Functional requirement document (FRD) or Functional requirement specification (FRS) is a part of most project. What is covered in a FRD/FRS? FRD would capture all the functional requirements for the system or web application. So, then what is meant by "functional requirement"?
Functional requirement explains the behavior and information the system will manage. It states on what the system shall do. An example, would be "'My Accounts' section would display the list of all active accounts held by the user."
Functional requirement can be about logical calculations, business rules, audit checking etc. The functional requirement document would also contain the overview and the context of the project.The list of items that can be part of functional requirements is as given
Functional requirement explains the behavior and information the system will manage. It states on what the system shall do. An example, would be "'My Accounts' section would display the list of all active accounts held by the user."
Functional requirement can be about logical calculations, business rules, audit checking etc. The functional requirement document would also contain the overview and the context of the project.The list of items that can be part of functional requirements is as given
- Business rules
- Calculations or formulas
- Authentication
- Authorization
- Audit trails
- Certifications needs
- Report generation
- Archives/Historical data
- Legal/Compliance requirements
- External Interfaces
The functional requirement document should list the requirements in clear and concise manner. For better understanding, the document should be structured, with clear headings and sub-headings. It should have the same style pattern and be numbered. Use diagrams, wire-frames and data flow where required. Explain the system and ensure that all the functionalities are captured.
Functional requirements are captured in different templates like FRD, Use Cases or User Stories. A FRD or FRS, would have all the functional requirements in one document in an ordered list. The project overview, system details, assumptions, project scope etc would be part of this document. Each of the details would be captured in sections and sub-sections and length of the document can be 20-40 pages. Use cases are mostly used for website requirement gathering, where each functional requirement is captured as a series of actions performed by user in the system, to achieve a goal. User stories, mainly used in Agile projects, have the syntax as "As the {user}, I can {do something}, so that I {get this result}.
No matter what is the template being used, functional requirement document, serves as the gateway between IT and business users. To avoid any gaps in requirements and to make sure no requirements are dropped half-way through the project, ensure that all stakeholders (IT, business, architects, etc) are part of the review process. This would avoid any delays or increase in cost due to rework. A well reviewed and signed off functional requirement document, ensures that the IT team develops the system as per the business needs.
In addition to the functional requirements, there are also non-functional requirements for a system/application. More about non-functional requirements in next post.
No comments:
Post a Comment