User Requirement Specification (URS)

 We do not know what we need, but we need it tomorrow

The project trapped by complexity

The conditions in developing and realising big industrial facilities or special structures for the research and development sector are demanding: Steadily rising complexity, higher quality requirements and shorter Realisation periods.

Realisation and implementation fail far too often or fall short of the original expectations. This is partly the result of not fully clarified questions. Due to the complexity many answers still lie in the dark in this early project stage.

A typical situation: The construction department requests a comprehensive description of the requirements or interprets the needs for the user. Hence, they decide over the user’s head and push into their territory.

This results in a lot of changes in the ongoing design process and rising costs – the departments block each other.

Arising from the fear to miss important information new surveys are conducted continuously to postpone decisions. Those survey are sometimes assigned without a sufficient description of the issue and the solution frame.

The one who tackles these hurdles and masters them, can release the full potential.

To enhance the situation

• Introduce knowledge to teams in a way that enables them to cooperate
• Different knowledge is to be gathered and revised to create new things
• Sound and need-orientated summaries help to see different perspectives, be it micro or macro – to show details, connections or overall objectives

To bring the responsibility back to the scene of the event

To involve participatory teams – consisting of all departments – ensures the horizontal and vertical transparency within the organisation. Frame work conditions and objectives will be agreed with the client in a way that enables the team to decide independently within the set scope how to reach the objective. Therefore, the responsibility reaches the scene of the event and that accelerates processes. The transparency within the group is the basis to balance established, new and innovative project management.

This approach enables the team to make better decisions easier, autonomous and taking the whole situation into account. A way to implement this in real life: The User Requirement Specification Process (URS).

All relevant data in one spot – to know what you need

The User Requirement Specification process brings the project participants together who are needed to ensure progress to

• agree on the objectives
• Gather facts
• Derive the needs
• Devise, evaluate and prioritise the concepts

and condenses the relevant data in one document, which also include the tasks set for the designers.

The URS is a package of methods to enhance the cooperation in teams with members of different disciplines and levels (micro/ macro) in a creative environment.

Our URS moderation condenses the relevant information, helps to describe the scope of solution and to prepare for intermediate decisions. We support the participants with a combination of interviews and workshops to create the basis for the following design and planning phase. The gives the designers of the building and manufacturers of the equipment a better basis to start working target-orientated, because the specification and interfaces are clearly defined in the URS.

You want to bring your team together and enhance your requirement specification and programming for faster and more efficient projects? Martin Otte can tell you more +49 30 84176710.