Free Downloadable Project Requirements Specifications Template

Free Downloadable Project Requirements Specifications Template
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The extended scope of most modern day projects often requires that the project is split into manageable chunks, so that some of the processes can be sublet to third party vendors. At such point of time, a requirements document needs to be made which can guide the vendor about the exact scope and expectations concerning the project. A free project requirements specification template can be downloaded and used to communicate the specific requirements of the project to all the concerned parties. Once you’ve downloaded the template you can return back to this article to learn more about how to use it.

What Information Do You Need?

The preface of the document requires some basic information about the project including the name of the project, reference code, the location at which the project work is to be executed and the due date. Next, there is some space reserved for elaborating the document control details. Although not necessary, it’s always good to have a document control procedure in place so that there is no confusion arising out of duplicity of documents.

Coming to the project specifications, the template is divided into three sections, and here’s more on what goes into each section:

Template Section One

  1. Project Objective: A brief summary of what the project aims to achieve.
  2. Scope: The scope can be presented as a crisp list of all the things the project will cover.
  3. Resource Requirements: A brief list of all the resources that will be required to complete the project – manpower, machinery, raw material etc.
  4. Data Requirements: Details about what type of data may be needed for execution of work, from where this data is to be procured and how data must be processed and stored, can be detailed out here.
  5. Assumptions, Dependencies and Risks: Every project is based on some assumptions and the project also depends on a lot of external factors – all this information must be presented in the requirements document. Any risks that the project is likely to face can also be mentioned in this section.
  6. Schedule: The next piece of information required is a detailed schedule of what tasks must be completed by what date.
  7. Deliverables: A list of deliverables at each milestone of the project. The best way to display the deliverables is using a project milestones report.
  8. Quality Requirements: A brief summary of the quality standards that must be observed during the execution of the project along with details on how and when quality checks will be carried out.

Template Section Two

Detailed Project Requirements: The next section of the template is meant for detailing out the requirements for each phase or each activity. A separate requirements specification is prepared for each activity, which displays the following information:

  1. Activity or milestone reference number,

  2. Description of the requirement,

  3. Scope,

  4. Resources to be used as inputs,

  5. The expected output,

  6. The completion date for the activity or the milestone,

  7. Acceptance criteria that will be used to determine the successful completion of a phase or activity,

  8. Testing and quality control specifications,

  9. Technical requirements, and

  10. Any additional instructions or information.

Template Section Three

The final section of the template requires the following information:

  1. Issues and Problem Handling: This section explains how issues and problems are to be handled.
  2. Security Requirements: If there are any security issues, these can be mentioned here.
  3. Support and Maintenance Requirements: Details about what type of support and maintenance services the vendor will be required to provide after the completion of the project, and for what period of time.
  4. Communications Schedule: A detailed project communications schedule – how will information travel, how frequently things must be reported and in what format.
  5. Terms and Conditions: Details about the terms and conditions that will govern each and every aspect of the project.
  6. Contact Points: Contact details of all the important people who will be involved with the execution and progress of the project.

This project requirements specification template is a detailed one; however, the users can customize it and delete some of the sections or fields that are not important for their project.

References & Credits:

1. https://www.dess-itea.org/deliverables/ITEA-DESS-D184-V01P.pdf

2. https://www.opengroup.org/naspl/bptemplates/qa_rd_requirementsspecification.pdf

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Image by: Sidharth Thakur