18 KiB
Functional Requirements Specification
Virtual Board Member AI System
Document Version: 1.0
Date: August 2025
Classification: Confidential
1. Executive Summary
This document defines the complete functional requirements for the Virtual Board Member AI system. The system serves as an intelligent assistant for board members and executives, providing document analysis, commitment tracking, strategic insights, and decision support through advanced AI capabilities.
2. User Personas
2.1 Primary Personas
| Persona | Description | Key Needs | Usage Pattern |
|---|---|---|---|
| Board Member | Senior executive serving on board | Strategic insights, commitment tracking, quick document analysis | 5-10 queries per meeting, monthly deep dives |
| Executive Chairman | Board leadership role | Meeting preparation, follow-up tracking, strategic alignment | Daily usage, 20+ queries per week |
| Chief Executive | Company CEO | Board reporting, strategic analysis, risk identification | Weekly usage, focus on synthesis |
| Executive Assistant | Supports board members | Document preparation, meeting minutes, action tracking | Daily usage, administrative tasks |
2.2 Secondary Personas
| Persona | Description | Key Needs | Usage Pattern |
|---|---|---|---|
| Department Head | VP/Director level | Department-specific insights, commitment delivery | Weekly usage, targeted queries |
| Analyst | Strategic planning team | Research, data analysis, report generation | Heavy usage during planning cycles |
| Auditor | Compliance/audit function | Historical analysis, commitment verification | Periodic deep analysis |
3. Functional Requirements
3.1 Document Management
FR-DM-001: Multi-Format Document Ingestion
Priority: P0 (Critical) Description: System must accept and process multiple document formats
Acceptance Criteria:
- ✓ Supports PDF, XLSX, CSV, PPTX, TXT formats
- ✓ Maximum file size: 100MB per document
- ✓ Batch upload: Up to 50 files simultaneously
- ✓ Maintains document formatting and structure
- ✓ Preserves metadata (author, date, version)
User Story:
As a board member, I want to upload our quarterly board pack in various formats so that all materials are searchable in one place.
FR-DM-002: Document Organization
Priority: P0 (Critical) Description: Hierarchical organization of documents
Acceptance Criteria:
- ✓ Folder structure with unlimited depth
- ✓ Tagging system with custom tags
- ✓ Automatic categorization by document type
- ✓ Search by folder, tag, or metadata
- ✓ Bulk operations (move, delete, tag)
User Story:
As an executive assistant, I want to organize board documents by meeting date and topic so that historical information is easily accessible.
FR-DM-003: Version Control
Priority: P1 (High) Description: Track document versions and changes
Acceptance Criteria:
- ✓ Automatic version creation on upload
- ✓ Compare versions side-by-side
- ✓ Highlight changes between versions
- ✓ Restore previous versions
- ✓ Version history with timestamps and users
User Story:
As a board member, I want to see how strategic plans have evolved over time so that I can understand the progression of our strategy.
3.2 Query and Analysis
FR-QA-001: Natural Language Querying
Priority: P0 (Critical) Description: Accept and process natural language questions
Acceptance Criteria:
- ✓ Understand complex, multi-part questions
- ✓ Context-aware responses using document corpus
- ✓ Follow-up question handling
- ✓ Clarification requests for ambiguous queries
- ✓ Response time < 10 seconds for 95% of queries
Example Queries:
"What were our Q3 revenue figures compared to budget?"
"Show me all commitments from the last board meeting"
"What risks were identified in the strategic plan?"
"How has employee turnover trended over the past year?"
User Story:
As a board member, I want to ask questions in plain English about our business so that I can quickly get insights without searching through documents.
FR-QA-002: Multi-Document Analysis
Priority: P0 (Critical) Description: Analyze across multiple documents simultaneously
Acceptance Criteria:
- ✓ Cross-reference information from multiple sources
- ✓ Identify conflicts or discrepancies
- ✓ Synthesize insights from various documents
- ✓ Cite sources with document references
- ✓ Handle 100+ documents in single analysis
User Story:
As an executive, I want to understand how different department reports align with our strategic plan so that I can identify gaps and opportunities.
