I would now like to share my experience in writing functional requirements into a document. You have now finished your requirements gathering meeting and now it’s time do your homework: writing functional requirements document. This is the document that will either win you the job or not.
What is functional requirements document?
Functional requirements document or sometimes called functional specification document is a document that captures and details client requirements. It’s really a physical translation from meeting minutes into a format that is readable and understood by both parties.
What’s in functional requirements document?
It’s pretty much detailing everything you’ve talked about in the meeting with the client. It details the domain name, colour theme, approved layouts, website functionalities, hosting details, price agreement, etc.
It details how the system should behave and NOT how it is implemented. The customer doesn’t need to know how it’s implemented as long as the final product does what’s required.
How to write a good functional requirements document?
It’s not hard to write a good functional requirements document. Below are some advice:
– Write with correct grammar. Get someone to proof-read the document once you’ve finished writing it.
– NEVER mentions anything technical! The document is meant to contain the requirements of the system and not HOW the system is going to be implemented. It should never say, “The website will be programmed in Visual Studio”, etc. Remember, this document is the bridge between you and the client. Both parties have to be able to understand it!
A technical specification document on the other hand talks more about the technology behind it. It talks about how to achieve a particular requirement technically. For example, to allow visitors to register we will be storing the data in SQL database and the username will be stored in session, etc. I’ll talk more about this later.
– Simple in layout heavy in content. Please download the sample functional requirements document above.
Conclusion
So, that’s pretty much it! It’s really not that hard to write a functional specification document. It really just captures what client wants out of the system.
