Process: Collect Requirements
Process Group: Planning
Knowledge Area: Project Scope Management
Purpose
The Collect Requirements process involves determining, documenting, and managing stakeholder needs and expectations to meet the project objectives. It focuses on ensuring all stakeholder requirements are captured in a structured, traceable, and prioritized format to guide scope definition and solution design.
Inputs
- Project Charter – Provides high-level project goals and product descriptions.
- Project Management Plan – Specifically includes scope, requirements, and stakeholder engagement plans.
- Project Documents – Such as the stakeholder register, assumption log, and lessons learned register.
- Business Documents – Including the business case and benefits management plan.
- Agreements – Any relevant contracts or statements of work.
- Enterprise Environmental Factors (EEFs) – Organizational policies, culture, and tools that affect requirements gathering.
- Organizational Process Assets (OPAs) – Templates, historical data, and requirements standards.
Tools and Techniques
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Expert Judgment – Leveraged to guide appropriate techniques and evaluate stakeholder input.
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Data Gathering
- Interviews
- Focus groups
- Questionnaires and surveys
- Benchmarking
- Brainstorming
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Data Analysis
- Document analysis to extract and review relevant existing information.
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Decision-Making
- Voting, multicriteria decision analysis, prioritization techniques.
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Data Representation
- Affinity diagrams to group ideas
- Mind maps to visualize relationships between concepts
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Interpersonal and Team Skills
- Active listening
- Facilitation
- Conflict resolution
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Context Diagrams – Used to show boundaries between the system and external actors.
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Prototypes – To elicit feedback through interactive or visual models.
Outputs
- Requirements Documentation – A detailed list of functional and non-functional requirements, business requirements, stakeholder needs, and solution expectations.
- Requirements Traceability Matrix – A grid that links each requirement to its origin and tracks it through development to validation.
Role in the Process Group and Knowledge Area
- As part of the Planning Process Group, this process lays the foundation for defining scope and managing changes.
- Within Project Scope Management, it ensures that the project captures all essential inputs before proceeding to define and validate scope.
Why It Matters
- Ensures Alignment – Captures what stakeholders expect and need from the project.
- Reduces Rework – Prevents misunderstandings and missed requirements later in the project.
- Improves Scope Definition – Supports accurate and complete scope statements and WBS development.
- Supports Validation – Requirements traceability ensures that every need is met by a deliverable.