Documenting and Managing Requirements
This is a detailed how-to guide to ensuring your requirements are fully captured. It is a useful guidebook with processes you will tweak and adapt to each project plan. Is anything surprising or new to you? You will not use all of these approaches for every project, but having them at hand is useful when planning your next project.
Requirements Management
Requirements Artifacts
|
Requirement Artifact Types |
Purpose |
Recipient |
Frequency |
|
Requirements Meetinq Minutes |
Review for accuracy |
Meetinq Attendees |
Each meetinq |
|
High-Level Requirements Presentations |
Informational |
Executives. Managers. Project Team |
Periodically, or as needed |
|
Mid-Level Requirements Presentations |
Working requirements definitions |
Project Team |
Periodically (requirements meetinqs) |
|
Requirements-Based Diagrams |
Business review for accuracy, completeness |
Business Reviewers |
As scheduled in project plan |
|
Requirements Review Documents |
Business review for accuracy, completeness |
Business Reviewers |
As scheduled in project plan |
|
Requirements Approval Documents |
Verification of requirements |
Business Approvers |
As scheduled in project plan |
|
Detail-Level Requirements Specifications |
Design, development, quality assurance |
Developers. QA Testers |
With approval/sign-off |
|
QA Test Scripts and Test Cases |
Guidance |
Project Manager. Developer. QA Resources |
Prior to deployment |
|
QA Test Results |
Validation of deliverables |
Project Manager. Developer. Sponsors/Directors |
Prior to deployment |
|
User Documentation |
Training, reference |
Business Owner. Users |
Prior to deployment |
Requirements Artifacts
Where formal requirements artifacts are produced, these should follow standard formatting and include consistent content to accomplish the work task that they support. Standards regarding format and content may be adopted from a number of Standards-setting bodies or they may be developed internally within an organization. Consistency in the presentation of requirements information will facilitate the shared understanding across all stakeholder groups.
The image at right lists some common artifacts that are used for requirements management. The actual requirements artifacts that are used during the execution of a project may include these artifacts, and/or others, as appropriate for the project.