---
title: SAP BW Project Requirements Gathering|Analysis|Software Requirements
description: Improve SAP BW project requirements gathering and communication. Follow our 5 best practices guide for success. Click now for expert tips!
image: https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/hubfs/AI-Generated%20Media/Images/The%20image%20depicts%20a%20modern%20office%20environment%20with%20a%20long%20conference%20table%20surrounded%20by%20sleek%20ergonomic%20chairs%20On%20the%20table%20various%20documents%20and%20a%20laptop%20are%20open%20showcasing%20detailed%20project%20plans%20and%20charts%20filled%20with%20graphs%20A%20whiteboard%20in%20the%20b-1.png
---

# Improve your SAP BW Project [Requirements Gathering](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/sap-bw-tutorial-best-practice-on-requirements-gathering)

## Have Poor [Project Requirement Definitions](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/10-key-infrastructure-tips-for-sap-implementation-projects) Impacted Your [Project Schedule](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/9-reasons-sap-bw-projects-fail-maybe)?

### Do You Know About The Top 5 [Best Practices for Requirements Gathering](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/sap-bw-tutorial-best-practice-on-requirements-gathering)?

## Project Managers

Did you know according to the Project Management Institute (PMI) up to 70% of projects fail due to issues with [requirements](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/business-reporting-requirements) and establishing the scope of the project?  A project manager has many [critical success factors](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/senior-executives-use-strategic-analysis-to-create-shareholder-value) they must get right in order to successfully complete a project in a timely manner:

- [Project Charter](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/how-to-use-a-project-charter-to-start-a-project)
- Project Scope Statement
- Agreement Upon Project Objectives
- Preparation of Project Business Case
- Project Planning
- Integrate known WRICEF items from SOW into Project Plan
- Perform Project Risk Assessment
- Planning out Key Milestones
- Agreed Upon Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
- Definition of Project Deliverables
- High Level Project Plan
- Project Management Plan
- Establishing Project Quality Requirements (Deliverables Acceptance Criteria)
- Finding the right team members - a key part of project resource planning
- Setting up project team time keeping
- Setting up Project [Budget](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/14-sap-business-planning-best-practices) Tracking System
- Identifying the right end users
- Identifying all of the key stakeholders
- Identifying non-functional requirements
- Setting up a requirements traceability matrix
- Setting up a requirements management plan
- Document requirements using standard requirements documentation 
- Prioritize requirements (Not all can be met)
- Ensuring all business and stakeholder requirements are validated and that none are missed
- Stakeholder requirements transition requirements established and communicated to each team member
- Getting agreement on what project success looks like
- Setting up a consistent planning process as well as replanning cadence
- Taking Care of Project Initiation Activities

## Requirements Gathering Best Practices

Are your schedules repeatedly missed due to poor [requirements gathering](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/enterprise-services/sap-industry-solutions/business-requirements-analysis) prior to development? As an experienced software engineer trying to [gather requirements from your customer](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/request-sap-business-planning-and-consolidation-sap-bpc-consulting-support), would you like to know what are 5 of the Best Practices you can follow to capture your customer's requirements?

Do you know which format  allows you to completely document those requirements so that you can hand them off to a development team located at another site or in a different country for implementation with minimum conference calling after submission?

![Business Requirements Analysis](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/hs-fs/file-16543314-png/images/business_requirements-resized-600.png?width=272&name=business_requirements-resized-600.png "Business Requirements Analysis")

**Learn to Manage Project Requirements Gathering**

 

## Requirements Management Plan

In our 5 Best Practices of Requirements Gathering checklist, we identify and provide expert level advice on how to setup and follow a methodical, proven process for effective, timely requirements gathering, that will reduce development time by clearly communicating what you need your developer to build, or your SAP functional consultant to configure.  This will greatly assist your requirements management process.

This approach provides a working model of high-level requirements gather approach which will take you all the way from the first functional specification to the final technical specification.

For instance:

- Learn the **5 Secrets of Requirements Gathering**!
- Learn how to write clearly defined requirements documentation that will eliminate weeks or months of additional requirement clarifying conference calls!

