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New Post 3/20/2008 12:13 PM
Informative
User is offline BAZ
6 posts
10th Level Poster


Difference between an Business RequirementDocument (BRD) and Funtional Specification Document(FSD) 

Hi,

I am a long time member of modernanlyst.com. I am a training to be a Business Analyst. I had a few doubts that I wanted to clear. My question is " Whatis the difference between a BRD and a FSD.

I really appreciate the help.

Thank you

Zaineb

 

 
New Post 3/20/2008 3:15 PM
User is offline David Wright
141 posts
www.iag.biz
7th Level Poster




Re: Difference between an Business RequirementDocument (BRD) and Funtional Specification Document(FSD) 

 zaineb wrote

 Whatis the difference between a BRD and a FSD. ...Zaineb

 

Well, they are both documents... seriously, despite all the tools being pushed out there, most of these types of artifacts are still being done in Word or, worse yet, Excel.

Where I work these days, the BRD is the home of the "The system must" statements", while everything else that backs those up goes in the Functional Spec, like process descriptions.; the Functional Spec also contains descriptions of how outside actors (people or other systems) interact with the proposed system, bit does not specify "how". In this structure, the two are parallel and truly supporting documents; it is not the case where the Requirements come first and then the Functional Spec. In fact, major pieces of the Functional Spec need to be drafted before you can really define any "system must|" statements.

...but that's where I am working now, a client site from which I will eventually move on, so I will have to see what I find at the next client. In the past, I have seen everything that could be in a BRD and SFD in one document, or the interaction description being delayed to a design artifact. It really is just a matter of preferred packaging and communication, so if one way of doing it is working for a company, there is no need to change it.


David Wright
 
New Post 3/20/2008 4:09 PM
User is offline BAZ
6 posts
10th Level Poster


Re: Difference between an Business RequirementDocument (BRD) and Funtional Specification Document(FSD) 
Modified By BAZ  on 3/21/2008 3:42:46 PM)

Thank You so much for the reply. It was very helpful.

 From what I could gather ,the BRD contains the actual reqirements,stake holder list,estimated cost ,resouces ,team member rolesetc  and the FSD contains information which describes the realization of these requirements suc as usecase list, use case desciption, use case diagrams,acrivity dagrams etc...

Please correct me if I am wrong.

Thank you once again.

zaineb

 
New Post 3/20/2008 6:02 PM
User is offline Chris Adams
323 posts
5th Level Poster






Re: Difference between an Business RequirementDocument (BRD) and Funtional Specification Document(FSD) 

 zaineb wrote

Thank You so much for the reply. It was very helpful.

I am training to be a Business Analyst and hence I havent seen or work with  these documents in reality. From what I could gather ,the BRD contains the actual reqirements,stake holder list,estimated cost ,resouces ,team member rolesetc  and the FSD contains information which describes the realization of these requirements suc as usecase list, use case desciption, use case diagrams,acrivity dagrams etc...

Please correct me if I am wrong.

Thank you once again.

zaineb

You pretty much have it.  The BRD contains the requirements or "what" the system must do.  Often it will also state "why" or the business rationale for the requirements.  The Functional Specification Document states more of the "how" the system must accomplish the requirements. 

Ideally, the majority of what is conveyed in the FSD will be in logical terms so that you aren't actually making development type design decisions, but inevitably some things have to be explained in physical terms.  The UI for instance.  You need to give the UI layout and requriements to the development team.

 


Chris Adams
Core Member – ModernAnalyst.com
LinkedIn Profile
 
New Post 3/20/2008 7:03 PM
User is offline Craig Brown
560 posts
www.betterprojects.net
4th Level Poster




Re: Difference between an Business RequirementDocument (BRD) and Funtional Specification Document(FSD) 
Modified By ModernAnalyst.com  on 3/20/2008 9:08:10 PM)

Traditionally people talk about three levels of requirements.  You can think of it as a sort of heirarchy descending from the strategic goals of the organisation to the physical implementation of tools and processes.

  1. Business Requiremets
  2. Functional Requirements
  3. System Requirements

Here is a concise article explaining the concept.  Note it adds a fourth level to the front - market drivers for change.  This article describes the four levels of requirements, gives a view on who should 'own' each level and how they are usually modelled or documented - "The Requirements Hierarchy" Posted April 30, 2007  by John Mansour 

And here is a similar article with a slightly different view at Search Software Quality; What Are Requirement Types Jan 01, 2008 by Roxanne Miller.

Lastly, don't forget non functional specifications.  Often a neglected area, this is where many projects have trouble delivering.

 

Craig Brown
BetterProjects.net

 
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