What are the documents that need to be requested before starting a software project? (RFP & PRD)

Before starting a software project, there are essential details that need to be requested from the client side.

KYC & RFP & PRD:

To facilitate this, you can ask your potential customer to fill out the following KYC, RFD, and PRD documents.

Once these documents are received, you can determine the project scope, timeline, and budget with less effort.

KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER – KYC

• Company Name:
• Contact Information:
• Project Manager and Contact Information:
• Job Description: (Provide a brief description of the company’s general business area and the purpose of the project.)

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL – RFP

1 . Project Details:

• Project Name: [Your Project Name]
• Project Goals: [Main Objectives of Your Project]
• Project Description: [Explain the Scope and Objectives of Your Project]
• Project Duration: [Start and End Dates] (Requested)
• Project Budget: [Budget Range Allocated for the Project]
• Deadline for Final Proposals: [Deadline for Submission of Proposals]
• Project Owner: [Project Owning Organization or Department]
• Project Manager: [Name of Project Manager]
• RFP Preparation Date: [Date the RFP Was Prepared]

2. Contact Info:

• Project Contact Person: [Name and Surname]
• Email: [Email Address]
• Phone: [Phone Number]
• Address: [Organization Address]

3. Requests:

3.1. Project Management Requests Question: What are the requests related to project management (if any)?

Example:

• Project planning, execution, and monitoring.
• Business analysis & development.
• Resource management and tracking.
• Risk management.
• Regular presentation of progress reports.

3.2. Stakeholder & Team Management Requests Question: What are the requests related to stakeholder and team management (if any)?

Example:

• Selection, training, and management of the project team.
• Establishment of collaboration and communication processes.
• Management of processes with integration and third-party companies.

3.3. Budget Management: Question: What are the requests related to budget management (if any)?

Example:

• Management and monitoring of the project budget.
• Providing financial reports and spending forecasts.

3.4. Q&A Management: Question: What are the requests related to quality control management (if any)?

Example:

• Ensuring compliance with the project’s quality requirements.
• Maintenance support (bugfix) (Implementation of audit and quality assurance processes).

PRODUCT REQUIREMENTS DOCUMENT – PRD:

1. Product Overview:

• Product Name: [Your Product Name]
• Product Description: [Comprehensive Description of Your Product]

2. Product Objectives

Question: What will this product enable users to do?

• PG-1: (Product Goal-1)
• PG-2: (Product Goal-2)
• PG-3: (Product Goal-3)

3. Persona & Target Audience

Question: Who is the target audience, and what is their description?

Example:

• Age range: 18–65 years old
• Income status: Middle to upper income group
• Education level: University graduate (at least)
• Gender: Female & Male
• Geographic location: Turkey & Southern Europe
• Technology usage status: Proficient
• Language: Turkish & Italian
• Industry of employment: Information Technology, Education

4. Functions & Core Features

Question: What is the list of core product features and functions to be included in the product? Answer:

Example:

1 User Management: (Feature)

• 1.1. Registration (Function)
• 1.2. Login (Function)
• 1.3. Password reset (Function)

2 Database Operations: (Feature)

• 2.1. Data addition (Function)
• 2.2. Data update (Function)
• 2.3. Data deletion (Function)
• 2.4. Data retrieval (Function)

3 Voice Command Processing: (Feature)

• 3.1. Detection of voice commands (Function)
• 3.2. Processing and responding (Function)

4 File Upload and Download: (Feature)

• 4.1. File upload (Function)
• 4.2. File download (Function)

5 Notification Service: (Feature)

• 5.1. Sending notifications to users (Function)

6 Search and Filtering: (Feature)

1. 6.1. Searching in the database (Function)
2. 6.2. Filtering results (Function)

7 Report Generation: (Feature)

• 7.1. Creating custom reports for users (Function)
• 7.2. Viewing and downloading reports (Function)

8 Graphics and Analysis: (Feature)

• 8.1. Transforming data into graphics (Function)
• 8.2. Conducting analysis and displaying results (Function)

9 User Settings: (Feature)

• 9.1. Profile editing (Function)
• 9.2. Password change (Function)
• 9.3. Theme selection (Function)

10 Security and Authorization: (Feature)

• 10.1. Security measures (SSL, JWT) (Function)
• 10.2. User authorization management (Function)

5. Milestone (if multi-phase product):

Question: In which phase will which feature and its functions be included? And what are the phase dates? (Requested)

Example:

• Phase 1: In this phase, you can add the most prioritized 20% of features from the total features in your product to start. If you have 40 product features, you should select the top 8 priority features. (20% of 40 features) — Target Date: March 01 — April 30
• Phase 2: Similarly, add 20% — 40% of the 2nd priority features. — Target Date: April 30 — May 30
• Phase 3: Again, add 40% — 60% of the 3rd priority features. — Target Date: May 30 — June 30
• Phase 4: Again, add 60% — 80% of the 4th priority features. — Target Date: June 30 — July 30
• Phase 5: Again, add 80% — 100% of the 5th priority features. — Target Date: July 30 — August 30

6. Information Architecture:

6.1. Mindmap

Question: What is the web app mindmap diagram?