To learn more about requirements gathering best practices and to start your project off on the right footing, please download our white paper on [**Requirements Gathering Best Practices** ](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/sap-bw-tutorial-best-practice-on-requirements-gathering)written by a seasoned software engineer.

12 SAP CRM Content Management System Requirements [[Checklist]](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/inbound-marketing/12-sap-crm-content-management-system-requirements)

![SAP](https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/viewthroughconversion/960101754/?value=0&guid=ON&script=0) 

![](https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=199270410761059&ev=PageView&noscript=1)

```json
{
  "@context" : "https://schema.org",
  "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/improve-your-sap-bw-project-requirements-gathering#webpage",
  "@type" : "WebPage",
  "about" : [ {
    "@type" : "Thing",
    "name" : "Requirements analysis",
    "sameAs" : "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Requirements_analysis"
  }, {
    "@type" : "Thing",
    "name" : "Stakeholder management",
    "sameAs" : "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_stakeholder"
  }, {
    "@type" : "Thing",
    "name" : "SAP Business Warehouse",
    "sameAs" : "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAP_Business_Warehouse"
  }, {
    "@type" : "Thing",
    "name" : "Requirements traceability",
    "sameAs" : "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Requirements_traceability"
  }, {
    "@type" : "Thing",
    "name" : "Data modeling",
    "sameAs" : "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_model"
  } ],
  "audience" : {
    "@type" : "Audience",
    "audienceType" : "Project Managers, Business Analysts, Data Owners"
  },
  "breadcrumb" : {
    "@type" : "BreadcrumbList",
    "itemListElement" : [ {
      "@type" : "ListItem",
      "item" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/",
      "name" : "Home",
      "position" : 1
    }, {
      "@type" : "ListItem",
      "item" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/improve-your-sap-bw-project-requirements-gathering",
      "name" : "Requirements Gathering (SAP BW)",
      "position" : 2
    } ]
  },
  "description" : "Download the checklist of the 5 Best Practices of Requirements Gathering and strengthen your SAP BW project outcomes.",
  "headline" : "Improve Your SAP BW Project Requirements Gathering",
  "isPartOf" : {
    "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com#website"
  },
  "mainEntity" : [ {
    "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/improve-your-sap-bw-project-requirements-gathering#bestpractices"
  }, {
    "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/improve-your-sap-bw-project-requirements-gathering#howto"
  }, {
    "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/improve-your-sap-bw-project-requirements-gathering#faq"
  }, {
    "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/improve-your-sap-bw-project-requirements-gathering#checklist"
  }, {
    "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/improve-your-sap-bw-project-requirements-gathering#offer"
  }, {
    "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/about-lonnie-ayers#person"
  } ],
  "mentions" : [ {
    "@type" : "Thing",
    "name" : "Business process modeling",
    "sameAs" : "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_process_modeling"
  }, {
    "@type" : "Thing",
    "name" : "User story",
    "sameAs" : "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_story"
  }, {
    "@type" : "Thing",
    "name" : "Workshop facilitation",
    "sameAs" : "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facilitation_(business)"
  }, {
    "@type" : "Thing",
    "name" : "Prototyping",
    "sameAs" : "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prototyping"
  }, {
    "@type" : "Thing",
    "name" : "User acceptance testing",
    "sameAs" : "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acceptance_testing"
  }, {
    "@type" : "Thing",
    "name" : "MoSCoW method",
    "sameAs" : "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MoSCoW_method"
  }, {
    "@type" : "Thing",
    "name" : "Change control",
    "sameAs" : "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_management"
  } ],
  "name" : "Improve Your SAP BW Project Requirements Gathering",
  "potentialAction" : [ {
    "@type" : "ViewAction",
    "name" : "Read the Requirements Gathering Guide",
    "target" : {
      "@type" : "EntryPoint",
