State the problem and measurable result
Describe what happens today, who is affected, the material cost or risk, and what observable condition would make the project worthwhile.
Identify users and responsibilities
Name each role, what it can see and do, who approves exceptions, and who owns the system after release. “Admin” is not sufficient when different people control data, configuration, and operational decisions.
Trace the primary workflow
Write the normal path from input to outcome, then document important alternate states: incomplete, invalid, duplicate, rejected, retried, canceled, corrected, and unavailable.
Map systems and data
Identify sources of truth, interfaces, migration, retention, sensitive information, reconciliation, exports, and vendor constraints. Integrations are part of the scope even when another company owns the API.
Define operational controls
Include authentication, authorization, validation, approvals, audit evidence, monitoring, backup, recovery, and support ownership in proportion to the risk.
Write exclusions and assumptions
Explicit exclusions make a first release credible. Record unsupported users, workflows, sources, environments, integrations, migrations, and service commitments rather than relying on silence.
Define acceptance evidence
Specify the end-to-end scenarios, data conditions, performance boundaries, security checks, deployment evidence, documentation, and customer review needed to accept the release.