Purpose
The purpose of this SOP is to provide Project Managers with a structured, repeatable process for eliciting, analyzing, and validating project requirements. It ensures lean PM teams (1–3 members) can gather accurate requirements from stakeholders, remove ambiguities, and establish a validated baseline that supports planning and scope control.
Poorly defined requirements are the leading cause of project overruns, scope creep, and rework. This SOP prevents those risks by mandating a disciplined approach to requirement gathering and confirmation. It guides PMs through structured elicitation techniques, documentation, and validation checkpoints with stakeholders. The process balances efficiency with rigor, recognizing that Memorres projects often operate with lean resources and fast-moving delivery expectations.
By implementing this SOP, Project Managers create transparency, foster stakeholder alignment, and reduce downstream changes. The defined steps—elicitation, consolidation, validation, and approval—enable requirements to be transformed into a formal specification. The outputs from this SOP directly support baseline creation, schedule development, risk identification, and scope control.
Ultimately, this SOP ensures that requirements management at Memorres is not treated as a one-time activity but as a controlled process that establishes project direction and prevents misalignment throughout the lifecycle.
Scope
This SOP applies to all Memorres projects managed under the Project Management Department. It is mandatory for projects requiring custom software, integrations, or process automation, as well as for strategic internal initiatives. The SOP is applicable whether requirements are captured directly from clients, end-users, or internal sponsors.
The scope covers the structured process of requirements elicitation (interviews, workshops, document reviews, and observation), analysis and consolidation (removing duplicates, prioritizing, resolving conflicts), validation (stakeholder walkthroughs, sign-offs), and ongoing updates during initiation and planning. It also defines roles and responsibilities for PMs, stakeholders, and sponsors.
This SOP does not prescribe engineering practices, detailed functional specifications, or technical solution design, which are the responsibility of delivery teams. Instead, it focuses on capturing business and functional needs at a level sufficient for scope baselining and PM governance.
The responsibility for compliance lies with the assigned Project Manager. Sponsors and stakeholders are responsible for providing accurate inputs and timely validation. The PMO ensures quality checks are met before approving baseline requirements.
Definitions
- Elicitation: The process of gathering information from stakeholders through structured techniques.
- Validation: The confirmation that documented requirements meet stakeholder needs and are achievable within constraints.
- Baseline: The approved version of requirements used as a reference for scope control.
Main Section
Table 1: RACI – Requirements Elicitation & Validation
| Activity | Project Manager | Stakeholders | Sponsor | PMO | Example |
| Conduct elicitation sessions | R | A/C | C | I | PM facilitates workshops |
| Consolidate & analyze inputs | R | C | I | A | Remove duplicates |
| Validate requirements | R | A | C | I | Stakeholders sign draft |
| Approve baseline | C | C | A | R | Sponsor approves, PMO records |
Table 2: Workflow – Requirements Elicitation & Validation
| Step | Inputs | PM Activities | Outputs | Gate Criteria | Example |
| 1 | Project Charter, initial assumptions | Plan elicitation sessions, define techniques | Elicitation plan | Plan reviewed by Sponsor | Interviews scheduled |
| 2 | Stakeholder inputs, reference docs | Conduct interviews/workshops, capture raw notes | Raw requirements list | Notes archived in MIC | Workshop notes saved |
| 3 | Raw requirements list | Consolidate, remove duplicates, prioritize | Draft consolidated list | All stakeholders represented | Duplicate items removed |
| 4 | Draft consolidated list | Circulate for stakeholder review | Validated requirements | No critical conflicts remain | Sign-off from SMEs |
| 5 | Validated requirements | Present to sponsor/PMO for approval | Baseline requirements set | Sponsor approval recorded | Charter linked to baseline |
Table 3: Quality Checklist
| Criterion | Test | Evidence | Example |
| Completeness | All stakeholder groups consulted | Attendance sheet, MIC notes | SMEs + Sponsor interviewed |
| Clarity | Requirements are unambiguous and testable | Requirement IDs, acceptance criteria | “System must allow password reset via email” |
| Alignment | Requirements align with objectives in Charter | Cross-reference matrix | Objective: onboarding time reduced |
| Approval | Sponsor approval recorded | Signed document in MIC | Signed baseline v1.0 |
Closing Note & Cross-References
The Requirements Elicitation & Validation SOP ensures that project needs are captured, consolidated, and formally validated before scope baselines are established. It provides a governance safeguard for lean PM teams, preventing misalignment and uncontrolled scope creep.