FR-QA-003: Trend Analysis
Priority: P1 (High) Description: Identify and visualize trends over time
Acceptance Criteria:
- ✓ Automatic trend detection in metrics
- ✓ Visual charts and graphs
- ✓ Comparative analysis across periods
- ✓ Anomaly detection and alerting
- ✓ Export capabilities for presentations
User Story:
As a board member, I want to see trends in key performance indicators so that I can assess business trajectory.
3.3 Commitment Tracking
FR-CT-001: Automatic Commitment Extraction
Priority: P0 (Critical) Description: Extract action items from meeting minutes and documents
Acceptance Criteria:
- ✓ Identify action items with 95% accuracy
- ✓ Extract owner, deadline, and deliverable
- ✓ Distinguish between decisions and actions
- ✓ Handle implicit and explicit commitments
- ✓ Process audio transcripts and written minutes
Commitment Schema:
{
"commitment_id": "COM-2025-001",
"description": "Complete market analysis for APAC expansion",
"owner": "John Smith, VP Strategy",
"deadline": "2025-09-30",
"source": "Board Meeting 2025-08-07",
"status": "in_progress",
"dependencies": ["Budget approval"],
"success_criteria": "Comprehensive report with recommendations"
}
User Story:
As an executive chairman, I want commitments automatically extracted from meeting minutes so that nothing falls through the cracks.
FR-CT-002: Commitment Dashboard
Priority: P0 (Critical) Description: Visual dashboard for tracking all commitments
Acceptance Criteria:
- ✓ Real-time status updates
- ✓ Filter by owner, date, status, department
- ✓ Overdue commitment highlighting
- ✓ Progress tracking with milestones
- ✓ Email notifications for updates
User Story:
As a board member, I want a dashboard showing all open commitments so that I can monitor execution progress.
FR-CT-003: Follow-up Automation
Priority: P1 (High) Description: Automated follow-up and reminder system
Acceptance Criteria:
- ✓ Configurable reminder schedules
- ✓ Escalation paths for overdue items
- ✓ Integration with calendar systems
- ✓ Customizable notification templates
- ✓ Delegation and reassignment capabilities
User Story:
As an executive assistant, I want automatic reminders sent for upcoming deadlines so that commitments are completed on time.
3.4 Strategic Analysis
FR-SA-001: Risk Identification
Priority: P0 (Critical) Description: Identify and assess strategic risks
Acceptance Criteria:
- ✓ Scan documents for risk indicators
- ✓ Categorize risks (financial, operational, strategic)
- ✓ Assess risk severity and likelihood
- ✓ Track risk evolution over time
- ✓ Generate risk register reports
Risk Categories:
- Financial: Budget overruns, revenue shortfalls
- Operational: Supply chain, talent retention
- Strategic: Market competition, technology disruption
- Compliance: Regulatory changes, legal issues
- Reputational: Brand risks, stakeholder concerns
User Story:
As a board member, I want to understand key risks facing the company so that we can ensure appropriate mitigation strategies.
FR-SA-002: Strategic Alignment Analysis
Priority: P0 (Critical) Description: Assess alignment between strategy and execution
Acceptance Criteria:
- ✓ Map initiatives to strategic objectives
- ✓ Identify gaps in execution
- ✓ Track strategic KPI performance
- ✓ Generate alignment scorecards
- ✓ Recommend priority adjustments
User Story:
As a CEO, I want to see how well our operations align with board-approved strategy so that I can make necessary adjustments.
FR-SA-003: Competitive Intelligence
Priority: P2 (Medium) Description: Analyze competitive landscape from documents
Acceptance Criteria:
- ✓ Extract competitor mentions and analysis
- ✓ Track competitive moves over time
- ✓ Benchmark performance metrics
- ✓ Identify competitive advantages/disadvantages
- ✓ Generate competitive positioning reports
User Story:
As a board member, I want insights on competitive dynamics so that we can make informed strategic decisions.
