Introduction

Click here to expand...

The product requirements document (PRD) is a central document used to align all stakeholders (product management, engineering, QA, designers, and leadership) on the overall objective and vision of the proposed product and is used as a decision-making tool.

When creating the PRD, provide just as much information as needed and nothing more. If the document is too long and complex, it will quickly become outdated, and readers will lose interest.

PRD content and structure vary by organization. Depending upon the product line, company culture, and processes, PRDs could have quite a different look and feel.

In this latest iteration of the Unified Compliance PRD template, we changed the template to help raise visibility of how the proposed product (or feature set) adheres to Unified Compliance’s strategic plan including details on why this product proposal is important to Unified Compliance.

Strategic Planning and Decision Making

Click here to expand...

Vision and Goal Setting: articulates the vision alignment, problem being addressed, and goals of the product proposal describing what the product is, who it is for, and how it will benefit the users and the organization.
Decision-Making Framework: helps in making informed decisions throughout the product development process acting as a reference point for evaluating progress and making changes.
Performance Measurement: sets the criteria for measuring the success of the product through specified metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) including potential financial impact.
Basis for Prioritization: helps in prioritizing features based on the product strategy, market needs, and resource constraints.

Vision and Initiative Alignment

How does this proposal fit into our overall vision and which specific initiative does this proposal align with and how?

The Problem

What problem are we trying to solve? and why it important to our customers and/or to Unified Compliance?

Goals

What does success look like? What metrics can we effect and why it is important to affect those metrics?

Goal	Metric	Why Important?

Scope and Requirements

The intent of this section is for the following:

Scope Definition: defines the scope of the proposed product (or features), including what will and will not be included helping manage expectations and focus development efforts.

Guideline for Development: provides detailed information on the product’s features, functionalities, user flow, and interface to guide the development team in building the product.

Framework: provides high-level evaluation criteria for alternative solutions (build, buy, partner) to evaluate different routes to success.

Scope Definition

Define the scope of the proposed product (or feature set), including what will and will not be included, helping manage expectations and focus development efforts.

Requirements

Describe the product requirements that will fulfill the underserved need(s) starting off with the use cases, then specific functionality.

Requirement	Importance	Comments

Out of Scope / Future Functionality

List the known features that are out of scope for this project or might be revisited at a later time.

As is case with the assumptions, it is important to list these out so that architects and engineers can plan accordingly for these later updates.

Requirement	Comments

Guideline for Development

Provides detailed information on the product’s features, functionalities, user flow, and interface to guide the development team in building the product.

User Interaction and Design

Link to mockups, prototypes, or screenshots related to the requirements.

Process Flow Diagrams

Links to user journeys, process flow, or other diagrams related to the requirements.

Impacted Product Components

If this project is a component to other areas or an update to an existing product, specifically call out where this product will interact with other areas.

Open Questions

List any open questions that come to mind throughout the lifecycle of this initiative.

Question	Answer	Date Answered

Framework

Provides high-level evaluation criteria for alternative solutions (build, buy, partner) to evaluate different routes to success.

Milestones and Launch Checklist

Launch Readiness

Milestones and launch checklist including high-level go-to-market plan to ensure cross-departmental alignment.

High-level Messaging

Includes Unique Selling Proposition (USP) raising visibility of the proposed solution’s value proposition.

Risk Mitigation

Identifies potential risks and propose mitigation strategies.

Subscription / Pricing / Billing Impacts

Describe any financial impact this product will introduce (if any)

Additional References

List and link to any other reference sites, documents … that might be important to the reader.

PRD - Template - 2024 (WIP)