A Technical Specification Document (TSD) is
a comprehensive blueprint for a project, product, or system that details the technical requirements, design, and functionality. It serves as a guide for the development team, providing precise technical details for building the solution, ensuring everyone is aligned on the project's execution. A TSD covers aspects like the tech stack, architecture, data models, and timelines, acting as a single source of information for developers, testers, and other stakeholders.
Key functions of a TSD:
- Technical blueprint: It outlines exactly how a system will be built, including the specific technologies, databases, and APIs to be used.
- Development guide: It provides detailed instructions for the development team to build the functionality described in functional requirements documents.
- Alignment tool: It ensures that the development team, stakeholders, and testers are all on the same page regarding what needs to be done and how.
- Project management tool: It serves as a reference point for project control, progress tracking, and managing changes.
- Foundation for other work: It is the basis for creating architectural solutions, writing code, and developing test scenarios.
What a TSD typically includes:
- Technical overview: A high-level description of the solution.
- Design analysis: Detailed analysis of the technical design.
- Data models: How data will be structured and transformed, including mapping from existing systems to the new system's data fields.
- Architecture: Diagrams and descriptions of the system's architecture, such as microservices and their interactions.
- API endpoints: Details on the endpoints that will be available for services to communicate.
- Technology stack: The specific programming languages, frameworks, databases, and other tools to be used.
- Development and testing strategies: Guidelines for how the project will be developed and how it will be tested.
- Timelines and milestones: The planned timeline for development and key milestones.
- Security and privacy measures:Specifications for how security and privacy will be handled.