3.5 Meeting Support
FR-MS-001: Meeting Preparation
Priority: P0 (Critical) Description: Automated meeting preparation assistance
Acceptance Criteria:
- ✓ Generate pre-read summaries
- ✓ Highlight key decisions needed
- ✓ Surface relevant historical context
- ✓ Create agenda suggestions
- ✓ Compile supporting documents
Meeting Prep Output:
## Board Meeting Preparation - September 2025
### Key Decisions Required:
1. Approve Q4 budget reallocation ($2M)
2. Ratify senior leadership changes
3. Authorize M&A due diligence
### Critical Updates Since Last Meeting:
- Revenue ahead of plan by 8%
- Customer acquisition costs increasing
- New regulatory requirements in EU
### Open Commitments Review:
- 5 items due before meeting
- 2 items overdue requiring discussion
User Story:
As a board member, I want meeting preparation automated so that I can focus on strategic thinking rather than document review.
FR-MS-002: Real-time Meeting Support
Priority: P2 (Medium) Description: Live assistance during meetings
Acceptance Criteria:
- ✓ Real-time fact checking
- ✓ Quick document retrieval
- ✓ Historical context lookup
- ✓ Note-taking assistance
- ✓ Action item capture
User Story:
As a board member, I want to quickly fact-check claims during meetings so that decisions are based on accurate information.
FR-MS-003: Post-Meeting Processing
Priority: P1 (High) Description: Automated post-meeting workflows
Acceptance Criteria:
- ✓ Generate meeting summaries
- ✓ Extract and distribute action items
- ✓ Create follow-up schedules
- ✓ Update commitment tracker
- ✓ Prepare thank-you/follow-up communications
User Story:
As an executive assistant, I want meeting outcomes automatically processed so that follow-up actions begin immediately.
3.6 Reporting and Insights
FR-RI-001: Executive Dashboard
Priority: P0 (Critical) Description: Comprehensive executive information dashboard
Dashboard Components:
sections:
- kpi_summary:
metrics: [revenue, profit, cash, headcount]
comparison: [actual, budget, forecast, prior_year]
- commitment_status:
view: [by_owner, by_deadline, by_department]
highlighting: [overdue, at_risk, completed]
- strategic_initiatives:
tracking: [progress, budget, timeline, risks]
- alerts:
types: [risk_alerts, opportunity_flags, anomalies]
Acceptance Criteria:
- ✓ Real-time data updates
- ✓ Customizable layouts
- ✓ Drill-down capabilities
- ✓ Mobile responsive design
- ✓ Export to PDF/PowerPoint
User Story:
As an executive, I want a single dashboard showing business health so that I can quickly assess performance.
FR-RI-002: Custom Report Generation
Priority: P1 (High) Description: Generate custom reports from document corpus
Acceptance Criteria:
- ✓ Template-based report creation
- ✓ Natural language report requests
- ✓ Scheduled report generation
- ✓ Multiple output formats (PDF, DOCX, PPTX)
- ✓ Distribution list management
User Story:
As a board member, I want to generate custom reports for committee meetings so that I have relevant information packaged appropriately.
FR-RI-003: Insight Recommendations
Priority: P1 (High) Description: Proactive insights and recommendations
Acceptance Criteria:
- ✓ Daily insight generation
- ✓ Relevance scoring based on role
- ✓ Actionable recommendations
- ✓ Supporting evidence links
- ✓ Feedback mechanism for improvement
User Story:
As a CEO, I want proactive insights about the business so that I can address issues before they become critical.
