Every business sets up different project implementation, production, and management processes. There is no doubt that a well-developed action plan is a major reason behind every successful project. An action plan generally involves information about what people need to do, who will do the task, what should be the desired outcome, and more. This is where a BRD- Business Requirements Document comes to play.
As a business owner, what I have realized is that:
A business requirements document can easily direct the project and keep every team member on track when written well.
Product developers and other professionals can also utilize a well-developed BRD to develop an effective and result-oriented plan to complect the project on time. This document needs to be very clear. Keep reading to learn more about this and how to draft perfect Business Requirements Documents.
What Are BRD And FRD In Business Analysis?
Most of the time, a BRD is often confused with the FRD- Functional Requirements Document. However, both FRD and BRD are important for the company administration. While the business requirement document includes the high-level business requirement, the FRD generally outlines different functions required to accomplish your business requirements.
When it comes to understanding what a business wants, you can go for a BRD. But to know how you should do it, you will have to create the FRD.
Each has its value in business strategy, and you should neglect neither of them as a part of the process. In general, you can derive FRD from the BRD.
Why Is It Worth Investing Resources Into This Project?
Without a good guide or map, one will face many challenges while roaming around a new city. Without a proper plan or BRD, it will be impossible to execute a project successfully in the business industry.
Creating a BRD can bring all the stakeholders on the same platform regarding the project and what the product will look like. All the members involved should have the same vision, goals, deliverables, budget, etc.
By planning every requirement, like timelines, objectives, task allocations, deliverables, and more, one can know what they should do, why it is important, and the time timeline of the project. In simple words, a well-created Business Requirements Document:
- Lowers the chances of project failure due to misrepresented and misaligned requirements.
- Connects everyone to the business goals and assists in monitoring the health of the project.
- Gathers all the requirements before the execution of the project to make sure that the team meets stakeholders’ expectations.
- Creates an effective collaboration and consensus among the team members and stakeholders.
- It helps you save costs related to training, change requests, infrastructure, etc.
What Does A BRD Document Contain?
Now that you have an overview of what the BRD is and why you should invest in this let’s understand what goes into a BRD, which means the things that a BRD document generally contains.
BRDs are like other formal business documents, like client contracts or RFPs- Request for Proposals. You can say that a BRD may contain the following things:
- Executive Summary
This outlines the requirements of the project. To keep accurate, you should prefer to write it once you do the rest of the sections. This way, you can cover all the crucial points.
- Objectives Of The Project
You can write this using the SMART format. SMART means Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. Under this section, you need to describe the objectives and goals of the project. What are the possible outcomes? How can you align the projects with the business goals?
- Needs Statement
It is also called a background statement. You need to describe why this particular project is important. Besides, it also describes how the project will meet the said requirements.
- Scope Of The Project
The project scope generally outlines the boundaries or limitations of the project. This is a critical component. As per the experts, the project scope section should answer three major questions:
- What are the issues the project will address?
- What are the limitations of getting the project done?
- What is the possible ROI from the project?
Clearly-written project scope can help in avoiding any possible issues. If you have any confusion, you can use scoping document templates available online.
- Functional Requirements
This section details which will be responsible for what. Besides, this will describe where, when, and how you will complete the project. Furthermore, it also includes information on what is required to attain the goals. The functional requirements should include diagrams, charts, timelines, and more so that you can plan and record the progress properly.
- Financial Statements
This section explains how the project can impact the balance sheet of the company as well as projected revenues. This section also includes information about different sources to obtain funds for your project.
- Key Stakeholders
Understand the stakeholders of the project and describe the roles and responsibilities. This will also help you to know whether you will need more resources or not.
- Deadlines, Timelines, And Schedule
You need to create a well-planned and detailed schedule that should include milestones, monitoring systems, deadlines, and more. This way, you can keep the members updated about the phases of the project.
- Analysis Of Cost-Benefit
This section should detail the associated costs
What Are BRD And FRD In Business Analysis?
Most of the time, a BRD is often confused with the FRD- Functional Requirements Document. However, both FRD and BRD are important for the company administration. While the business requirement document includes the high-level business requirement, the FRD generally outlines different functions required to accomplish your business requirements.
