Project Requirements Management: A Quick Guide

Project Requirements Management: A Quick Guide


Requirements are a group of tasks or conditions that must be completed to finish a project successfully. They can include product features, quality, services or even processes. Requirements can be categorized into three categories: business requirements, solution requirements and stakeholder requirements. Business requirements are the overall needs of the business for making the project happen, while solution requirements are more product-focused and drill down a little deeper. Stakeholder requirements describe key personnel that signs off on milestones, produces the work, finalizes deliverables and more.

It is essential for good stakeholder management. Requirements management is the process of documenting, analyzing, tracing, prioritizing and validating project requirements. It is an ongoing activity in which the project manager must communicate with stakeholders to keep up with any changes made to the original requirements. The Requirements Management Plan (RMP) is a guide that lists all project requirements and defines guidelines and procedures to meet them. It includes the following checklist: stakeholder roles and responsibilities, requirements management process, definition of requirement types, map your requirement artifacts, prioritize requirements, make it traceable, incorporate a numbering or versioning system, develop a communication plan, encourage employee buy-in, and manage expectations for both stakeholders and team members.