| Course | BU 434 Business Analysis for Project Managers |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 5 |
| Paper type | Requirements document |
| Length | About 600 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Herzing University |
| Program | BS in Project Management |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for BU 434 Unit 5
No Request Leaves Without Stock, Quantity, Finishing and a Date: A Requirements Document for a Structured Quote Request at a Composite Michigan Printer
Student Name
Business, Herzing University
BU 434: Business Analysis for Project Managers
Instructor Name
March 25, 2026
No Request Leaves Without Stock, Quantity, Finishing and a Date: A Requirements Document for a Structured Quote Request at a Composite Michigan Printer
Purpose and Direction
This document states what the new quote request process at Ridgeline Press, the invented printing company this course has followed since January, must do. Earlier work showed that three in five requests arrive missing something an estimator needs, and the current state model showed where details are lost and retyped. After reviewing options with the sponsor in March, the direction chosen is a structured quote request: a web form used by customers and sales representatives that will not submit without the details estimators need, sends clarification questions straight to the customer with the rep copied, and passes the data into the estimating module and job ticket without retyping. It is a portal in a narrower sense than the one first requested; it does not produce instant prices.
Requirements are grouped in the four levels the BABOK guide distinguishes: business requirements state the goals of the organization, stakeholder requirements the needs of particular groups, and solution requirements, split into functional and non-functional, what the solution must do and how well (International Institute of Business Analysis, 2015). Each carries an identifier used later for tracing. Each is written so a tester could pass or fail it, following the rule set out by Wiegers and Beatty (2013) that a requirement nobody can verify is only a wish.
Business Requirements
Business requirements state the measurable change the company is paying for. They are the yardstick every lower requirement is judged against: a feature that serves none of them does not belong in the solution.
| ID | Requirement | Measure |
|---|---|---|
| BR-1 | Increase the share of quote requests complete on arrival | From 41% to at least 85% within six months of launch |
| BR-2 | Reduce the time customers wait for a quote | Median from 2.6 to 1.0 business days within six months |
| BR-3 | Reduce repricing caused by guessed specifications | From 17 jobs a year to 3 or fewer in the first full year |
Stakeholder Requirements
Stakeholder requirements state what each group needs from the change, in its own terms.
| ID | Stakeholder | Need |
|---|---|---|
| SR-1 | Customers | Request a quote at any hour without knowing Ridgeline's internal terms for stock and finishing |
| SR-2 | Sales representatives | See every request and every clarification for their accounts |
| SR-3 | Estimators | Receive requests that state stock, quantity, finishing and date, or say plainly that advice is needed |
| SR-4 | Customer service | Create a job ticket from an accepted quote without retyping |
| SR-5 | Prepress | See the quoted specifications alongside the files being checked |
Functional Requirements
Functional requirements state what the solution does. Each is testable by a specific action and result.
| ID | The system shall | Traces to |
|---|---|---|
| FR-1 | Require product type, finished size, quantity, stock, color, finishing and delivery date before a request can be submitted | BR-1, SR-3 |
| FR-2 | Offer "Not sure" for stock and finishing; when chosen, require a description of at least 10 words and route the request to the estimating lead marked Needs advice | BR-1, BR-3, SR-1 |
| FR-3 | Allow up to three quantity breaks per request | SR-3 |
| FR-4 | Create a record in the estimating module with every submitted field in its matching field | BR-2, SR-3 |
| FR-5 | Send an estimator's clarification question to the customer's email with the account's rep copied, and attach the reply to the record | BR-2, SR-2 |
| FR-6 | Convert an accepted quote into a job ticket carrying the same field values | SR-4, SR-5 |
| FR-7 | Show each rep a list of their accounts' requests with status: submitted, questions sent, quoted, accepted | SR-2 |
| FR-8 | Accept optional draft files with the request, up to 500 MB | SR-5 |
Non-Functional Requirements
Non-functional requirements state how well the solution must perform. Each has a measure and a test condition.
| ID | Requirement | Test |
|---|---|---|
| NFR-1 | A first-time customer can complete a request for a standard tri-fold brochure in under six minutes | Usability test with five customers; at least four succeed |
| NFR-2 | Every field can be completed on a phone screen 375 pixels wide without sideways scrolling | Test on the two most common phones in site traffic |
| NFR-3 | Submissions complete within three seconds | 95% of submissions in a one-week load sample |
| NFR-4 | The form is available 99.5% of each month outside Sunday 1:00 to 5:00 a.m. | Hosting monitor report |
| NFR-5 | The form meets WCAG 2.1 Level AA | Accessibility audit before launch (W3C, 2018) |
| NFR-6 | Request records are kept three years and visible only to signed-in staff | Access test with a customer account and a staff account |
Words This Document Refuses
An early draft from the sales team asked that the form be "user friendly," "fast" and "intuitive." None of those can be tested, since two testers could disagree about any of them and both be right. Each was replaced. "User friendly" became NFR-1, a timed task that most first-time customers must finish. "Fast" became NFR-3, with a threshold and a sample. "Intuitive" was dropped, because what the sales team meant by it, that customers should not need Ridgeline's trade vocabulary, is already stated in SR-1 and made testable by the "Not sure" option in FR-2. The same rule applies to any requirement added later: if it cannot be failed, it is rewritten before it is accepted.
