User Requirements: Do It Right and Develop a Superior Product

The User Requirements Specification (URS) describes the business needs for what users require from the system.

User Requirements Specifications are written early in the validation process, typically before the system is created. They are written by the system owner and end-users, with input from Quality Assurance.

Requirements outlined in the URS are usually tested in the Performance Qualification or User Acceptance Testing. User Requirements Specifications are not intended to be a technical document; readers with only a general knowledge of the system should be able to understand the requirements outlined in the URS.

The URS is generally a planning document, created when a business is planning on acquiring a system and is trying to determine specific needs. When a system has already been created or acquired, or for less complex systems, the user requirement specification can be combined with the?functional requirements document.

Generally,?if you spend the time writing good requirements you can develop a?far superior product with much less hassle and frustration.?At the same time not doing the right amount of requirements gathering can create a chaotic environment in which stakeholders are upset with the managers, managers are upset with the developers, developers are upset with managers and in the end what really suffers is the product.

Benefits of a well writing user requirements specification are considerable, such as higher levels of satisfaction from stakeholders, developers, consumers and users.

You can also expect products that work well and have a useful feature set with less development rework.

An effective user requirement specification also comes with a lower cost of development (often much lower) as well as fewer defects in the delivered product as well as faster delivery of the finished product.

Want to learn more? Tonex offers Developing User Requirements Training Workshop, a 2-day course that provides guidelines and skills to plan and write well-defined and well-formed, testable, verifiable, validateable user requirements.

Participants will learn to enhance their requirements writing skills and system/product development processes starting with elicitation and stakeholders involvement.

For more information, questions, comments, contact us.?