Department or Program Name

[SYSTEM/APPLICATION NAME]

Single Report
Design
Specification
SYSTEM/APPLICATION NAME REPORT DESIGN SPECIFICATION

Report Design Specification

Template Guideline
To aid in the completion of a Report Design Specification please adhere to the following guidelines. For
specific information regarding project deliverables, please refer to the University Services Program
Management Office. Remove these guidelines from the completed document.
Definition A Report Design Specification defines the definition needed to satisfy a requested
business report, including data required. It should be part of a larger Technical
Specification document package that describes the detailed technical solution for the
report methodology.
Purpose The Report Design Specification forms the basis for technical design, technical
development, workflows, and procedures for using the report and all testing plans. They
describe how the business requirements will be translated into the system and application
components. Its goal is to help ensure a clear understanding of what the developers are
supposed to build in satisfying overall business intelligence needs, and to ensure internal
standards and best practices are met.
Ownership The project development team is responsible for preparing Report Design Specification
documents. Prior to proceeding, the Report Design Specification document(s) must
include approvals from the key Stakeholders.
When Report Design Specification documents are completed during the Design phase of the
Solution Delivery Life Cycle. It is started once the Business Requirements Definition
document is more finalized, since business requirements supply core information needed
to begin a Report Design Specification, and in conjunction with any system architecture
and data specifications to ensure alignment between the documents. It is important to
note that the Report Design Specification serves a different purpose than the general
Technical Design Specification documents.

A Report Design Specification is a required deliverable for all business intelligence and
management information reports.
Template This Report Design Specification template includes data input fields that support internal
Flexibility controls and processes, policies and risk mitigation principles, governance drivers, and/or
project management control standards and proven best practices. It provides the
minimum basic fields required to successfully complete a Report Design Specification
document deliverable in meeting PMO requirements for all system development projects
requiring reporting. The amount of detail included in the template will depend on the size,
complexity and type of project, as well as the kinds of systems involved and information
required.

The project development leads/teams are empowered to utilize this template as necessary
to best serve the needs of the project and business owner. Each data input field provided
in this template should be considered for applicability and relevance to the project at hand.
Multiple Report Design Specification documents may need to be created for the entire
library of reports.
Template 1. This Template Guidelines section is for reference purposes only. It should be printed
Completion and deleted prior to completing the final document.
2. To input text within a text field (), place the cursor inside the field and just start
typing.
3. Enter the required information on the Title Page and add additional fields as needed.
4. Complete the document utilizing suggested text where applicable and entering
text/fields where shown within <blue text> brackets. Note that the blue text is NOT to
be included in your final document. Its purpose is to either provide guidance for
SYSTEM/APPLICATION NAME REPORT DESIGN SPECIFICATION

completing requested information, or to show where text is to be input.

Template 5. As changes are made to the document, ensure that the Document Contributors,
Completion Document Revision History and Table of Contents (TOC) sections are updated
accordingly.
6. The development team needs to ensure that the Report Design Specification
documents (and all design solutions) traces back to and addresses the requirements
as defined in the Business Requirements Document and traces forward to the Test
Plans and Test Cases.
7. Prior to finalizing the Report Design Specification documents, the Project Manager
should schedule and facilitate a design walk-thru meeting with all appropriate parties.
The developers should use their specific knowledge and judgment to make the final
determination as to who should be reviewers and/or approvers of this design
document.
8. Complete the Design Review & Approval (see PMO website) per the provided
instructions, listing all necessary final reviewers, approvers and others who only
require acknowledgement. Route accordingly.
9. Upon receipt of the Review & Approval, notify the reviewers and approvers of any
critical design recommendations that will NOT be incorporated and the rationale.
10. Once Report Design Specification is completed and after the project has been closed,
this document is to be retained with other project documentation in accordance with
the records management policy and the business lines records schedule, storage
and destruction requirements.
Important As this template may change, it is highly recommended that you access a blank
Notice template from the Program Management Office website
(http://www.uservices.umn.edu/pmo/) each time you need one for a new project and not
merely use one from a previous project by changing the old text.
SYSTEM/APPLICATION NAME REPORT DESIGN SPECIFICATION

DOCUMENT INFORMATION AND APPROVALS

VERSION HISTORY
Version # Date Revised By Reason for change
1.0 9/17/09 Aaron Demenge PMO Review

DOCUMENT APPROVALS
Approver Name Project Role Signature/Electronic Approval Date
SYSTEM/APPLICATION NAME REPORT DESIGN SPECIFICATION

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 Overview...........................................................................................................................1
1.1 What business question will this report answer?.....................................................................................1
1.2 Who are the report users?....................................................................................................................... 1
1.3 What are the key parameters or business rules?.....................................................................................1
1.4 What is the report layout?........................................................................................................................ 1

2.0 Source Definition............................................................................................................1

2.1 Definition Table........................................................................................................................................ 1
2.2 Metrics..................................................................................................................................................... 2
2.3 Totals....................................................................................................................................................... 2
2.4 Drill-Downs.............................................................................................................................................. 2

3.0 Report Data Definitions/Glossary..................................................................................2

4.0 Checklist Items................................................................................................................3

6.0 Appendix............................................................................................................................4
SYSTEM /APPLICATION NAME REPORT DESIGN SPECIFICATION

1.0 OVERVIEW

Provide an overview of the requested report. Include examples of existing reports if appropriate.

1.1 What business question will this report answer?

<Define business question to be answered.>

1.2 Who are the report users?

<Define any users.>

1.3 What are the key parameters or business rules?

<Define any parameters.>

1.4 What is the report layout?

<Define report layout.>

2.0 SOURCE DEFINITION

2.1 Definition Table

Subject Area Table Column Description

Product TBL_PROD Prod_ID Product Identiifier
TBL_PROD Prod_Desc Product Description

Geography TBL_GEOG Geog_ID Geographic Identifier

Geographic Level (Region, District,
TBL_GEOG Geog_Level Territory)
TBL_GEOG Geog_Desc Geographic Description

Prod - Geog - Sales TBL_AREA_SALES Prod_ID Product Identiifier

TBL_AREA_SALES Geog_ID Geographic Identifier
TBL_AREA_SALES Qty_Sold Quantity Sold
TBL_AREA_SALES Revenue Revenue

2.2 Metrics

Metric Source Group Metric Name Metric Description Calculation

Header Day
Date

2012 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved. Revised August 12, 2017 Page 1
SYSTEM /APPLICATION NAME REPORT DESIGN SPECIFICATION

Time
Net Plan
Net Actual
Variance
Details
Sequence
SKU Style
Description
Prices MSRP
List Price
Sale Price

2.3 Totals
<Define any totals calculations to be displayed.>

2.4 Drill-Downs
<Define any drill-down linkages to be displayed.>

3.0 REPORT DATA DEFINITIONS/GLOSSARY

<Define glossary items.>

4.0 CHECKLIST ITEMS

Define the single overarching business question the report is suppose to answer
Gather examples or create mock ups of expected report information
Ensure ETL designs document are in the overall project Technical Specification Design document
Validate metric definitions
Document universe of related reports to view individual reports/requests in context
Create the report specific design document
Review and get business user sign off

2012 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved. Revised August 12, 2017 Page 2
SYSTEM /APPLICATION NAME REPORT DESIGN SPECIFICATION

6.0 APPENDIX
Existing Reports Examples or Mock-ups

2012 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved. Revised August 12, 2017 Page 3