Technical Requirements Document

The product technical requirements is a documented statement of what the product is to do. It is a living document, driven by customer needs. It shows what you are trying to achieve.

Read the "Product Specifications" chapter of the Ulrich and Eppinger textbook. Following the methods suggested in the book, document the target specifications for your new product. All metrics and values listed should be justified. Use the tabular format shown in Exhibit 5-12 (exhibit number may be different in your version) of the book, but add one more column to the right labeled "Comments" under which you explain the reasoning behind the spec. The specification document should open with a one or two paragraph concise description of the product. If appropriate, include an overall concept sketch which best describes the product.

Specs which cannot be conveniently tabulated in numeric form can be explained in text form after the table. Keep in mind that most "soft" specs should be converted into hard specs. For example, the specification "must be portable" really doesn't say much. Convert into a size and weight spec. Or convert into, "must fit in an airline rollaway bag and weigh less than 50 lbs". Likewise, "easy to assemble" is not a spec. Convert into something which describes assembly time, tools required, skill level required.

At this point in the project, you have frozen the concept and have a good sense of customer needs. Therefore, any specification you list on this document must be: (1) real, (2) significant and (3) attainable.

At the beginning of the document, write a one paragraph description of what the product is, who the product is for and what problem the product is trying to solve.

Share a draft of this document with your company rep to make sure you are aligned with company directions.

Before starting this assignment, discuss with your company rep as they may have an in-house format they would like you to use.

Submitting the Assignment

Email (PDF format) to your company contact and to your faculty mentor. Upload (PDF) to the course Canvas site. Only one member of the team has to upload to Canvas.