Describe the job people need to finish.
Choose a specific example, such as a case officer reviewing an application or an operations team reconciling customer records across systems. Describe the trigger, the information required, the steps people take and the decision or record produced at the end. Include the workarounds and exceptions that consume time today, because these often reveal the most valuable requirements.
Make the first release concrete.
Separate the essential workflow from later enhancements, and explain which users need access to the first release. Write acceptance criteria as observable behavior, such as an authorized reviewer being able to return an incomplete request with a recorded reason. Include representative examples so both your team and the delivery partner can distinguish a completed feature from a promising demonstration.
List the systems and boundaries.
Identify existing applications, APIs, identity services and data sources that the software must use, together with the owners who can grant access. For a Canadian organization, state any agreed expectations around hosting location, language support, accessibility and handling sensitive information. Bring unresolved requirements into the brief as questions, with an owner who can confirm the answer before implementation depends on it.
Plan review and ownership early.
Name the person who can prioritize the backlog and the people who will review working software against actual tasks. Agree how frequently they will see usable progress and how decisions, defects and changes will be recorded. Also describe who will operate the application after launch, including source ownership, deployment access, documentation, support and responsibility for future changes.
Give a partner enough to scope responsibly.
Share a short workflow description, sanitized sample inputs, current screens where appropriate, and the constraints that affect timing or cost. Active K Digital can use that material to shape discovery, a first release and the evidence needed for acceptance. An uncertain integration or unfamiliar legacy system may need a focused investigation before a delivery estimate becomes dependable.
Your starting checklist.
- Name the users and their main task.
- Show a representative input and expected result.
- List integrations, access owners and information boundaries.
- Define first-release acceptance criteria and review ownership.
- Describe launch, handover and ongoing support expectations.