      "actionPlatform" : [ "http://schema.org/DesktopWebPlatform", "http://schema.org/MobileWebPlatform" ],
      "urlTemplate" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/improve-your-sap-bw-project-requirements-gathering"
    }
  }, {
    "@type" : "DownloadAction",
    "name" : "Download the 5 Best Practices Checklist",
    "target" : {
      "@type" : "EntryPoint",
      "actionPlatform" : [ "http://schema.org/DesktopWebPlatform", "http://schema.org/MobileWebPlatform" ],
      "urlTemplate" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/improve-your-sap-bw-project-requirements-gathering#form"
    }
  } ],
  "publisher" : {
    "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com#organization"
  },
  "subjectOf" : {
    "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/about-lonnie-ayers#offercatalog"
  },
  "url" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/improve-your-sap-bw-project-requirements-gathering"
}
```

```json
{
  "@context" : "https://schema.org",
  "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/improve-your-sap-bw-project-requirements-gathering#bestpractices",
  "@type" : "ItemList",
  "itemListElement" : [ {
    "@type" : "ListItem",
    "name" : "Identify and engage stakeholders early",
    "position" : 1
  }, {
    "@type" : "ListItem",
    "name" : "Use structured elicitation (interviews, workshops, surveys)",
    "position" : 2
  }, {
    "@type" : "ListItem",
    "name" : "Document requirements with clear acceptance criteria",
    "position" : 3
  }, {
    "@type" : "ListItem",
    "name" : "Prioritize using MoSCoW and align to KPIs/value",
    "position" : 4
  }, {
    "@type" : "ListItem",
    "name" : "Maintain a Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM)",
    "position" : 5
  } ],
  "itemListOrder" : "Ordered",
  "mainEntityOfPage" : {
    "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/improve-your-sap-bw-project-requirements-gathering#webpage"
  },
  "name" : "5 Best Practices of Requirements Gathering",
  "numberOfItems" : 5
}
```

```json
{
  "@context" : "https://schema.org",
  "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/improve-your-sap-bw-project-requirements-gathering#howto",
  "@type" : "HowTo",
  "description" : "Step-by-step outline to elicit, document, validate, and govern SAP BW reporting requirements.",
  "mainEntityOfPage" : {
    "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/improve-your-sap-bw-project-requirements-gathering#webpage"
  },
  "name" : "How to Gather SAP BW Requirements Effectively",
  "step" : [ {
    "@type" : "HowToStep",
    "name" : "Plan the elicitation",
    "position" : 1,
    "text" : "Define scope, stakeholders, and objectives for the requirements cycle."
  }, {
    "@type" : "HowToStep",
    "name" : "Elicit requirements",
    "position" : 2,
    "text" : "Run interviews and workshops; capture KPIs, reports, data sources, and security needs."
  }, {
    "@type" : "HowToStep",
    "name" : "Analyze and model",
    "position" : 3,
    "text" : "Consolidate findings into user stories, process flows, and dimensional data needs."
  }, {
    "@type" : "HowToStep",
    "name" : "Validate and get sign-off",
    "position" : 4,
    "text" : "Review with stakeholders via prototypes or mockups and record acceptance criteria."
  }, {
    "@type" : "HowToStep",
    "name" : "Trace and control changes",
    "position" : 5,
    "text" : "Populate the RTM, link to tests, and manage changes through governance."
  } ],
  "supply" : [ {
    "@type" : "HowToSupply",
    "name" : "Business context & objectives"
  }, {
    "@type" : "HowToSupply",
    "name" : "Requirements Checklist / RTM"
  } ],
  "tool" : [ {
    "@type" : "HowToTool",
    "name" : "Workshop templates"
  }, {
    "@type" : "HowToTool",
    "name" : "Process maps / modeling tool"
  } ],
  "totalTime" : "PT45M"
}
```

```json
{
  "@context" : "https://schema.org",
  "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/improve-your-sap-bw-project-requirements-gathering#faq",
  "@type" : "FAQPage",
  "mainEntity" : [ {
    "@type" : "Question",
    "acceptedAnswer" : {
      "@type" : "Answer",
      "text" : "They must capture KPIs, data sources, transformations, security/authorizations, and performance SLAs for analytics—linking each requirement to measurable business value."
    },
    "name" : "What makes SAP BW requirements different from generic IT requirements?"
  }, {
    "@type" : "Question",
    "acceptedAnswer" : {
      "@type" : "Answer",
      "text" : "An RTM ties each requirement to design, build, test, and deployment artefacts to ensure nothing is lost and to streamline impact analysis of changes."
