Requirement Specifications

What It Does

• Contains the functions and specifications needed to solve a user's tech needs
• Point of agreement between the customer and vendor before moving into subsequent stages (e.g. scope of work, implementation plan, acceptance testing) of a project

What It Does

• Requires communication between participants = less room for (mis)interpretation
• Provides a clear sign of what the deliverables are in a project

Successful implementation of systems can bring great benefits, but...

Project Statistics

• Only 62% of projects met original business goals/intent
• 24% of budget overruns due to expanded scope
• 13% due to additional tech requirements

Challenges

• Limiting cost overruns
• Need to integrate existing applications / systems
• Knowing what specifications to include

Solutions

• Catch important specifications before project moves towards implementation - subsequent change requests cost money and time
• Re-engineering systems at a later stage also bound to cause more problems

Solutions

• Be clear about what you want - requirement specifications have to be balanced between cost, time and quality constraints

Solutions

• Finally, make sure that all stakeholders are adequately informed of these requirement specifications and constraints - last minute politicking can lead to last minute change

Sources

• http://techwhirl.com/writing-software-requirements-specifications/
• https://users.ece.cmu.edu/~koopman/des_s99/requirements_specs/
• http://www.pmi.org/~/media/PDF/learning/pmi-pulse-2016-uk.ashx
• [More listed in the notes]

Thank you