When it comes to understanding what a business wants, you can go for a BRD. But to know how you should do it, you will have to create the FRD.
Each has its value in business strategy, and you should neglect neither of them as a part of the process. In general, you can derive FRD from the BRD.
Why Is It Worth Investing Resources Into This Project?
Without a good guide or map, one will face many challenges while roaming around a new city. Without a proper plan or BRD, it will be impossible to execute a project successfully in the business industry.
Creating a BRD can bring all the stakeholders on the same platform regarding the project and what the product will look like. All the members involved should have the same vision, goals, deliverables, budget, etc.
By planning every requirement, like timelines, objectives, task allocations, deliverables, and more, one can know what they should do, why it is important, and the time timeline of the project. In simple words, a well-created Business Requirements Document:
- Lowers the chances of project failure due to misrepresented and misaligned requirements.
- Connects everyone to the business goals and assists in monitoring the health of the project.
- Gathers all the requirements before the execution of the project to make sure that the team meets stakeholders’ expectations.
- Creates an effective collaboration and consensus among the team members and stakeholders.
- It helps you save costs related to training, change requests, infrastructure, etc.
What Does A BRD Document Contain?
Now that you have an overview of what the BRD is and why you should invest in this let’s understand what goes into a BRD, which means the things that a BRD document generally contains.
BRDs are like other formal business documents, like client contracts or RFPs- Request for Proposals. You can say that a BRD may contain the following things:
- Executive Summary
This outlines the requirements of the project. To keep accurate, you should prefer to write it once you do the rest of the sections. This way, you can cover all the crucial points.
- Objectives Of The Project
You can write this using the SMART format. SMART means Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. Under this section, you need to describe the objectives and goals of the project. What are the possible outcomes? How can you align the projects with the business goals?
- Needs Statement
It is also called a background statement. You need to describe why this particular project is important. Besides, it also describes how the project will meet the said requirements.
- Scope Of The Project
The project scope generally outlines the boundaries or limitations of the project. This is a critical component. As per the experts, the project scope section should answer three major questions:
- What are the issues the project will address?
- What are the limitations of getting the project done?
- What is the possible ROI from the project?
Clearly-written project scope can help in avoiding any possible issues. If you have any confusion, you can use scoping document templates available online.
- Functional Requirements
This section details which will be responsible for what. Besides, this will describe where, when, and how you will complete the project. Furthermore, it also includes information on what is required to attain the goals. The functional requirements should include diagrams, charts, timelines, and more so that you can plan and record the progress properly.
- Financial Statements
This section explains how the project can impact the balance sheet of the company as well as projected revenues. This section also includes information about different sources to obtain funds for your project.
- Key Stakeholders
Understand the stakeholders of the project and describe the roles and responsibilities. This will also help you to know whether you will need more resources or not.
- Deadlines, Timelines, And Schedule
You need to create a well-planned and detailed schedule that should include milestones, monitoring systems, deadlines, and more. This way, you can keep the members updated about the phases of the project.
- Analysis Of Cost-Benefit
This section should detail the associated costs related to the project and projected benefits or ROI.
Who Writes And Prepares The BRD?
Before creating a perfect business requirement document, you must meet the prerequisites effectively. Follow the below steps to get it done:
Define The Requirements Of Your Company
You need to clearly define the challenges that the business is currently dealing with. The issues and the situations need to be clearly defined so that everyone can understand the situation and work accordingly.
Even if you have developed an impressive BRD, it will not work if you have not documented all the requirements. Besides, you will have to deploy proper elicitation methods. As per the experts, you can focus on nine major elicitation methods. These are:
- Brainstorming
- Document analysis
- Focus groups
- Analysis interface
- Workshops requirements
- Prototyping
- Interviews
- Careful observation
- Survey
Based on your requirements, you can go for one or use all. But it is advisable to deploy multiple approaches to gather the requirements.
Clearly Define The Objective Of The BRD
Once you identify the issues, now you need to define the major objections to the BRD. Well, with this, you can witness different benefits, such as:
- Offering input for every project phase.
- Establishing a perfect foundation to develop the best solutions for the customers’ requirements and the business.
