Creating a Business Requirements Document
One of the most important documents that a Business Analyst can create is the Business Requirements Document (BRD). The BRD is a key deliverable in defining a project’s requirements. If your company does not have its own BRD template, you can use the following example to design your own BRD. The order of the items listed below is not as important as the content that you capture in your document.
BRD Table of Contents
Version Control
• Revision History
• RACI Chart
Executive Summary
• Overview
• Background
• Objectives
• Requirements
• Proposed Strategy
Production/Solution Scope
• Included in Scope
• Out of Scope
• Constraints
Business Case
Business Services and Processes
• Impact of proposed changes on business services and processes
• Business service and process overview diagrams
• Business process workflow requirements
• Business service level (non-functional) requirements
Stakeholders
• Stakeholder name
• Roles and Responsibilities
Actors
• Internal Users
• External Users
• Systems
Business Rules
State Diagrams
Requirements
User Requirements
- User Task Overview Diagram
- User Task Descriptions
IT Service Level (non-functional) requirements
Business Requirements
- Business Goals
- Business Needs
Stake Holder Requirements
- Stakeholder Goals
- Stakeholder Needs
System State Requirements
- Testing State
- Disabled State
Static Model
- Static Model: Diagrams
- Multiplicity Rules Table
- Entity Documentation
TRIPS
- TBD Items
- Risks
- Issues
- Pending Decisions
- Success factors
Test Plan
- Quality Assurance Responsibilities
- QA Standards and Guidelines
- Review and Audit Plan
- Quality Records
- Tools, Techniques, and Methodologies
- Testing Activities
- Preparatory Activities
- White-Box Testing
- “Fit it for Purpose” Testing
- Non-Functional Testing
- User-Acceptance Testing
Deployment Plan
- Training
- Conversion
- Schedule of Jobs
- Rollout
End-User Procedures
Post-Implementation Follow-up
Other issues
External References
Glossary
Sign-off
Remember to always review the BRD and obtain the approval and sign-off from a sponsor, delegate, or key stakeholder(s) before handing the document over to the next phase of the project.