How to create a functional specification document

As a business analyst, you would have to create different types of documents. One of the common documents that a business analyst has to prepare is the functional specification document.

A functional specification document is a document that is used to describe the required functionalities in a solution.

The document is used by all the stakeholder and it should be created in such a way that both the end users and technical team members can read and understand it.

The document is usually created using microsoft word and should include the following information:

  1. Key stakeholders : the names of stakeholders who are approving the requirements should be included.
  2. Document history : a history of the document should be included.
  3. Previous approvals : include the history of the previous documents approvals.
  4. The project scope : include a summary of the business needs.
  5. Risks and assumptions : include the risks and /or assumptions that might affect the solution’s design and implementation.
  6. Solution overview : include an outline of the solution and how it would fulfill the business needs.
  7. Requirement specifications : the stakeholder requirements should also be described.
  8. Use cases and / process flow chart : include the use cased and or process flow diagrams. A use case describes the possible outcomes of a specific goal that the solution will support while a process flowchart is a visual diagram that is used to describe an end-to-end process.
  9. System configurations : include the system configuration which would describe the product configurations.
  10. The non-functional requirements : include the non functional requirements. Non-functional requirements are the quality attributes that are usually linked with the system solutions and organizational processes.

These are some of the information that should be included in a functional specification document.

But the business analyst should ensure that the functional specifications document is created based on the organizational template (if they are available) and the organizational standards.