What is the admin panel mindmap diagram?

6.2. Sitemap

Question: How should the sitemap for the requested product look?

Example:

• -> 1. Home
• — > 1.1. Header
• — — →1.1.1. Welcome Text
• — — → 1.1.2. My Account
• — — — → 1.1.2.1. Log In
• — — — → 1.1.2.2. Sign Up
• — — — → 1.1.2.3. My Orders
• — — — → 1.1.2.4. My Profile
• — — → 1.1.3. About Us
• — — → 1.1.4. Contact
• — — → 1.1.5. My Cart
• — > 1.2. Banner Slider - (3 Static Visuals)
• — > 1.3. Categories
• — — → 1.3.1. Computer:
• — — → 1.3.1.1. Filters
• — — — → 1.3.1.1.1. Product Type
• — — — — → 1.3.1.1.1.1. Ultrabook
• — — — →1.3.1.1.1.2. Laptop
• — — → 1.3.1.2. Product List
• — — — → 1.3.1.2.1. Product (Item)
• — — — — → 1.3.1.2.1.1. Compare Product (Button)
• — — — — → 1.3.1.2.1.2. Buy Product Now (Button)
• — — → 1.3.2. Tablet:

…

• — — → 1.3.3. Footer

6.3. Userflow

Question: What is the user flow diagram for the Web App & Panel?

Example Web App:

1. Enter the Application (Action)
2. Select the Products category from the home page categories section (Action)
3. Choose Computer category > Select “Product Type” filter (Action)
4. Computer products are listed (Display)
5. Select the product type with filtering (Action)
6. Sort by lowest price (Action)
7. Loans are ranked by interest rate (Display)
8. Select Buy Product Now button (Action)
9. User is directed to the payment step (Display)
10. User enters credit card information and completes the payment (Action)
11. User is redirected to the Order Received page (Display)

Example Web Panel:

1. Enter the Management Panel (Action)
2. Select Reports from the navigation (Action)
3. Choose Product Sales Report (Action)
4. Filter the report by time (Action)
5. View the report (Display)

7. Design Assets:

Question: If available, what are the links to wireframes, mockups, UI designs?

Example:

• Figma Protoype, Low-Fidelity Wireframes, Mockups

8. Technical Requirements:

8.1. Technology

Question: What technologies are requested for the project?

Example:

| _____Category _____|____ Technology_____|

• Web Framework Example: React
• State Management Example: Redux
• User Interface Example: HTML5, JS, CSS3
• UI Component Example: Material UI, Ant Design
• API Framework Example: Express.js
• Authentication Example: JSON Web Token (JWT)
• Database Example: PostgreSQL, MongoDB
• ORM / ODM Example: Sequelize, Mongoose
• Version Control Example: Git, Gitlab, Github
• Continuous Integration Example: Jenkins, Gitlab CI
• Containerization Example: Docker, Kubernetes
• Unit Testing Example: Jest, Mocha
• Integration Testing Example: Supertest, Postman
• Hosting Example: AWS, Azure, Heroku
• Web Server Example: Nginx, Apache
• Error Tracking Example: Sentry, New Relic

8.2. Data Storage

Question:

* Where will the project be stored/hosted? (Details required)

* Who will deploy the project, the team or you? After the project is deployed, which party will be responsible for “DevOps Maintenance”?

* Where will the codebase be kept? At our or on your side?

8.3. Environments

Question:

* Release and Deployment? How many environments will there be (Test, Prod)?

* How will access to the environments be provided (VPN Connection, etc.)?

* Who will provide technical support during this process?

9. Acceptance Criteria:

Question:

* What are the acceptance criteria for the project?

Example:

• AC-1 (Acceptance Criteria): Page Loading Performance
  1. Pages should load within a maximum of 5 seconds in the browser.
  2. Loading times should be consistent depending on the browser and device.
  3. All resources should be compressed, and there should be no errors during page loading.