- Developing consensus among the members who are involved in the project.
- Elaborating on what as well as how to attain the defined project objectives.
While doing this, don’t forget to explain the score of the project requirements for every phase.
Invite All The Departments
To make sure that someone has written all the crucial information and details in the document, you will need data from all the departments. Your team will then analyze the project from different angles, and that, in turn, will promote new solutions as well as brainstorming.
Identify The Project’s Phases
A project can have multiple phases. If your project has more than one phase, ensure that every phase has its expected outputs and requirements. For instance, what will the phase accomplish? How much work is needed? And more.
Don’t Forget To Set Standards For The Requirements
As there will be multiple phases and more members will get involved, you should establish standards for the requirements. This will assist you in maintaining the quality as well as quantity of the solutions to achieve the business requirements. Besides, this will also ensure the smooth completion of your project on time.
Create Process Scheduling And Measurement Techniques
Before writing a BRD, establish all the important milestones with a perfect schedule and establishing the pat to accomplish them. With this, you can make sure that the project will remain on track and you can enjoy a successful completion. You should add a proven method of measuring and monitoring every progress to the BRD.
Always Use A Professional And Appropriate BRD Template
Once you have gathered all the crucial information for the BRD, you need to use an appropriate BRD template to present all the requirements professionally. The BRD templates can simplify the writing process of the BRD and will make sure that anyone can understand the requirements.
Add Visual Elements To Make It Easy To Understand
It has been proven that surrounding and visual context can enhance the effectiveness of your pan. More than 65 percent of people are visual learners. Adding visuals in your BRD can help you convey the plan compellingly.
How Do You Write A BRD In Agile?
Most of the projects struggle to attain the required momentum as their requirements are quite confusing. When you look at their project requirements, you will find nothing more than a plain picture with many notes. In general, developers have a lot of questions in mind, and they need to understand what you want to create so that they can begin with the project.
Some agile projects may have functional specifications and use cases. But these things may not be able to convey all the crucial information. A BRD for developers should be very confusing or complex. As per the experts, goof requirements to write a BRD in agile are:
- User stories
- Workflow
- User acceptance tests
- Requirements (in detail)
- Wireframes
If your BRD doesn’t have these requirements, it will lose its value. Every section will bring different things to the table, and sometimes they can be considered a waste of time. Having these sections defined for your project requirements will develop a synergy, and your agile development process will speed up.
BRD Examples
Executive Summary
Write a clear summary of the project requirements. For example, you need to deploy a performance management system to track the employee’s performance easily.
Project Objective
Use the SMAR system for this:
- You will have 300 employees trained using the new system by June 2022.
Need Statement
Support the statement using research and data.
- A professional performance management system is required to maintain a higher level of consistency, boost financial position and increase employee retention rates. Using this, you can decrease the turnover cost to USD 25,000 from USD 35,000.
Project Scope
Define the work that falls within this:
- Choosing the best performance management system
- Implementing the system
- Offering training to the HR managers and employees.
Project Requirements
Discuss with the stakeholders and outline the requirements:
- Goal management
- Reporting
- Career path mapping
- Employee performance analysis and more.
Stakeholders
Identify all the major stakeholders and clearly define their responsibilities and roles:
- Project manager- manages all the parties.
- Human resources- conduct research, gather all the requirements, offer a recommendation to the managers, arrange training, etc.
- Executive- Approve the selected performance management system.
Schedule
- Complete the process of requirement gathering by March 2022.
- Choose a system to recommend to the manager by April 2022.
- Onboard the human resource tea to the new system by May 2, 2022.
- Create training materials for the employees and managers by May 15, 2022.
- Conduct and complete both manager and employee training by May 30, 2022.
Cost-Benefits Analysis
- Cost of resources required to implement the system.
- Cost of the employee’s turnover
- Benefits of necessary legal protection
- Benefits of employees with the same objectives.
You can say that a perfect BRD can offer a solid foundation to effectively direct the project and keep all the stakeholders aligned to the project. So, if you want to complete a project without any issues, then creating a BRD is essential.
Conclusion
A business analyst is responsible for understanding business requirements and translating them into software requirements. These documents are essential for the development of any software system.
