Reporting Requirements: A Detailed Guide

Too many teams generate reports that no one reads or understands.

This occurs when the requirements for creating reports are not planned properly. When teams are unaware of the report’s purpose, target audience, data sources, and other key details while creating the report, they often end up producing a document based on guesswork.

That’s where reporting requirements come in. They bring structure to the chaos by defining exactly what needs to be reported, why it matters, and who it serves.

This blog helps you understand what reporting requirements are, how to create a reporting requirements document, what to include in it, and modern tools that can be used to create reporting requirements documents.

What Are Reporting Requirements?

Reporting requirements are simple written rules that explain what kind of report needs to be made, what information it should include, who will receive it, and how often it should be prepared.

Instead of vague requests like “Send me the monthly update,” these requirements provide full clarity. For example, they might mention which data fields to include, whether to add charts, and what file format is expected.

These reporting requirements are generally prepared by the team members who want the report. For instance:

• A project manager can prepare requirements for the weekly status update, and development teams use them to prepare a report.
• A finance head prepares requirements for a monthly expense breakdown report, and the account team uses them while creating the report.

So, when teams have clear and well-structured reporting requirements in hand, they can create reports without any confusion and avoid delays.

Reporting Requirements Document: Key Components Explained

A reporting requirements document (RRD) or template contains information about the report’s purpose, target audience, reporting needs, and frequency. It also outlines what data to collect, its format, and other important information.

By defining all reporting requirements in the RRD, teams can standardize the report creation process. This helps developers, business analysts, project managers, team leads, etc., to stay aligned on what’s being reported and why.

Key Elements to Include:

• Report Purpose: It defines the goals and objectives of the report. For example, “This report will be created to track the project progress and provide updates to the project manager.”
• Target Audience: It defines who will read or use the report. For example, it could be the company’s CEO, senior management, client, etc. The report should have a structure and tone according to the target audience.
• Frequency of Reporting: It includes how often the report should be generated. It may be generated weekly, biweekly, monthly, or quarterly.
• Stakeholders: This includes the names and job roles of the people who are going to contribute to the report creation process.
• Data Sources: It provides clear information about the sources from which teams need to collect data, including states, trends, etc.
• Data Insights and Analysis: It contains information about how to analyze the gathered data, and at the end, it includes details and the structure of the writing results gathered from data analysis.
• Data Protection and Access: It outlines the rules for report storage, sharing, and privacy.
• Recommendations or Actions (if needed): This section outlines requirements on how to write recommendations, CTAs, or next steps at the end of the report.

How to Write a Reporting Requirements Document: A Step-by-Step Guide

We have already covered the key components of the requirements report template, but now let’s understand how to use them effectively to prepare a solid RRD.

Step 1: Get Clarity on Why the Report Is Needed

The first step is requirements analysis to clarify why the report is needed, who needs it, and the key goals of the report. Go through the key components listed in the previous section, and understand what needs to be covered inside them.

You can also get this information by interviewing the person who has requested the report. Once you have all the details about the report, you can write down the reporting requirements.

Step 2: Prepare a Reporting Requirements Template