4. Non-Functional Requirements
4.1 Performance Requirements
| Metric | Requirement | Measurement Method |
|---|---|---|
| Response Time | 95% of queries < 5 seconds | Application monitoring |
| Throughput | 100 concurrent users | Load testing |
| Document Processing | 500 documents/hour | Processing logs |
| Availability | 99.9% uptime | Monitoring system |
| Data Freshness | < 15 minute lag | Data pipeline metrics |
4.2 Security Requirements
| Requirement | Description | Implementation |
|---|---|---|
| Authentication | Multi-factor authentication required | OAuth 2.0 + TOTP |
| Authorization | Role-based access control | RBAC with attributes |
| Encryption | All data encrypted | AES-256 at rest, TLS 1.3 in transit |
| Audit Trail | Complete activity logging | Immutable audit logs |
| Data Residency | Comply with data localization | Region-specific deployment |
4.3 Usability Requirements
| Requirement | Target | Validation |
|---|---|---|
| Learning Curve | Productive in < 30 minutes | User testing |
| Error Rate | < 2% user errors | Usage analytics |
| Satisfaction | > 4.5/5 rating | User surveys |
| Accessibility | WCAG 2.1 AA compliant | Accessibility audit |
| Mobile Support | Full functionality on tablet | Device testing |
5. User Interface Requirements
5.1 Query Interface
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 💭 Ask anything about your board documents │
│ │
│ [What were our key decisions last quarter?] │
│ │
│ Recent queries: │
│ • Revenue performance vs. budget │
│ • Open commitments for John Smith │
│ • Risk factors in strategic plan │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────┘
5.2 Response Format
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 📊 Analysis Results │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Your question: "What were our key decisions?"│
│ │
│ Based on the Q2 2025 board minutes, the key │
│ decisions were: │
│ │
│ 1. Approved $5M investment in R&D initiative │
│ Source: Board Minutes p.12 [View] │
│ │
│ 2. Authorized hiring of 50 engineers │
│ Source: Board Minutes p.15 [View] │
│ │
│ 3. Deferred expansion into LATAM to Q4 │
│ Source: Board Minutes p.18 [View] │
│ │
│ 📎 Related Documents (3) │
│ 💡 Suggested Follow-up Questions (3) │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────┘
6. Integration Requirements
6.1 Document Source Integrations
| System | Purpose | Method | Sync Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| SharePoint | Document repository | REST API | Real-time |
| Google Drive | Cloud documents | OAuth 2.0 API | 15 minutes |
| Outlook | Email attachments | Graph API | 5 minutes |
| Slack | Shared files | Webhook | Real-time |
| Box | Enterprise storage | REST API | 30 minutes |
6.2 Productivity Tool Integrations
| Tool | Purpose | Integration Type |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Teams | Notifications, bot interface | Graph API |
| Slack | Notifications, slash commands | Webhook + Bot |
| Calendar | Meeting schedules, reminders | CalDAV/Graph |
| Power BI | Dashboard embedding | iframe/API |
| Tableau | Visualization export | REST API |
7. Data Requirements
7.1 Data Retention
| Data Type | Retention Period | Deletion Method |
|---|---|---|
| Documents | 7 years | Soft delete with purge |
| Query History | 1 year | Automatic cleanup |
| Audit Logs | 7 years | Archive to cold storage |
| User Activity | 90 days | Automatic cleanup |
| Cache Data | 24 hours | Automatic expiry |
7.2 Data Volume Estimates
| Metric | Small Org | Medium Org | Large Org |
|---|---|---|---|
| Documents | 1,000 | 10,000 | 100,000+ |
| Users | 10 | 50 | 500+ |
| Queries/Day | 100 | 1,000 | 10,000+ |
| Storage | 50GB | 500GB | 5TB+ |
8. Compliance Requirements
8.1 Regulatory Compliance
- SOX: Maintain audit trails for financial data access
- GDPR: Right to erasure, data portability
- CCPA: Consumer privacy rights
- HIPAA: If healthcare data present (optional)
- Industry-specific: Banking (BASEL III), Insurance (Solvency II)
8.2 Corporate Governance
- Board confidentiality: Strict access controls
- Insider trading: Information barriers
- Records management: Legal hold capabilities
- Whistleblower: Anonymous query options