How to create business and functional requirements documents
Business requirements are an essential part of any successful data analysis and report development project. By outlining the specific needs and objectives of Seattle University business need, we can ensure that the solutions implemented will meet the needs of the university. To get started, here are a few key steps to follow when creating business requirements for data analysis and report development:
Establish Project Goals and Scope: To begin with, it is important to identify the main objectives of your data analysis and report development project. Ask yourself what you are trying to achieve, such as improving efficiency or increasing productivity. This will help paint a picture of what success looks like for this project and provide direction for the solution being developed.
Identify Roles and Responsibilities: Who does what? An important part of creating a BRD is identifying all stakeholders involved in the project. These stakeholders may include the client (or customer), internal teams, and any external service providers who will be working on the project. Each stakeholder will have different expectations and requirements that need to be included in the BRD. Without an understanding of each stakeholder's needs, it is impossible to create a successful BRD.
It's also important to establish roles and responsibilities for each role. This will help the stakeholders and various team members work together efficiently and effectively, ensuring that all stakeholders' needs are met.
Gather Requirements: Once the goals have been established, it is time to gather the relevant requirements for your project. This includes understanding what data will be used, who will use the data, and how they are going to use it. Additionally, consider any other contextual information or constraints that may affect your project, such as budget, timeline, or technology limitations.
Create a Business Requirements Document (BRD): Now that you have an understanding of the project’s goals and requirements, it is time to create a Business Requirements Document (BRD). This document will outline the objectives and details of your data analysis and report development project in one centralized location. It should include a detailed description of the project, any external requirements that need to be taken into account, and an overview of the intended solution.
Create a Functional Requirements Document (FRD): Along with the BRD, you will also need to create a Functional Requirements Document (FRD). This document outlines all the specific functions and features that are required for the successful implementation of your data analysis and report development project. In this document, you will need to identify what type of data needs to be collected, how it should be structured, and any other technical requirements related to the development of the solution.
Business Requirements Document (BRD) borrowed from Asana
The seven components of a BRD are:
Business requirements
By outlining each of these sections, anyone who reads your business requirements document should clearly understand what your project is, what you hope to achieve, and how you plan to achieve it.
Functional Requirements Document (FRD)
A functional requirements document (FRD) provides a detailed description of how to perform specific tasks within the project. Think of these documents like playing a board game; the BRD is the box, explaining the game and convincing you to buy it. The FRD, on the other hand, are the instructions teaching you how to play the game. This document is a guide for teams when building the report/dashboard.
Gather User Requirements - These requirements are more detailed than the BRD, and they explain what the user can do with the finished deliverables.
Create Use Cases based on user stories and requirements can be an effective way to create meaningful user experiences. Here are the key elements you should consider when writing your use case:
Understand the goal of the user story and context in which it will be used. Ask yourself questions like “What problem is this solving?” or “How will this improve the user experience?”
Create detailed steps that explain how a user will interact with the report/dashboard to achieve his/her/their goal. Be as specific as possible and consider various scenarios that may arise.
Identify any risks associated with the use case and what types of errors or problems users might encounter.
Make sure the use case is clear and concise. Avoid unnecessary jargon or technical terms that may confuse users.
Include any information about the data that will be used for the user story, such as where it comes from or what types of metrics will be included.
Once you've created your use case, review it with other stakeholders or team members to ensure it's fit for purpose. Make any changes that are necessary and test it out before you launch.
Create data mapping specs with business rules for a Functional Requirement Document (FRD) can be daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. By following a few simple steps, you can create an efficient and effective data mapping spec that meets the needs of your project.
First, you need to identify the data elements that are related to the business rules. This can include customer information, product details, sales data, and any other relevant information.
Next, map out the relationships between these data elements. This means establishing which pieces of data are necessary and how they relate to one another.
Once your data elements have been identified and mapped, you can begin to define the business rules. This includes setting up criteria for data validation, ensuring accuracy and completeness of the data, establishing any calculations or transformations that need to be performed, and defining any data quality checks.
Finally, document your results in the Functional Requirement Document (FRD). This includes a clear description of the data mapping specs and associated business rules. Doing this will ensure that all stakeholders understand the requirements, and have a basis for future changes or adjustments that may become necessary.
Once your data mapping specs and business rules are defined, they should be tested to make sure they meet the needs of the project. Testing should include validating data accuracy, validating calculations, and ensuring that all rules are correctly implemented.
Non-functional (Other) requirements:
These requirements are the most detailed type of requirements—equally detailed to functional requirements. They explain how the project should operate and the finished project’s intended user experience. This include how well the BI object will operate including things like speed, security/access, reliability, data integrity, usability, communications, training, validation, feedback loop, etc.