What Is Out of Scope
Instant online pricing is out of scope. Ridgeline's pricing depends on press scheduling and paper costs that change weekly, and the problem definition showed that pricing takes estimators about 34 minutes once a request is complete, so automating it would save little. Changes to how sales representatives are measured are also outside this document, though the interviews suggested they matter; they belong to the sponsor as a management decision. Two smaller items are deferred rather than dropped: an automatic reminder to customers who leave clarification questions unanswered for two days, and a monthly report of the most common missing details by customer, which would let reps coach regular accounts. Both are useful, neither is needed to meet the business requirements, and both can be added once the core form is stable. Ridgeline and its numbers were made up for the course.
References
International Institute of Business Analysis. (2015). A guide to the business analysis body of knowledge (BABOK guide) (Version 3). IIBA.
W3C. (2018). Web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/
Wiegers, K., & Beatty, J. (2013). Software requirements (3rd ed.). Microsoft Press.
BU 434 Unit 5 instructions, in plain terms
BU 434 Unit 5 asks students to write a requirements document for a proposed solution. Standard elements include business requirements, stakeholder or user requirements, functional requirements and non-functional requirements, each uniquely identified and written clearly enough to be tested. Many prompts ask students to link requirements to the problem defined earlier and to state what is out of scope. Instructors usually penalize vague terms and look for measurable non-functional requirements covering usability, performance, availability, security and accessibility, each with a stated way to test it. User stories may be accepted in some sections, but the levels of requirement should still be distinct. The document is typically presented in tables with short explanations, in APA 7, and it forms the base for prioritization and traceability.
How this BU 434 Unit 5 example is built
The document opens by explaining the chosen direction and how it differs from the original request. A paragraph describes the four requirement levels and the rule that every statement must be testable. Business requirements appear first with measures and time frames. Stakeholder requirements follow, one per group. Functional requirements are listed with a trace column linking each to business and stakeholder requirements. Non-functional requirements each carry a measure and a test method. A section explains the words the document refused and how each was replaced. The final section places instant pricing and sales measurement out of scope and records two small features deferred to a later release.
Reading the BU 434 Unit 5 rubric
Requirements document rubrics generally assess organization by requirement level, clarity and testability, completeness, traceability to needs and scope definition, with presentation and sources. Organization earns full points when business, stakeholder, functional and non-functional requirements are kept distinct and each level is introduced with its purpose. Testability is often the heaviest criterion; each statement must be something a tester could pass or fail. Completeness is judged on coverage of the problem and of quality attributes such as usability and accessibility. Traceability rewards links from solution requirements back to business needs. Scope definition earns credit for stating what the solution will not do. Instructors also notice consistent identifiers, which make later prioritization and tracing possible.
BU 434 Unit 5 help before you submit
A frequent mistake in requirements documents is vague language: user friendly, fast, flexible or intuitive, none of which can be tested. Another is mixing levels, so a business goal and a screen field appear in the same list. Students often describe design, such as a blue button in the corner, instead of what the system must do. Non-functional requirements are frequently missing or stated without measures. Some documents lose the link to the problem, adding features nobody asked for. Others omit out-of-scope items, inviting scope creep later. Finally, requirements without identifiers make the next units harder, since prioritization and traceability depend on referring to each statement precisely.
Get a BU 434 Unit 5 example written to your instructions
Send the Unit 5 instructions and the rubric in your BU 434 classroom, with the case and any earlier deliverables your section built on. We write a custom example that numbers every line, separates the four types, quantifies the quality statements and carries source and acceptance throughout. Your first custom sample is free, ready in 24 to 48 hours.
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- BU 434 Unit 8: Traceability and validation plan
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BU 434 Unit 5 questions, answered
How many requirements is enough?
The instructions usually set a range, and where they do not, coverage matters more than count. Every part of the problem you defined should have at least one requirement pointing at it, and any requirement that points at nothing needs removing or justifying. Twenty well written and clearly sourced lines read better than sixty padded with variations of the same statement.
Are user stories acceptable instead?
That depends entirely on what your section asks for, so read the instructions before choosing. Where the format is open, either works provided the discipline holds: a story still needs acceptance criteria that can pass or fail, a source, and a priority. What does not transfer is looseness. A story without criteria is the same defect as a requirement written with should.
My company has a specification I could model this on.
Reading one at work shapes how you write, and that much is unavoidable. Reproducing it is different: a specification your employer produced, together with the elicitation notes and interview recordings behind it, belongs to that company and a graded document leaves the building. Take the structure from the course reading and write every line yourself against the assignment case.
Where can I find a free BU 434 Unit 5 sample paper?
This page offers the complete BU 434 Unit 5 requirements document for free, including all four requirement tables and margin notes. If your solution is different, send your instructions and a custom requirements document is written free, usually within about two days.
How do I make requirements testable for BU 434 Unit 5?
Give each one a condition a tester can check. The sample replaces user friendly with a timed task that four of five first-time customers must finish, and fast with a three-second threshold for 95 percent of submissions.