VP/CIO PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Guideline: Project Requirements
Purpose: Developing project requirements is an essential element in
the project management process. The project requirements are used
as the basis for: creating a design/implementation; developing test
plans; determining project completion and assessment of project
success.
Date Last Modified:
October 31, 2011
Project Requirements: Process
The process for developing the requirements definition has three stages: Preparation,
Gathering Information, and Integration and Prioritizations.
Preparing - Questions to ask yourself
 Is there a current system?
 Is there background data available?
 Is the project replacing an existing system?
 Is there historical data available?
 Can you identify the initial stakeholders?
 Have you decided the best way to approach each stakeholder and ask for their input
and pointers?
Gathering – There are three standard mechanisms for gathering information. They are use
cases/scenarios, prototyping, and trolling/interviewing (focus groups, questionnaires, surveys).
Questions to ask yourself
 How are you going to record the data gathering with each stakeholder?
 What type of meeting should you have?
 How are you confirming what you heard and widening your net?
 Do you need to iterate and gather more data/information?
Integrating and Prioritizing – Taking the data you heard and refining the data to turn the
information into a concise definition of the project. How are you confirming what you heard?
VP/CIO PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Guideline: Project Requirements
Purpose: Developing project requirements is an essential element in
the project management process. The project requirements are used
as the basis for: creating a design/implementation; developing test
plans; determining project completion and assessment of project
success.
Date Last Modified:
October 31, 2011
Project Requirements: Questions to Consider*
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Stakeholders
o How is the stakeholder impacted by the project?
o What is the minimum the stakeholder would get out of the project?
o What is the stakeholders wish list? Ask why?
o Have the stakeholder talk about the problems not how to do it. Understand all
the different types of stakeholders. (See the Glossary for a definition and
examples of ‘stakeholder.’)
Product/Service
o Which stakeholders can set requirements for the project?
o Do you have a complete definition of the end product/service functionality and
capabilities?
o Are you able to identify all users of the product/service?
o Are you able to identify all stakeholders of the product/service?
o Are you able to list what is NOT included in the project?
o Are you able to identify what the stakeholder expects in status reports or project
progress reports?
o Is the project/service a replacement for an existing project/service?
o If so what were the good and bad points of the previous product/services?
o Is there any documentation currently available?
Interfaces
o If you think of the project/service as a “black box” what are the external faces of
the product /service?
o Do you know the function of the interfaces? Do you know who is responsible for
the interface?
o Are there internal or external interfaces or handoffs between groups?
o Are there usability requirements? It can be useful to do some initial usability
testing to refine usability requirements. (See the ITS Departmental Computing
Support group for advice and services.)
o Are there changes to existing systems (including infrastructure) necessary in
order to implement the technology?
o Is this project dependent on, or does it rely on any other projects or changes for
support, testing, code changes, or other modifications or new implementation?
VP/CIO PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Guideline: Project Requirements
Purpose: Developing project requirements is an essential element in
the project management process. The project requirements are used
as the basis for: creating a design/implementation; developing test
plans; determining project completion and assessment of project
success.
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Date Last Modified:
October 31, 2011
o Is there third party connectivity (non-University Services connectivity) used in
this project?
Schedule/Budget Constraints
o Do you know how much money or time is available to complete the project?
o Is the deadline a “hard” deadline?
o Are there roll-out requirements such as phases?
o Is special expertise needed?
Security/Access/Privacy
o Do you know if there are security issues with the product?
o Who can access the product/service and are there various levels of security?
o Are there privacy issues with the data?
o How does the data need to be protected? Is any of the data considered to be
‘sensitive’ data?
o For more information about security/access/privacy issues, see the ‘Useful URLs’
in the IT Project Management Resources section.
Support/Maintenance
o Do you know the backup requirements for the project?
o What will the recovery process be like?
o Is the project an ongoing system that requires ongoing maintenance/support?
Does it need support from the Help Desk?
Training
o What level of training is necessary for customers and end-users?
o Are training materials and documentation required for customers and end-users
to use the application or to use new technology?
o How will the training be performed and who will prepare and deliver the
materials?
Policies/Law
o Are you aware of policies that impact the project?
o Are there any legal or regulatory compliance issues for this project?
o Will General Counsel need to review any documents or contracts for your
project?
Vendors
o Do you know if there are vendors involved in the project?
o Are there contractual rules that must be followed? What are they?
o Is vendor support necessary for the project after implementation? At what
level?
o Will any of the vendor-supported processes or functions be outsourced?
VP/CIO PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Guideline: Project Requirements
Purpose: Developing project requirements is an essential element in
the project management process. The project requirements are used
as the basis for: creating a design/implementation; developing test
plans; determining project completion and assessment of project
success.
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
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Date Last Modified:
October 31, 2011
o Does your project require a RFB, RFP or is there a contract in place?
Resources
o Space – Where will staff be located? Is there adequate meeting space?
o Power – Is there adequate power for the hardware? Is the power “clean”
o Cycles – Are there sufficient cycles to run the application? Does more need to be
acquired?
o Equipment – Does any equipment need to be acquired?
o Media – What are the types of media being used?
o Environmental – Are there any special environmental issues to be considered?
o People – What are the staffing requirements for the project? When are they
available? What happens if they are not available?
o Storage – Is there adequate storage for the volume of data the project requires?
o Products – Are the other products involved with the project?
Quality Measurements
o What are the criteria by which the product/service quality will be measured?
o How will response time be measured?
o Are there up time requirements?
Change Management
o How are you going to manage change? See the Change Management Guidelines.
*The Project Management Community wishes to acknowledge that several of the questions
above were inspired by the University of Minnesota’s Project Risk Assessment document.