PHII Voices
Keep up with projects, views and news from PHII.
Categories
Lightbulb Idea- Functional Requirements
So what is a functional requirement anyway?
Shawn Eastridge
When PHII’s Requirements Lab begins a new project, one of our first steps following the documentation of business processes is often to begin developing functional requirements with  project partners and stakeholders. This should come as no surprise—it’s right there in our name, after all! Functional requirements are at the core of everything we do, and we believe that a strong, accurate set of functional requirements is an essential ingredient for building a successful information system.

You can imagine, then, how excited I was when a recent visitor at PHII began talking about functional requirements! Jesse Clarke, an immunization information system manager from Nebraska, has a long history working with functional requirements as a systems developer. While he was attending a training session hosted by PHII, he told us why he believes it’s important to take time to develop them correctly—music to my ears! I was so intent on capturing his thoughts on the subject that I asked him to repeat them while Piper Hale caught his answer on camera.

The resulting footage gave us the perfect excuse to create a video that provides a basic overview of functional requirements and how they work. The video below walks viewers through the basics of functional requirements, as well as how they can be used by developers. Many thanks to Jesse for so good-naturedly agreeing to be the star of our video!

If you want to learn more about how functional requirements fit into our overall process here at PHII, browse our free resources, explore the animated walk-through of our Collaborative Requirements Development Methodology, or watch an introduction to how PHII works with its partners to define the work of public health.

Part 3: Sustaining IIS modernization: building the future beyond implementation
PHII's IIS team offers practical approaches for sustaining IIS modernization beyond implementation by strengthening workforce capabilities, future-visioning, communicating value, and building agency capacity for long-term success.
Read More >
Part 2: Best practices for successful IIS data modernization implementation
Our IIS team shares key recommendations for successful IIS modernization, including using assessments, partner engagement, change management and data governance to align with broader public health goals.
Read More >
Part 1: IIS modernization: what’s different this time around?
PHII's IIS team examines strategies to help public health agencies shift IIS modernization from purely technical upgrades to a comprehensive approach that involves people, processes, governance, and system-wide transformation.
Read More >
Reflecting on 2025: the great reset in public health
PHII Director Vivian Singletary shares her reflections on the past year and looks forward to what 2026 holds.
Read More >
Using generative AI to automate pediatric audiology diagnoses
Our audiology team shares about a system built to leverage generative artificial intelligence (AI) to automate the classification of pediatric audiology reports.
Read More >
The importance of governance in data modernization
Senior informatics analyst Sarah Shaw reflects on last year's Data Modernization Boot Camp and how it spawned their online Data Governance course.
Read More >
Reflections on 2024 and looking forward to the new year
PHII Director Vivian Singletary celebrates our 2024 public health wins and gets ready for the opportunities and challenges in the new year.
Read More >
How Fairfax County’s health department tackled data modernization challenges
In this video, Fairfax County Health Department shared how they’ve tackled various data modernization challenges.
Read More >
Communication plays a key role in successful data modernization planning
Shawn Eastridge provides examples of public health jurisdictions emphasizing how communication is key to a successful data modernization plan.
Read More >
A use case in IIS considerations for DMI, from Michigan
The Michigan Care Improvement Registry (MCIR) team offers an example of considerations immunization information system (IIS) teams may have when working to align with data modernization goals.
Read More >