5.2 Collect Requirements
Process Definition
This process gathers into one place all the requirements guiding the development of project deliverables, including products, data and services. The requirements essentially define the project objectives and success criteria.
Process Assessment
Requirements are the foundation of every deliverable. Collecting requirements ensures that the customer's needs are completely and fully understood. This is critical to the success of any project. With good requirements in place the deliverables, schedule and cost are far more likely to be accurately planned for. In some cases the requirements are completely understood up front at project initiation, but often the requirements evolve over the life of a project as the customer and executing team get a more realistic idea of what is reasonably possible and of the costs associated with creating different aspects of the scope.
Figure 6. Collect Requirements: Inputs, Tools and Techniques, and Outputs. Reprinted from "A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide), 5th Edition" by Project Management Institute, 2013, p. 111. Copyright 2013 by Project Management Institute, Inc. Reprinted without permission.
- Requirements Management Plan: This personal requirements management plan is an input for collecting requirements. It identifies the techniques for identifying requirements, the stakeholders that should be interviewed, and the database in which the requirements will be stored.
- Fence Requirements: Requirements for the PMGT 501 class project to build a backyard fence. The requirements document is an output of the "Collect Requirements" process and an input to the "Define Scope" and "Create WBS" processes.
- Example Requirements for a Bicycle: Homework assignment from PMGT 614, WBS 1 module, to identify requirements that drive the design of a bicycle. This reflects an output of this process.