What is technical requirements?

Importance of technical requirements

Before a software project can begin, it's vital to first define its technical requirements such as its:

• programming language,
• technologies (DBMS, search and analytics engine, integrations, streaming platform, etc.),
• operating system,
• database architecture,
• hardware requirements,
• data transfer speeds,
• security protocols,
• regulatory standards.

Defining the technical requirements for a project gives development teams clarity on how the product will address the end user's specific need or challenge. Finding the right solutions to technical issues can involve examining various factors, such as availability, performance, accessibility, and reliability, that can be conveyed in technical requirements . The technical requirements can clarify project scope, minimize the probability of scope creep and delays, and measure and quantify how the product will function. Once they have clarity on all these considerations, developers can determine the technical resources needed to successfully execute the project.

What are the factors in technical requirements?

In defining a product's technical requirements, teams typically consider some or all of these factors:

• Availability. How available is the software? Is it prone to downtime that disrupts user experiences and workflows?
• Accessibility. Is the product accessible to the target users?
• Adaptability. Does the software perform, evolve, and maintain (or ideally, enhance) its value over time?
• Usability. Is the product easy to learn and efficient? Does it do what it's supposed from the user's perspective? Does it optimize user experiences?
• Reliability. Does the software work correctly and consistently? How does it behave under unexpected or abnormal conditions? How does it handle errors and failures?
• Auditability. Can the system's processes, functionality, infrastructure, data, and actions be traced and verified by an auditor? Can modifications be tracked to ensure system integrity?
• Maintainability. How easy or difficult is it to modify, enhance, or adapt the software in response to changing user needs or challenges? How much effort and additional expense is likely to be required to maintain or improve the product over its lifespan?

An additional and important set of factors involve performance, which refers to how the system should operate under specific conditions in terms of its:

• Processing speed. The system's response time following a user request or action,
• Throughput. The amount of work the system can handle in a certain time period,
• Scalability. Scalability refers to whether a product can handle increased load without appreciable negative affect on output or UX,
• Resource usage. The amount of resources, such as CPU and memory, the software needs to perform its functions,
• Efficiency. The degree to which the system uses available resources to achieve its results.

Performance is so important it has given rise to a niche area called performance engineering, a discipline that, when executed properly, helps development teams ensure that the product will run efficiently and effectively and meet user expectations.

A key responsibility of a performance engineer is to identify the project key performance indicators (KPIs) -- the measurable, achievable values related to system performance and user satisfaction aligned to the project's end goals.

Process to collect and define technical requirements

A consultation process at the start of the requirements gathering process is necessary to select and prioritize factors to consider. =

A development team representative, such as the software architect, collects inputs from multiple stakeholders, such as business contacts, end users, and project managers. They may do this using surveys, interviews, or other touchpoints. The goal is to understand stakeholders' minimum expectations, get a headstart on defining the requirements, and clarify the need or justification for each requirement.

After gathering the basic technical requirements, the gatherer researches market trends and user behavior patterns. Based on this information, they try to elucidate the required performance level for the product. They also prepare use cases and case diagrams and quantify the product's technical qualities to guide work on a product prototype.

Before prototyping starts, it's crucial to validate the technical requirements gathered and to compile all validated requirements into a detailed technical requirements document (TRD), which is shared with the development team, and in some cases, with end users, customers, and business leaders to finalize the requirements and initiate development.

Examples of technical requirements

Technical requirements vary by project. Here are some examples.

Example 1: e-commerce website

An e-commerce website connects buyers and sellers of products or services so they can engage in sales transactions. Since money changes hands through the website, it must be able to handle payment processing quickly and securely. So, two core technical requirements will be:

• Secure payment gateway that integrates with various payment methods to secure process online transactions.
• SSL certificate that ensures secure transactions by encrypting the data transmitted between the site and its users.

The site should also have a responsive design so it can adapt to different devices and screen sizes. Search engines should be able to find it. It should display the correct content to users when they search for a product, making search engine optimization (SEO) an important technical requirement.

Next, the site should be easy to manage. The site owner should be able to update its content easily, They should be able to back up and restore all content and data, including product listings, descriptions, images, and videos. This introduces the technical requirement for a content management system (CMS).

E-commerce sites also have all the technical requirements common for other sites:

• favorable site uptime,
• unique web address (domain name)
• reliable hosting provider
• page responsiveness (fast load times)
• support for commonly used browsers
• page redirects
• sitemaps
• alt text for images
• compliance with accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG)
• steady performance (rcopes well with traffic spikes or troughs)
• frequent, automatic backups

Example 2: CRM software

Businesses use Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software to manage customer information and analyze their various interactions with customers throughout the customer lifecycle. Besides consolidating and tracking customer data, a CRM provides useful insights about customer preferences and behaviors that help companies identify new sales opportunities, enhance customer experiences, and make better decisions to strengthen brand value and recall.

Since data is foundational to a CRM, data security is a critical technical requirement. Sensitive customer data must be encrypted (in-transit and at-rest) and access controls should be in place to restrict data access only to authorized users.

Performance and reliability are also key in a CRM platform. It should function as expected consistently and not be prone to downtime. It should be able to handle increasing data volumes without deterioration in its speed or responsiveness. To reflect this goal, developers should document scalability as a technical requirement.

Additionally, the product should be easy to use and access -- ideally from any location and using any device. This means an intuitive interface and mobile accessibility become essential technical requirements.

The best CRMs easily integrate with other business tools and support custom integrations and extensions through Application Program Interfaces (APIs). The technical requirement that reflects these capabilities is integration.

Finally, CRM tools are built for customer data management, analysis, and business decision-making. Technical requirements here encompass reporting, analytics, contact management, and marketing automation.

Technical requirements document

The TRD clearly outlines all technical aspects of a project, including system requirements, expected performance, risks, and limitations. It shouldcover user needs and expectations, product usability, product real-world applicability, and regulatory/environmental considerations.

The TRD may also describe the product prototypes and include details about the development process, such as scope planning and project management changes. Some TRDs include a description of the team structure and any background research performed before development work commences.

A detailed, well-structured TRD provides a robust, actionable roadmap for building a functional, high-quality product. It ensures clear communication among technical teams. The TRD can prevent scope creep and guide product design, development, testing, and deployment. Many teams also use TRDs to inform and optimize product maintenance.

Technical requirements vs. functional requirements

Technical requirements are a part of requirements analysis (also known as requirements engineering), an interdisciplinary field in engineering that involves the design and maintenance of complex systems, including software. These requirements reflect what technical attributes should be implemented for the product to work as expected.

The other side of requirements analysis is functional requirements, which define the desired features, output, or behavior of a system, i.e., what a system does. Where technical requirements are defined from the technical team's perspective, functional requirements are defined from a user's perspective.

Business analysts or product owners often compile functional requirements for development teams, project managers, QA teams, and business stakeholders to use. Software architects or tech leads usually compile technical requirements for development and QA teams to use.

For most development projects, it's essential to define both the technical and functional requirements.

Though a system may achieve the desired output or behavior even if it doesn't meet technical requirements, it will likely be unusable. For example, a program might include all the features required to meet user needs (functional requirements) but still not meet reasonable performance goals (technical requirements).

On the other hand, if a system does not meet functional requirements, even excellent performance may not offset missed expectations on the desired output. One example might be a calculator that makes swift calculations but does so incorrectly.

Further explore the difference between functional versus non-functional requirements in software engineering, with clear examples.