Requirements Management Plan

Requirements Management Plan is an output of Collect Requirements process. The plan answers the questions such as:

• Which are the methods used to identify requirements?

• What analysis is required for identified requirements?

• How will the requirements be prioritized?

• How would the requirements be managed?

• How would the requirements be tracked?

• What is required out of requirements traceability matrix?

Requirements Documentation:

Ones the team collect all requirements, it is time to document them. The documentation should be clear and unambiguous. This documentation is an output of Collect Requirements Process. If the representation of information is not done appropriately, the collected requirements may be misunderstood. Hence, it is advisable to NOT assume that the collected requirements will meet the objectives. Thus, it is important to ask the stakeholders if the collected requirements would be meeting the stated objectives. This helps ensure that the right requirements are collected and end output will be acceptable.

Requirements Traceability Matrix:

In large projects, if the requirements are not documented well, there is likelihood that they may be lost. Determining requirements can involve one requirement leading to more refined requirements and clarifications. This can make it difficult for the project manager and the project team to remember where the requirements came from. Objectives of the project may not be met if these reasons for requirements are missed. Requirements Traceability Matrix is another output of Collect Requirements Process. The matrix is used throughout the project in analyzing proposed changes to product or project scope. The matrix helps in linking requirements to the objectives and/or other requirements to ensure the strategic goals are accomplished.

Requirements Traceability Matrix Example:

Apart from the shown example, the project manager needs to record:

• Requirements identification number

• Source of each requirement

• Owner of each requirement

• Status of each requirement

PMBoK guide suggests documenting the above in the requirements traceability matrix. However, for large projects it will be a cumbersome activity and it would be difficult to use as well. It is advisable to make this data available in another repository, thus ensuring that this matrix becomes easy to use.