In this lesson you will learn how to put the Navigational Brief and requirements definition to use. These two key documents communicate your plan for how users will experience the site. They also lay out how the site will be integrated with an organization's business and other requirements.

The Navigational Brief is the initial document that outlines the navigational and information architecture structure of a site.
The Navigational Brief explains how the structure of the site will appear to the user, and ways that the user will move around the site. For example, the Navigational Brief for our web site is made up of four sections:

1. Content Organization,
2. Navigation Guidelines,
3. Navigation System Types, and
4. HCI Requirements.

These sections cover the primary content categories of the site (such as the Home page and About Us), ideas that guide the development of navigation (who will use the site, styles, and more), architectural recommendations, and particular HCI guidelines. The Navigational Brief for the Asteron Web site can be found on the Course Resources Page.

The Requirements Definition is a key document for helping relate the business objectives of the site to specific functionality, including navigational and architectural components. For example, if one of the requirements is to provide a site that is easy for children to use, the site navigation and architecture are likely to be quite different than for a site directed to astrophysicists.

The primary objective of a Requirements Definition is to describe the Web product in sufficient detail to gain approval from key stakeholders. To do so, the Requirements Definition must describe the business objectives that call for a Web solution, and how the Web product will meet those objectives. As such, the Requirements Definition includes a description of the navigational elements and architectural structure of the site and how they relate to specific business objectives.
The sample Requirements Definition for the website includes the following sections:

1. Executive Summary,
2. Business Objectives,
3. Solution Requirements, and
4. Acceptance.

This document goes into more detail on topics of the business itself and your client's objectives; audience information and expectations; success metrics; and various technical and solution requirements.

Question: What is the difference between the Navigational Brief and the Requirements Definition document?
Answer: The Navigational Brief comes first and is in less detail. After it is approved, you will flesh out the ideas more fully in the Requirements Definition document.
You will learn about the process of modeling information architecture in the next lesson.