Good Business Requirements
What are good business requirements?

Good Requirements are written independent of the system or potential system that would be built to satisfy the need.

Too many times I see statements which are really system specifications. Example:

This statement is really a solution statement or system specification indicating that the system must use email to send some sort of message to the customer.

If we were to investigate further, we would probably find out that their real requirement was

A Good Business Requirements Structure is made up of four distinct parts:

1. the user
2. the result
3. the object
4. the qualifier

You must include all of these parts to ensure proper understanding of the requirement.

Sure, the solution or system specification may very well be to send an email, but alternatives should be identified and evaluated. For example, one alternative might be to fax the customer the order confirmation. This may be the best cost effective solution for the amount of orders received through this channel.

Keeping your requirement at the business level will ensure a better approach to problem solving and ensuring determining the right solution.

Good Business Requirements must contain one and only one requirement. Do not create requirement statements which contain Multiple Requirements. Multiple Requirement statements cause too much confusion and are hard to measure. Every effort must be made to ensure only one single need is expressed in each requirement statement.

Clearly Put, a consulting company specializing in Requirements Management, has developed a good approach to Writing Requirements called Requirementing.

Summary

A good Business Requirement is defined as a true business need and must be independent of any system. It is composed of four distinct parts: 1) the user; 2) the result; 3) the object; and 4) the qualifier. It expresses a single business need.

Requirementing Steps