# Requirements Specifications and Terms of Reference

This phase involves gathering the needs of the stakeholders and analyzing them to define detailed software requirements and Terms of Reference for acquisition of the software.

# Software requirements [Mandatory]

Software requirements should include:

**1. Functional requirements based on the needs of the institution’s operations and processes. This involves:**

a. Reviewing “Existing” process flow  
b. Developing “To be” process flows  
c. Developing user stories based on the “To Be” process  
d. Use case elicitations based on user stories

**2. Technical requirements including:**

a. Technologies supported or technology stack requirements  
b. Minimum performance metrics  
c. Reliability and availability requirements

**3. Security, data privacy and risk requirements**

# Terms of reference [Mandatory]

Terms of reference define the project , objectives and the scope of work. They should include:

- Background information about the project and its objectives,
- Scope of work
- Software requirements/User Requirements Specifications
- Minimum requirements for the software vendor including experience and qualifications of resources needed to implement the project.
- Desired timelines for implementation

<p class="callout success">**Outputs:** <span style="font-family: 'Noto Sans Symbols'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Noto Sans Symbols'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Noto Sans Symbols'; color: black;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;">Terms of Reference for software acquisition, </span>Software requirements specification document (SRS)</p>