Requirements and Specification Documents

There are several documents created in the early stages of product development that may be useful in beginning to generate a user profile: the functional specification, business requirements document, design specification, or use cases.

- The functional specification or product requirements document is the blueprint for the product. It describes the product's intended functionality , as well as the tasks that the end user will perform. Most functional

specifications include a comprehensive description of the intended user population (if an interna] product) or market {if an external product) for the product, which is the basis for your user profile.

- I f all you find in the functional specification is specifications for functionality, you may find market segment information in a business requirements document (often referred to as a BRD). The BRD outlines

the business case for the product or its planned upgrade, including information about whom the product is targeting and why. 

- A design specification typically describes the system archjtecture for supporting a software product or web site but may include end-user characteristics as part of the assumptions and dependencies it covers.

■ Use cases typically include information about end users as "actors" someone who interacts with part of the proposed system. The actor wants to achieve some goal, so you may learn useful things about tasks

that the team envisions users doing.