Identify the Purchaser’s Requirements

Abstract

This chapter discusses the need to identify in detail the product’s functional, interface, and technical (e.g., performance, safety, reliability, testability, usability, etc.), requirements. Both the purchaser and supplier have a responsibility to ensure these requirements are complete and quantifiable before product development begins. The key to this effort is that the purchaser must take an active role in the identification of the requirements. Another key point is that both organizations must ensure that all requirements are reviewed and jointly agreed to and that approval authority of requirements and proposals is strictly limited to select individuals within both organizations.