Business Requirements Document Template
The business requirements document (BRD template) outlines the goals and expectations of a project. It includes both functional and non-functional project requirements including the customer’s needs and expectations, the purpose behind the solution and any high-level constraints that could impact a successful deployment of the project.
- Concisely and visually describe the problems the project is trying to solve and the required outcomes needed to deliver value.
- Gain agreement with project stakeholders and set measurable business objectives.
- Establish a foundation to communicate solutions and expected deliverables and outcomes to satisfy the customer’s and business’ needs.
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Follow along with the instructional brd template details. Add charts, graphs, images, and videos to customize the business requirements document and make it your own. Drag & drop. Resize. It’s the easiest editor ever.
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What should be included in a business requirements document?
When kicking off a project, it’s imperative that all project stakeholders understand the expected outcomes of the partnership. That’s where a business requirements document (BRD) comes in handy. Generally, a BRD is used to detail a business’s needs when seeking a new technology provider, consultant or outside vendor.
The project requirements document template helps your team details a project and outline the business objectives you expect to achieve. Explain functional requirements, scope, and both your business and customer expectations related to the project in detail and include customer expectations, detailed technical and experience requirements, roadblocks, questions and comments.
How do you write a requirement document?
While each project requires unique requirements, BRDs generally contain a few common sections.
- Executive Summary: Give a high-level overview of the project, problem and proposed solution.
- Project Objective: Describe the desired results of the project, which often includes tangible deliverables.
- Needs Statement: Explain why the project is needed for the business and your target customer, and describe how the project will meet these needs.
- Project Scope: Summarize the business requirements for this project. What should be included in the scope and what should not?.
- Functional Requirements: Outline, in detail, the functional requirements and corresponding features including diagrams, charts, and timelines.
- Non-Functional Requirements: Detail non-functional requirements, such as processing time, concurrent users, availability, etc. These criteria will be used to assess the system operation, rather than specific behaviors.
- Schedule, Timeline and Deadline: Outline a project timeline to ensure that all stakeholders are aware of the deadline and important milestones along the way.
- Risks: Identify the risks to show you know what they are, and also identify ways in which you would mitigate those risks.
- Glossary of Terms: If needed, add a glossary of terms used in the document for clarification. These could be terms that are unique to the organization, the technology being used in the project or the standards in use.
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What is a business requirements document?
A business requirements document (BRD) captures what a project needs to achieve from a business perspective — the goals, scope, constraints, and success criteria — before anyone starts building. It is the bridge between “we need to solve this problem” and “here is what the development team should build.”
The BRD is not a technical specification. It describes the what and why, not the how. Technical teams translate the BRD into functional specifications, user stories, or architecture docs. Without a BRD, projects start from assumptions instead of agreed-upon requirements, and scope creep becomes inevitable.
What to include in a BRD
- Executive summary: A one-paragraph overview of what the project is and why it matters. This is for the stakeholder who reads the first half-page and skips to the approval section.
- Business objectives: What measurable outcomes should the project deliver? “Reduce customer onboarding time from 14 days to 3 days” is a business objective. “Build a better onboarding flow” is not.
- Scope and boundaries: What is included in this project and — critically — what is not. The exclusions section prevents scope creep more effectively than any project management tool.
- Stakeholders: Who is involved, who makes decisions, and who needs to be informed. Include names and roles, not just departments.
- Functional requirements: What the system or process must do. Phrase these as user capabilities: “Users must be able to export reports as PDF” not “Add PDF export feature.”
- Non-functional requirements: Performance, security, scalability, accessibility constraints. “Page load time under 2 seconds” or “Must support 10,000 concurrent users.”
- Assumptions and constraints: Budget limits, technology constraints, timeline dependencies, third-party integrations that must be maintained.
- Success criteria: How will you know the project succeeded? Define specific, measurable outcomes that map back to the business objectives.
BRD vs PRD vs user stories
- BRD (Business Requirements Document): Answers “what does the business need?” Written by business analysts or project managers. Audience: executives, stakeholders, and the project team.
- PRD (Product Requirements Document): Answers “what should the product do?” Written by product managers. More detailed than a BRD — includes wireframes, user flows, and acceptance criteria.
- User stories: Answers “what does the user want to accomplish?” Written in “As a [user], I want [action] so that [benefit]” format. Used by agile teams as building blocks derived from the BRD or PRD.
Small teams sometimes combine the BRD and PRD into one document. That works if the audience is small. For organizations where business stakeholders and technical teams speak different languages, keeping them separate prevents confusion.
Common BRD mistakes
- Writing it after development starts. A BRD written retroactively is a project journal, not a requirements document. It should exist before any work begins and serve as the contract between business and technical teams.
