Comprehensive planning and documentation are essential for efficient project management. In fact, according to research by the Project Management Institute, poor requirements management causes 47% of unsuccessful projects to fall short of their objectives. Consequently, ensuring the accuracy of high-level requirements is essential for long-term project success.
Why are high-level requirements important?
Managing stakeholder expectations and engagement typically requires high-level requirements. Since it gives the project’s stakeholders a better understanding of what the project’s expected outcomes are, having a suitable set of high-level requirements can increase the likelihood that the project will be successful. This could possibly prevent later circumstances where there would be a significant gap between what the project could accomplish and what its stakeholders anticipate it to accomplish. Project teams may benefit from understanding the requirements in order to increase the likelihood that the project will succeed.
What are high-level requirements?
The fundamental details used by a project’s stakeholders to approve and establish a project starting point are its high-level requirements. Early in the planning process, the project’s stakeholders typically establish its high-level requirements and use a formal document called a project charter to record them. Once the project manager has committed organizational resources to achieving the project charter’s objectives, the project management team can begin carrying out project-related tasks.
A projects high-level requirements are not similar to its objectives. The former lists the general requirements that are typically required for a project to have a significant chance of success, while the latter refer to specific milestones and accomplishments that the project team must achieve.
How to create a project charter
High-level specifications for a project are included in its project charter. Following these general procedures will help you create a project charter and determine the project’s high-level requirements:
1. Identify the projects overall vision
The projects vision refers to three major aspects:
Defines the project’s boundaries in terms of the scale of its objectives, as well as its costs and deadlines. For the project’s schedule and overall cost to be determined, the scope must be defined.
Project goals typically adhere to the SMART criteria because they are timely, specific, measurable, attainable, and realistic.
Deliverables: A project’s deliverables are the final products that are given to its clients or stakeholders at different stages of the project as well as after completion.
2. Determine who the projects stakeholders and customers are
All parties with a direct stake in a project’s success are considered its stakeholders. This can be used to describe individuals from within the organization, such as managers or board members, or individuals from outside the organization, such as clients and financial backers. The success of a project typically depends on identifying all stakeholders, as they can provide assistance with development, planning, implementation, and execution.
3. Make an organizational chart
You can specify each person’s precise responsibilities once you’ve identified everyone involved in the project. Making a chart with their names, roles, and project responsibilities will help you accomplish that. The chart can also be used to show how various project participants are connected to and answer to one another.
4. Identify the projects milestones
A projects milestones are all notable events within its lifecycle. The start and end dates of the project as well as the accomplishment of all project deliverables are important stages that they cover. Finding a project’s milestones is typically crucial to its success because it lets everyone involved know what they must accomplish at each stage of the process.
5. Make a resource plan and set the budget
The resources needed to complete a project, including people, machinery, tools, equipment, and materials, are listed in the project resource plan. When you are aware of all the resources needed for the project, you can make a rough estimate of the amount of money you will need to finish it. Finding out who is in charge of authorizing specific expenditures during the project execution phase is typically important at this stage.
6. Determine all dependencies, constraints and risks
A project’s dependencies are all actions that affect how it starts and ends. Constraints include a range of elements that could have an adverse impact on the project’s outcome, including a lack of time, specialized personnel, or resources. Risks are various occurrences that could happen at any time during the course of a project, and recognizing them in advance can help you take the necessary preventive measures.
7. Create the action plan
The project action plan, which is a list of all the tasks and steps that the project team must complete to achieve the projects goals, can be created once all prior steps have been completed. Some of its elements are:
Project charter template
Consider this template for a project charter:
[Company name] project charter
Project name: [name of the project]
Background:
[A brief justification of the project’s significance, outlining the issue or opportunity it seeks to resolve]
Goals:
Scope:
[Description of the projects end-result]
Key stakeholders:
Project milestones:
The project’s milestones are listed here, along with brief descriptions of each.
Project budget:
[A list of all the projects expenses]
Project constraints, risks and dependencies
Project charter example
Consider the following project charter illustration for a real estate firm seeking the ideal site to locate a new hotel:
Dover Real Estate Company project charter
Project name: Riker Hotel building, Austin, Texas
Background: Riker International Consortium hired our company to locate and buy suitable land for a new 20-story, 250-room hotel near Lady Bird Lake in Austin’s Rainey Street Historic District.
Goals:
Scope: The hotel plans to take advantage of the anticipated influx of tourists and workers brought by various businesses moving to Texas from other states.
Key Stakeholders:
Project manager: Roger Anderson
Project team members: Diana Martins, Angela Rodriguez, John Zelinsky
Project milestones:
Project budget:
Project constraints, risks and dependencies:
0002: Start with High-Level Requirements
FAQ
What are examples of high level requirements?
- Business requirements (e.g. business goals, objectives and needs);
- User requirements (what the user needs the product to do);
- System requirements (functional and non-functional ones).
What is high level business requirements?
High-level business requirements specify what should be done and why by a system or solution. They outline the scope of a business need or issue that a specific project or task should resolve.
How do you gather high level requirements?
- Establish Project Goals and Objectives Early. …
- Document Every Requirements Elicitation Activity. …
- Be Transparent with Requirements Documentation. …
- Talk To The Right Stakeholders and Users. …
- Don’t Make Assumptions About Requirements. …
- Confirm, Confirm, Confirm. …
- Practice Active Listening.
How do you write a high level requirement document?
- Use an outline to describe the goal (or an SRS template)
- Define your Product’s Purpose. …
- Describe What You Will Build. …
- Detail Your Specific Requirements. …
- Deliver for Approval.
