Free Business Requirements Document Templates

A business requirements document (BRD) template provides a framework to offer stakeholders the logistical details of a proposed project. A BRD template includes project scope, business drivers, proposed process, and functional requirements to demonstrate your project’s sound footing prior to development.  

While functional requirements serve as an outline for the specific steps for how a project will be delivered, business requirements inform team members and other collaborators or project sponsors what the proposed project is and why it is necessary for your business. Business requirements also include project benefits, project scope, and how the team should execute the project. 

In short, a business requirements template provides a comprehensive structure for proposing your project objectives and making sure that all team members and stakeholders have a good understanding of the project specifications and planned value.

A business requirement template typically includes the following sections for each component of your proposed project: 

• Project Name: Provide a name for your project’s business requirements. 
• Executive Summary: Provide an overview of your business requirements, including brief descriptions of any research conducted, findings, project description, scope, business drivers, current process, proposed process, and a brief rundown of the project’s functional requirements.  
• Project Description: Provide a description of the project for which you are writing your BRD, including the project’s purpose, challenges, and reasons for undertaking the project.
• Project Scope: Provide a high-level overview of project scope, including a list of project-specific goals, tasks, deliverables, costs, and deadlines. 
• Business Drivers: Provide the reasons why your business is initiating the project (e.g., to improve sales, legal requirements, cost savings with a more efficient practice, improved efficiency)?
• Current Process: Provide details of your current process for addressing the primary issue your proposed project will address. Include diagrams, flowcharts, or other visuals to illustrate your current process. 
• Proposed Process: Provide details of your proposed process for addressing the primary issue your project will attempt to solve. Include diagrams, flowcharts, or other visuals to illustrate your proposed process. 
• Functional Requirements: Provide details of the project’s functional requirements, including definitions of how the current process addresses the issue and your proposed functional requirements for the project to succeed. 
• Non-Functional Requirements: Provide details of all of your project’s non-functional requirements (NFRs), such as features, system behavior, and project characteristics that relate to user experience. 

Additionally, business requirements document templates often include the following proposed project details: 

• Business Case: Provide details of the problems that the project will solve. Detail who or what the project will impact, as well as the business benefits. 
• Risks: Provide details of any identified risks to the project.
• Glossary: Provide any terms, abbreviations, or acronyms included in your business requirements for easy reference. 
• References: Provide any links to all resources (websites, documents, etc.) referenced in your business requirements. 
• Appendix: Provide any additional information for reference, including process details, analysis results, studies, third-party examples, etc.
• Document History: Provide document version details, including a unique version number, the date changes were made, details of the changes, and the name of the individual who made the changes to the business requirements.