BA Techniques: Item Tracking

Purpose

Item tracking is used to capture and assign responsibility for issues and stakeholder concerns that pose an impact to the solution.
Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® (BABOK®)

Item tracking is also known as issue tracking, and it covers all the supervision of defects, assumptions, actions, and issues until they are resolved. It also provides an opportunity for the stakeholders to rank the importance of issues that affecting the solution. This Process takes place before a project is initiated, during software development, or when software solution is implemented. The importance of problem tracking is used in the situations where the user acceptance tests are involved and ensuring the defects that need to be resolved. Successful problem tracking helps the business analysts to resolve the problem easily, eliminate their negative impacts, and helps in the process of solution implementation. Business analysts must know how effectively to track the problems from when they are discovered and be clear on the actions needed to solve them.

Item tracking is an organized approach used by the business analysts to address the stakeholder concerns. The stakeholders identify the item types such as actions, assumptions, constraints, dependencies, defects, enhancements, and issues. When a stakeholder concern is raised, and if it is viable, the concern is classified as a specific item type so that it can be better tracked and controlled by a process that work towards the item closure. During this cycle, an item is assigned to one or more stakeholders who are responsible for its resolution. Item tracking process track the item from the initial recording of the concern. The item tracking record is shared with the stakeholders to ensure the transparency and visibility into the status and progress of items in the record.

Some of the articles related to Item Tracking techniques are as follows,

• Item Tracking and Managing - https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/tracking-pdf-reviews.html
• Item Tracking Technique - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324248110_A_novel_Sun_tracking_technique_through_a_Solar_PV_Tree_and_a_smart_controller
• Effective Techniques of Item Tracking - https://elearningindustry.com/5-most-effective-tracking-techniques-in-elearning
• Survey on Item Tracking - http://ethesis.nitrkl.ac.in/4836/1/211CS1049.pdf
• Optimized Item Tracking Technique - https://www.academia.edu/35869023/OPTIMIZED_OBJECT_TRACKING_TECHNIQUE_USING_KALMAN_FILTER
• Handbook on Item Tracking - https://rdso.indianrailways.gov.in/works/uploads/File/Draft%20Handbook%20on%20Welding%20Techniques.pdf
• Overview of Item Tracking Methods - https://file.scirp.org/pdf/JPEE_2014082811233330.pdf
• Guidelines for Item Tracking - https://timssandpirls.bc.edu/publications/timss/T15_item_writing_guidelines.pdf
• Item Tracking and Project Planning - https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~aldrich/courses/413/slides/5-planning-1.pdf
• Methods of Item Tracking - http://www8.cs.umu.se/education/examina/Rapporter/SannaAgrenFinal.pdf

The item tracking is an action that are required to accomplish a problem. A small task has been created to manage the items. Tracking the task is a simple part of the project management. A task needs tracking from all sides, which includes its status, priority, time, financial resources, and notifications etc. Some of the main elements in item tracking are,

• Item Record - Each item that is recorded contain all or any o the following attributes for item tracking. These items are recorded using various software applications. The attributes used in item record are,
• Item Identifier - a unique identifier that distinguishes one item from another.
• Summary -a brief description of the item
• Category - a groping of items with similar properties
• Type - the kind of item raised
• Date Identified - the date the item was raised as a concern
• Identified by - the person who initially raised the concern
• Impact - it ca be assessed in relation to the time, scope, quality, and cost
• Priority - the importance of the item to the impacted stakeholders
• Resolution Date - the date by which the item must be resolved
• Owner - the stakeholder assigned to manage the item
• Resolver - the stakeholder assigned to resolved the item
• Agreed Strategy - agreed-upon strategy for the item. It include accept, pursue, mitigate, ignore, and avoid
• Status - the current status o the item within its life cycle
• Resolution Updates - a running log of details about how the items resolution is proceeding
• Escalation Matrix - a level of escalation in case if the item is not resolved by the given due date
• Item Management - The item resolution is undertaken as prescribed by the stakeholder needs and according to the organizational process standards. Each item must be tracked to its resolution.
• Metric - The stakeholder benefits from the detailed information that is maintained about the item and its progress. By seeing the final outcome, stakeholders can define how well the items are being resolved and the item tracking process is utilized. 

Some of the advantages of using item tracking technique are,

• Ensure the concerns around the stakeholder requirements that are captured, tracked, and resolved to the stakeholders satisfaction.
• Allow the stakeholders to rank the importance of the outstanding items

Some of the books for Item Tracking techniques,

• Item Tracking and Evaluation | Michael Quinn Patton | https://www.amazon.com/Item-Tracking-Evaluation-Methods-Integrating/dp/1412972124/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=item+tracking+technique+books&qid=1592285533&sr=8-4
• Item Tracking Exercises | Bridgette Sharp | https://www.amazon.com/Item-Tracking-Exercises-Perception-Discrimination/dp/1985229226/ref=sr_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=item+tracking+technique+books&qid=1592285805&sr=8-9