- Vague requirements. “The system should be fast” is not a requirement. “Search results must return in under 500ms for the 95th percentile” is a requirement. If you cannot test it, it is not a requirement.
- Skipping the exclusions section. Every BRD needs a clear “out of scope” list. Without it, stakeholders will add requirements throughout the project and blame the team when timelines slip.
- Making it too long. A 60-page BRD that nobody reads is worse than a 5-page BRD that everyone references. Write for the reader, not for thoroughness. Use appendices for supporting detail.
- No sign-off process. A BRD that is never formally approved gives everyone plausible deniability when requirements change. Get stakeholder signatures before development begins.
BRD FAQ
Who is responsible for writing the BRD?
Typically the business analyst, project manager, or product owner. In smaller teams, the founder or operations lead often writes it. The key is that the author understands the business need, not just the technical solution.
How long should a BRD be?
5-15 pages for most projects. Enterprise projects with multiple workstreams may need more, but always ask: “Would someone actually read this?” If not, cut it down.
Do agile teams still use BRDs?
Yes, though they often call them something else — project briefs, product briefs, or initiative documents. Agile does not eliminate the need to document business requirements. It changes how frequently and granularly you document them.
When should the BRD be updated?
Whenever requirements change during the project — and they will. The BRD is a living document. Version it, date the changes, and communicate updates to all stakeholders so nobody works from outdated requirements.
BRD vs PRD vs FRD: The Complete Document Hierarchy
Most product teams know the difference between a BRD and a PRD, but the Functional Requirements Document (FRD) often gets overlooked or confused with one of the other two. Understanding where each fits prevents redundant work and ensures every audience gets the level of detail they need.
The BRD sits at the top of the hierarchy. It captures business justification, objectives, and constraints. Its audience is executives and business stakeholders who need to approve the project and allocate budget. A BRD answers: “Why are we doing this, what will it cost, and what will we gain?”
The PRD translates business requirements into product specifications. It describes what the product should do, who the users are, and how success will be measured from a product perspective. Its audience is product managers, designers, and engineering leads who need to plan the build. A PRD includes user flows, wireframes, and prioritized feature lists that the BRD intentionally omits.
The FRD goes one level deeper. It describes the technical and functional details of each requirement: data models, system interactions, validation rules, error handling, and integration specifications. Its audience is the engineering team building the solution. While a PRD might say “users can export reports as PDF,” an FRD specifies the PDF library, page layout rules, data included in each report type, and performance requirements for the export function.
User stories are the most granular unit. Derived from the PRD or FRD, each story describes a single user capability with acceptance criteria that the development team can test against. Agile teams use stories as sprint-level work items, while the documents above provide strategic context.
The practical workflow: start with the BRD to align stakeholders on the “what” and “why,” create the PRD to define the product scope, write the FRD for technical teams, then decompose into user stories for sprint planning. Build each document as a reusable template in your workspace and share as a live link so all teams reference the same current version. For a deeper look at the product requirements side, see the product requirements document template and the PRD how-to guide.
How to Write Requirements That Get Approved
A well-structured BRD that sits in someone’s inbox for weeks is no better than a poorly written one. Getting requirements approved quickly requires understanding what decision-makers look for and removing the barriers to sign-off.
Lead with the business case. Decision-makers approve budgets, not documents. Open with the problem’s financial impact: “This process costs $180,000 per year in manual labor and has caused 3 client escalations in the past quarter.” When the cost of inaction is clear, approval becomes a business decision rather than a bureaucratic step.
Map stakeholders before you write. Identify who has budget authority, who has technical veto power, and who will be affected by the project. Interview each group before drafting the BRD so their concerns are addressed in the document rather than raised during the review cycle. Pre-alignment cuts approval time in half.
Write SMART requirements. Every requirement should be Specific (one capability per requirement), Measurable (testable against a defined standard), Achievable (technically feasible within constraints), Relevant (tied to a business objective), and Time-bound (deliverable within the project timeline). Requirements that fail any of these criteria invite debate during review.
Include a traceability matrix. A traceability matrix maps each requirement back to a business objective and forward to the deliverable that satisfies it. This matrix proves that nothing in the BRD is arbitrary and nothing in the project plan is unnecessary. It also makes it easy to assess the impact of removing or changing any single requirement during negotiations.
Build in a review cadence. Requirements change as projects progress. Define upfront how changes will be proposed, evaluated, and approved. A change control process prevents scope creep while keeping the BRD responsive to legitimate shifts in business needs. Keep the BRD as a living document that evolves with the project rather than a static artifact that becomes outdated the week after it is signed.
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