    },
    "name" : "Why use a Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM)?"
  }, {
    "@type" : "Question",
    "acceptedAnswer" : {
      "@type" : "Answer",
      "text" : "Establish regular reviews at stage gates and before each sprint or build cycle; re-validate priorities when scope or assumptions change."
    },
    "name" : "How often should requirements be reviewed?"
  } ],
  "mainEntityOfPage" : {
    "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/improve-your-sap-bw-project-requirements-gathering#webpage"
  }
}
```

```json
{
  "@context" : "https://schema.org",
  "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/improve-your-sap-bw-project-requirements-gathering#checklist",
  "@type" : "DigitalDocument",
  "author" : {
    "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/about-lonnie-ayers#person"
  },
  "description" : "Free checklist to guide stakeholder engagement, elicitation, documentation, prioritization, and traceability for SAP BW projects.",
  "encodingFormat" : "application/pdf",
  "inLanguage" : "en",
  "mainEntityOfPage" : {
    "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/improve-your-sap-bw-project-requirements-gathering#webpage"
  },
  "name" : "5 Best Practices of Requirements Gathering (Checklist)",
  "potentialAction" : {
    "@type" : "DownloadAction",
    "name" : "Download the Requirements Gathering Checklist (PDF)",
    "target" : {
      "@type" : "EntryPoint",
      "actionPlatform" : [ "http://schema.org/DesktopWebPlatform", "http://schema.org/MobileWebPlatform" ],
      "urlTemplate" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/improve-your-sap-bw-project-requirements-gathering#form"
    }
  },
  "provider" : {
    "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com#organization"
  }
}
```

```json
{
  "@context" : "https://schema.org",
  "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/improve-your-sap-bw-project-requirements-gathering#offer",
  "@type" : "Offer",
  "availability" : "https://schema.org/InStock",
  "eligibleRegion" : "Worldwide",
  "itemOffered" : {
    "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/improve-your-sap-bw-project-requirements-gathering#checklist"
  },
  "name" : "Free Requirements Gathering Checklist",
  "price" : "0.00",
  "priceCurrency" : "USD",
  "seller" : {
    "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com#organization"
  },
  "url" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/improve-your-sap-bw-project-requirements-gathering"
}
```

```json
{
  "@context" : "https://schema.org",
  "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/about-lonnie-ayers#person",
  "@type" : "Person",
  "affiliation" : {
    "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com#organization"
  },
  "jobTitle" : "Principal Consultant",
  "name" : "Lonnie D. Ayers, PMP",
  "url" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/about-lonnie-ayers"
}
```

```json
{
  "@context" : "https://schema.org",
  "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com#website",
  "@type" : "WebSite",
  "hasPart" : [ {
    "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com#sitenavigation"
  } ],
  "name" : "SAP BW Consulting, Inc.",
  "publisher" : {
    "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com#organization"
  },
  "url" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com"
}
```

```json
{
  "@context" : "https://schema.org",
  "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com#organization",
  "@type" : "Organization",
  "contactPoint" : {
    "@type" : "ContactPoint",
    "areaServed" : "US",
    "availableLanguage" : [ "en", "es" ],
    "contactType" : "sales",
    "telephone" : "+1-812-340-5581"
  },
  "logo" : {
    "@type" : "ImageObject",
    "caption" : "SAP BW Consulting, Inc. logo",
    "url" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/hs-fs/hubfs/sapbw-consulting.png?width=2847&name=sapbw-consulting.png"
  },
  "name" : "SAP BW Consulting, Inc.",
  "sameAs" : [ "https://www.linkedin.com/company/sapbwconsulting", "https://www.youtube.com/user/SAPBWConsulting", "https://twitter.com/Lonniea39", "https://www.facebook.com/SAPBWConsulting" ],
  "url" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com"
}
```

```json
{
  "@context" : "https://schema.org",
  "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com#sitenavigation",
  "@type" : "SiteNavigationElement",
  "isPartOf" : {
    "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com#website"
  },
  "name" : "Primary Navigation",
  "url" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com"
}
```