Write a Business Requirements Document in Confluence (BRD on One Page)
Write a business requirements document on one Confluence page. Type five headings - purpose, scope, stakeholders, requirements and success measure - and fill each with a line or two, then publish it under your requirements page.
Step by step
What a BRD is
- Business requirements. A business requirements document, or BRD, says what the business needs and why, before anyone builds it. It doesn't need 50 pages. In Confluence, it fits on one page with 5 headings.
- Pick the parent. Open the business requirements page in your project space. The new BRD will sit under it, so people can find every requirement in one place.
A new page
- Create. Click Create at the top of Confluence. Then pick Page. A new blank page opens.
- A clear title. Name the feature in the title: Gift card BRD. Press Enter to move from the title into the body of the page.
Five headings
- Purpose. Type ## and a space, and Confluence turns the line into a heading. Type Purpose, then one line on why the business wants this: Let shoppers buy gift cards for friends, to bring in new customers.
- Scope. Add a Scope heading the same way. Write what is in and what is out. In: buy, send and spend gift cards on the website. Out: gift cards in the mobile app.
- Stakeholders. Add a Stakeholders heading and list everyone who has a say or is affected by the change: Product owner, finance team, customer support.
- Requirements. Add a Business requirements heading. Write one line per requirement, each with an ID, saying what shoppers must be able to do, not how the team builds it. BR-09 Shoppers can buy a gift card by email. BR-10 Shoppers can pay with a gift card at checkout.
- Success measure. Last, add a Success measure heading with a number you can check after launch: One in five gift cards is spent by a new customer.
Publish
- Publish. When the page is ready for review, click Publish. Check that the page will go under business requirements, then click Publish again to confirm.
One page
- Five headings. The BRD is now live: 5 headings on one page, covering purpose, scope, stakeholders, requirements and how you measure success. Each requirement has its own ID, such as BR-09, so it can be linked to its story in Jira later.
- Under its parent. In the page tree, Gift card BRD sits under business requirements. Send the link to your stakeholders and ask them to comment on the page.
Recap
- Why, what, who, measure. To recap: one page with 5 headings. Purpose, scope with what is out, stakeholders, business requirements with IDs, and a success measure. Publish it under your requirements page.
Common mistakes
- Writing how it will be built. A business requirement says what shoppers must be able to do, like BR-10 Shoppers can pay with a gift card at checkout. Leave screens, tables and tech choices to the team's later design and stories.
- Leaving out what is out of scope. If the page only lists what is in, someone will assume the mobile app is included. Add an Out: line, like Out: gift cards in the mobile app, so the question is settled before the work starts.
- A success measure you can't check. Customers love gift cards can't be measured after launch. Use a number, like One in five gift cards is spent by a new customer.
- Publishing the page in the wrong place. Before you click Publish the second time, check the page will go under business requirements. Otherwise it can end up somewhere else in the space, where nobody looks for it.
When a business analyst uses this
At the start of a new feature, such as gift cards, a business analyst writes this one-page BRD, sends the link to the product owner, finance and support for comments, and uses it as the agreed record for sign-off. Each requirement ID, like BR-09, then becomes a story in the backlog.
Questions people ask
What should a business requirements document include?
At minimum: the purpose, the scope (what is in and what is out), the stakeholders, the business requirements with IDs, and a success measure you can check after launch.
Does a business requirements document have to be long?
No. For a single feature, one Confluence page with 5 headings and a line or 2 under each is often enough for people to review and agree on.
How do I make a heading in Confluence by typing?
At the start of a line, type ## and a space, and Confluence turns the line into a heading. Then type the heading text, such as Purpose.
