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Business Requirements
Business Requirements

Requirements document used to ask for bandwidth / support from a specific team or initiative.

Requirements document used to ask for bandwidth / support from a specific team or initiative.

Project owners would use this to lay out a specific requirement or new build that is part of a new project. The goal of the document is to create alignment between two parties and clearly set expectations and a timeline prior to kick-off.

Tips/Tricks

Discuss with your biz partners how detailed the functional/technical requirements should be

Be clear about how this requirement fits into the broader project plan

Think critically about timing and sequencing -- is anything depending on this requirement? If so, what and when?

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Project: [Your project name]

Date Created:

5/14/2020

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(will automatically update)

Last Updated:

3/1/2024 10:59:54 PM

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(will automatically update)

Authors:

@Alan Chowansky⁠

@Lola Tseudonym⁠

Approvers:

@Maria Marquis⁠

@Polly Rose⁠

Teams Impacted: [Insert team names]

Approval Status:

In Process

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Priority:

P2: Need to have/variable timeline

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TL;DR: [Insert concise statement as to what the issue is]

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Problem Statement

What issue are you seeing in the business and why the need for an improvement?

💡 Tip: This is assessment of the current state of the issue. Include how you identified the issue and quantify whenever possible.

Ideal Future State

What are you hoping to see in the future? Do you see this as a need in the short-term (1-3 months) or medium/long-term (12+months)? Is this a short-term solution to be followed by something in the long-term?

💡 Tip: This should answer the question: “What should be happening?”

Immediate Timeline

Short Term (quarter/year)

Medium/Long Term (quarter/year)

Current State / Data

Highlight gaps between the current state and the ideal future state.

💡 Tip: This should help answer the question: “What are we doing instead?” Use data and specific business examples to make your case. Link any relevant documents or reports that can support your case.

Success Criteria & ROI

What overall impact do you think an improvement in this area will have? What is the total return on investment?

💡 Tip: This should answer the question "How will we measure success?”

Benefits

Costs

Metrics

Functional Requirements

The technical and functional means for delivering the solution.

💡 Tip: This should answer: “How will we solve this problem?” Work with your technical partner to fill this out. This is a good chance to hear from others why they would recommend a certain approach vs. telling them how to solve something. Think about the technical specs, potential EPD/BizTech constraints, data dependencies, existing systems and processes, workflows, etc.

Approach / Phases / Timeline / Key Dates

What are the key dates / milestones leading up to launch?

💡 Tip: Think critically about timing and sequencing. What are the major dependencies, callout whenever possible.

Type

Due Date

Owners

Dependencies

Event / activity / deliverable

5/19/20

There are no rows in this table

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Alternatives

Identify how else could this problem be solved.

💡 Tip: Alternatives should be feasible — they should be realistic; diverse — they should not all be micro-variants of the same situation; and comprehensive — they should cover the problem space. Always consider that NOT doing something is an alternative, and the justification for that is often opportunity cost / resource competition: there might be something else we should be focusing on that is outside the problem space being discussed.