classes & other stakeholders
2.7 Support Environment
3 Justification
3.1 Justification for change
3.2 Description of required changes
3.3 Priorities among the changes
3.4 Changes considered but not included
3.5 Assumptions
3.6 Constraints
4 Proposed System
4.1 Background, objectives, and scope
4.2 Operational policies and constraints
4.3 Description of the new system
4.4 User classes / categories of users
4.5 Modes of operation
4.6 Deployment and support environment
4.7 Non-functional requirements
4.8 Requirements traceability
5 Use Cases & Operation Scenarios
5.1 Process descriptions
5.2 Events
5.3 Use Case
6 Impacts
6.1 Risks
6.2 Issues
6.3 Operational impacts
6.4 Organizational impacts
6.5 Impacts during development
7 Analysis of the Proposed System
7.1 Improvements
7.2 Disadvantages & limitations
7.3 Alternatives
What's included in the template pack
The template is in
Microsoft Word format and can be downloaded online for only $7.99. The template pack includes the following documents:
|
Concept of Operations Template |
30 pages |
 |
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I'm Ivan Walsh, the person behind this site. I help people improve how they write, publish and extend their business assets.