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Maleesha Thalagala

Maleesha Thalagala

Aspiring Business Analyst |Technical Writer | Sharing insights on career growth in tech. Reach out if you’d like to collaborate on your publication.

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Business Analysis
Brs
Functional Requirements
Business Requirements
Agile Development

Business Requirements Document (BRD) vs. Functional Requirements Specification (FRS)

4 min readJun 29, 2026

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Introduction

If you’re just starting in business analysis, you’ve definitely come across terminology like Business Requirements Document (BRD) and Functional Requirements Specification (FRS). At first look, they may appear to be comparable because they both define software needs. However, they perform various functions and answer different questions.

A widespread misconception among novices is that BRD and FRS are interchangeable. In truth, they complement one another. A BRD discusses what the company aims to accomplish, whereas an FRS describes how the system will reach those objectives.

What Is a Business Requirements Document (BRD)?

A Business Requirements Document (BRD) is a high-level document that defines why a project is required and what the company hopes to accomplish.

It concentrates on commercial objectives rather than technical specifics.

Simply put,

A BRD answers the question: “What problem are we trying to solve?”

A business requirement document is written in business terminology so that stakeholders, managers, and clients may understand it.

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Maleesha Thalagala
Maleesha Thalagala

Written by Maleesha Thalagala

Aspiring Business Analyst |Technical Writer | Sharing insights on career growth in tech. Reach out if you’d like to collaborate on your publication.