Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
tionsorconstraintsonthisproject,suchas“Ourcompanypolicyofusingonlyopensource
software when possible precludes commercial solution XYZ in this project.”
High-Level Design: A brief overview of the design including how it works at a high
level.Thedesignprinciplesshouldbedescribedbutnotnecessarilytheimplementationde-
tails.
Detailed Design: The full design, including diagrams, sample configuration files, al-
gorithms, and so on. This will be your full and detailed description of what you plan to
accomplish on this project.
Alternatives Considered: A list of alternatives that were rejected, along with why they
wererejected.Someofthisinformationcouldhavebeenincludedinthe“Background”sec-
tion, but including it in a specific location quiets the critics.
Special Constraints: Alistofspecialconstraintsregardingthingslikesecurity,auditing
controls, privacy, and so on. These are sometimes optional. Document things that are part
oftheprocessatyourcompany,suchasarchitecturalreview,compliancechecks,andsimil-
aractivities. Youcanlumpalloftheconstraints togetherinthissectionorincludeasection
for each of them. Any mandatory process for project review at your company should prob-
ably have its own section on your template.
The document may have many more sections, some of which may be optional. Here are
some sections that might be useful in a template:
Cost Projections: The cost of the project—both initial capital and operational
costs, plus a forecast of the costs to keep the systems running.
Support Requirements: Operational maintenance requirements. This ties into
Cost Projections, as support staff have salary and benefit costs, hardware and li-
censing have costs, and so on.
Schedule: Timeline of which project events happen when, in relation to each other.
Security Concerns: Special mention of issues regarding security related to the
project, such as protection of data.
Privacy and PII Concerns: Special mention of issues regarding user privacy or
anonymity, including plans for handling personally identifiable information (PII)
in accordance with applicable rules and regulations.
Compliance Details: Compliance and audit plans for meeting regulatory obliga-
tions under SOX, HIPPA, PCI, FISMA, or similar laws.
Launch Details: Roll-out or launch operational details and requirements.
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