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Joint Requirements Planning (JRP) is a facilitated workshop process in which business stakeholders and information-systems staff work together to understand the current environment, agree on a proposed system’s scope, and document its requirements. In short, JRP establishes what the system should do; broader Joint Application Design (JAD) work addresses how it will work.
What happens in a JRP workshop?
A JRP workshop brings together people who understand the affected business areas and the technical staff who will assess the proposed system. Executives, end users, information-systems professionals, and managers from directly affected areas may take part. A facilitator guides discussion, while a scribe records requirements, decisions, and open issues.
The group’s task is not simply to collect feature requests. It develops a shared view of the current situation, defines scope, and organizes the proposed system’s functional and nonfunctional requirements. The workshop’s intended outputs should be agreed in advance: these might include an outline scope, a requirements list, or process and data models.
What are the main JRP steps?
The Hong Kong Government Digital Policy Office places JRP in the Requirements Planning stage of its RAD Procedures Guide. Its three tasks are:
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- Research the current situation. Examine existing systems and available information, and consider similar systems for structures that may be reusable.
- Define requirements and scope. Develop an outline model of the system. Describe the business processes it must support and the data it will handle, and identify management issues that could affect development or transition.
- Finalize requirements. Document the agreed scope, prepare a cost and duration estimate, and seek approval to proceed. If cost and duration are already fixed, define scope in a way that keeps the project viable within those constraints.
The precise artifacts and review cycle depend on the organization and project. For example, a City of Homestead procurement document dated September 8, 2015 describes a project that began with preliminary functional and technical requirements, reviewed them in facilitated sessions, and circulated a draft list for stakeholder review before finalization. That is an example, not a mandatory JRP template.
How is JRP different from JAD and RAD?
| Term | Meaning | Emphasis |
|---|---|---|
| JRP | Joint Requirements Planning | Requirements and scope: what the system needs to do. |
| JAD | Joint Application Design | Broader application design and development decisions: how the system will work. |
| RAD | Rapid Application Development | A development lifecycle or methodology. The Hong Kong guide places Requirements Planning before User Design, Rapid Construction, and Transition. |
The JRP/JAD distinction is described in Pearson’s sample chapter for Systems Analysis and Design Methods (2003). The RAD sequence above is the Hong Kong guide’s model; organizations are not required to use that lifecycle to conduct JRP.
When is JRP a useful choice?
JRP is suitable when a project needs a structured way to bring affected business groups and technical staff together to agree on requirements and scope. Before scheduling a workshop, check that:
- Representatives of all directly affected business areas can participate, including people with authority to resolve scope questions.
- Relevant information-systems staff can assess requirements and constraints.
- A facilitator can keep discussion productive and a scribe can capture decisions accurately.
- The team knows what the workshop must produce and how it will handle unresolved issues.
- Cost, schedule, and scope constraints are understood well enough to assess project viability.
JRP is one requirements technique, not a proven replacement for interviews or other methods. The cited sources do not establish that it is inherently faster or produces better project outcomes. Its value depends on representative participation, clear facilitation, and usable records.
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What should a JRP deliver?
At minimum, the work should leave the organization with a documented and reviewed understanding of scope and requirements, plus a decision about whether to proceed. The exact package varies: a project may also produce an outline model, business-process descriptions, data needs, estimates, or a list of decisions still requiring resolution. Agree on the expected outputs before the sessions begin.
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