You’ve now learned how to write a good functional requirements document and now it’s time to write a technical specifications document. Is it actually needed? Well, it depends.

What is technical specifications document anyway?

While functional requirements document captures what client wants, technical specifications document layout HOW you will approach the functional requirements technically. It will be fully technical (eg. what technology you use, the database structure, etc).

For example, client needs a website that allows visitors to register. The technical specifications document will mention something like, “A ASP.NET session will be used to store visitor ID then a temporary session record will also be added to the database, etc”. Another example will be client needs to have a drop-down-menu then in the document you’ll mention, “ABC Drop-Down-Menu will be used with custom javascript”, etc.

What is the purpose of technical specifications document?

The purpose of having this document is obviously to record the “magic” behind the website you create. Therefore, if you need to re-visit the project 1-2 years later, you know what it has.

Is it compulsory?

It normally is. Writing technical doco however consumes time but trust me, it’s worth the time.

What’s in there?

So, what does this document contain?

– Technology used

– Database schema

– Any custom Javascript and other scriptings

– CSS classes used

– etc (other framework used)

We have to be diligent enough to keep updating this document as soon as our approach changes. For example, instead of saving the user to database, we will save the user to an XML file. Any technical changes have to be reflected in the document. If you get lazy (like I am), keep reminding yourself what the purpose of this document is. It’s really-really for our own benefit.