Requirements Assessment Template¶

This template provides a structured approach to gathering and documenting requirements for messaging system selection. Use this as a checklist and documentation tool for your project.

Project Information¶

Project Name: __
Date: __
Prepared by: __
Stakeholders: __

Executive Summary¶

Business Context¶

Project Objectives:
Success Criteria:
Timeline:
Budget Range:

High-Level Requirements Summary¶

Primary Use Case:
Expected Message Volume:
Critical Success Factors:
Major Constraints:

Functional Requirements Assessment¶

1. Message Delivery Requirements¶

Requirement	Priority (1-5)	Details	Success Criteria
Delivery Guarantee	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5	At-most-once / At-least-once / Exactly-once	% delivery success rate
Message Ordering	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5	Global / Partition / No ordering required	Ordering requirements
Message Persistence	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5	Temporary / Durable / Archival	Retention period
Dead Letter Handling	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5	Automatic / Manual / Not required	Error handling strategy

2. Messaging Patterns¶

Pattern	Required	Priority
Point-to-Point	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5
Publish-Subscribe	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5
Request-Reply	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5
Streaming	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5
Fan-out	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5
Broadcast	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5

3. Integration Requirements¶

Integration Type	Required	Priority
REST APIs	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5
Legacy Systems	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5
Cloud Services	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5
Mobile Applications	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5
IoT Devices	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5
Third-party Services	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5

4. Message Routing and Filtering¶

Capability	Required	Priority
Content-based Routing	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5
Header-based Routing	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5
Geographic Routing	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5
Load Balancing	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5
Message Transformation	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5

5. Security Requirements¶

Security Feature	Required	Priority
Authentication	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5
Authorization	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5
Message Encryption	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5
Transport Security	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5
Audit Logging	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5
Multi-factor Authentication	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5

Non-Functional Requirements Assessment¶

1. Performance Requirements¶

Metric	Current	Target	Peak	Measurement Method
Messages per Second
Response Time
End-to-end Latency
Concurrent Users
Data Volume per Day

2. Scalability Requirements¶

Aspect	Current	6 Months	1 Year	3 Years	Notes
Message Volume
Users/Consumers
Geographic Regions
Data Storage
Processing Power

3. Reliability and Availability¶

Requirement	Target	Current	Acceptable	Critical
System Uptime
Message Delivery Success Rate
Recovery Time Objective (RTO)
Recovery Point Objective (RPO)
Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF)
Mean Time To Recovery (MTTR)

4. Compliance and Regulatory Requirements¶

Regulation	Applicable	Priority
GDPR	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5
HIPAA	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5
SOX	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5
PCI-DSS	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5
ISO 27001	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5
Industry-specific	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5

Technical Constraints and Preferences¶

1. Technology Stack¶

Component	Current	Preferred	Constraints
Programming Languages
Frameworks
Databases
Cloud Platform
Container Platform
Monitoring Tools

2. Deployment Preferences¶

Preference	Selection	Rationale
Deployment Model	☐ Cloud ☐ On-premise ☐ Hybrid
Managed vs. Self-hosted	☐ Managed ☐ Self-hosted ☐ Mixed
Multi-cloud Strategy	☐ Yes ☐ No ☐ Future consideration
Disaster Recovery	☐ Active-Active ☐ Active-Passive ☐ Backup only

3. Operational Requirements¶

Requirement	Current Capability	Target
24/7 Monitoring	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ Yes ☐ No
Automated Deployment	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ Yes ☐ No
Log Management	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ Yes ☐ No
Performance Monitoring	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ Yes ☐ No
Incident Response	☐ Yes ☐ No	☐ Yes ☐ No

Cost Considerations¶

1. Budget Constraints¶

Cost Component	Current	Budget	3-Year Projection
Initial Implementation
Annual Licensing
Infrastructure
Personnel
Training
Support
Total Cost of Ownership

2. Cost Optimization Preferences¶

Preference	Priority	Notes
Open Source Solutions	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5
Pay-as-you-go Pricing	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5
Reserved Capacity	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5
Multi-year Contracts	☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5

Risk Assessment¶

1. Technical Risks¶

Risk	Impact (1-5)	Probability (1-5)	Mitigation Strategy
Vendor Lock-in
Technology Obsolescence
Scalability Limits
Security Vulnerabilities
Integration Complexity
Performance Degradation

2. Business Risks¶

Risk	Impact (1-5)	Probability (1-5)	Mitigation Strategy
Cost Overruns
Timeline Delays
Vendor Failure
Compliance Violations
Customer Impact
Competitive Disadvantage

Solution Evaluation Criteria¶

1. Evaluation Weights¶

Category	Weight (%)	Rationale
Functional Fit
Performance
Scalability
Reliability
Security
Cost
Vendor Stability
Community Support
Ease of Use
Total	100%

2. Success Metrics¶

Metric	Target	Measurement Method	Frequency
Message Processing Rate
System Uptime
Response Time
Cost per Message
Implementation Time
User Satisfaction

Recommended Next Steps¶

1. Immediate Actions¶

Validate requirements with stakeholders
Prioritize requirements based on business impact
Identify proof-of-concept scenarios
Shortlist 2-3 candidate solutions

2. Evaluation Phase¶

Conduct technical proof-of-concept
Perform cost-benefit analysis
Validate performance benchmarks
Assess vendor support and roadmap

3. Decision Phase¶

Create evaluation scorecard
Present findings to stakeholders
Make final selection
Plan implementation roadmap

Notes and Comments¶

Additional Requirements:

Assumptions:

Dependencies:

Constraints:

Stakeholder Feedback:

Document Status: ☐ Draft ☐ Review ☐ Approved ☐ Final
Last Updated: __
Next Review Date: __