With ever-increasing market pressure to deliver more business value in shorter timelines, IT departments and software development organizations are always seeking ways to improve productivity, build applications that are aligned with customer needs, and improve the competitive advantage of their organizations.

Today, many organizations are putting a focus on the front end of the application development lifecycle, starting with the gathering and documentation of effective requirements. The capture and communication of good business requirements is critical to the success of the final project. After all, effective requirements define what the application should do for its users. Capturing accurate, well-defined, and complete requirements also lays the foundation for a more productive and traceable development process. Many projects also fall prey to miscommunications between the business and technical worlds. Accurately gathered and effectively communicated project requirements help to make the entire development process more efficient and more closely aligned with the true needs of the users and business. They eliminate costly rework, late-cycle changes, and keep developers focused on implementing a final project that meets the desired business objectives.

According to CIO magazine, up to 71 percent of IT project failures are caused by an ineffective requirements process. Requirements can come from multiple sources with varying degrees of technical aptitude. They are often delivered in inconsistent formats and are revised frequently. Then they must be translated effectively from the business world to the technical, where they are hopefully interpreted accurately into project definitions and developer tasks. Many development projects are slowed or sent in the wrong direction because of requirements that were poorly defined, not well communicated, or altogether lost in the translation between business and technical contributors.

This white paper will examine the challenges in capturing, managing, and implementing effective requirements for application delivery. The paper will also present the many advantages in using a requirements capture and management tool to ensure that accurate requirements are gathered and integrated seamlessly with the rest of the project lifecycle.