Cloud Buyers' Requirements Questionnaire - Document No. W108

Sep 11, 2026

Uploaded by Stanford

Cloud Buyers' Requirements Questionnaire provides a structured set of discussion questions for enterprises evaluating cloud computing needs. The questionnaire focuses on business situation and requirements rather than vendor products or solution architecture, enabling organizations to articulate objectives, processes, market segmentation, financial and lifecycle factors, QoS aspects, and functional requirements. Responses support architecture requirements management by producing a complete and structured statement of business goals and constraints, strengthening negotiation leverage and reducing adoption risk through iterative validation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryForms

FormatPDF

Pages27

Reading Time9 min

AccessFree to download

Executive Summary

Introduction

PD: Problem or Opportunity Definition

Objective

PD.1 : What are the business goals you seek to address?

PD.2: What type of business problem are you seeking to a

PC: Problem or Opportunity Context

BP: Business Process

MS: Market Segmentation

FL: Financial and Lifecycle

QA: QoS Aspects

FR: Functional

Acknowledgements

References

About The Open Group

Cloud Buyers'Requirements Questionnaire A Proposal for Discussion A White Paper by: The Cloud Business Artifacts Project of The Open Group Cloud Computing Work Group, led by: Mark Skilton Global Director, Applications Outsourcing, Capgemini Cloud Work Group Steering Committee and CBA Co-Chair Penelope Gordon Business Architect, 1Plug Corporation Cloud Work Group Steering Committee and CBA Co-Chair July 2010 Copyright © 2010 The Open Group All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owners. This White Paper embodies a consensus view of members of The Open Group. It does not necessarily represent the view of any particular Open Group member. Boundaryless Information Flow™ and TOGAF™ are trademarks and Making Standards Work®, The Open Group®, UNIX®, and the “X” device are registered trademarks ofThe Open Group in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. All other brand, company, and product names are used for identification purposes only and may be trademarks that are the sole property of their respective owners. Cloud Buyers' Requirements Questionnaire Document No.: W108 Published by The Open Group, July 2010. Any comments relating to the material contained in this document may be submitted to: The Open Group 44 Montgomery St. \#960 San Francisco, CA 94104 or by email to: [ogpubs@opengroup.org](ogpubs@opengroup.org) Table of Contents Executive Summary 4 Introduction 5 PD: Problem or Opportunity Definition 6 PC: Problem or Opportunity Context 7 BP: Business Process 13 MS: Market Segmentation 16 FL: Financial and Lifecycle 19 QA: QoS Aspects 21 FR: Functional 24 Acknowledgements 26 References 26 About The Open Group 27 Executive Summary This White Paper describes a questionnaire that will help you identify your requirements for Cloud computing in a structured way, so that you can more easily reach the best solution. It contains questions about your enterprise – not about the products and services that you might be considering. It is put forward for discussion, with the intention that this discussion, and validation in the field, will result in a practical tool for use by enterprises. The questions explore the following areas: • PD: Problem or Opportunity Definition • PC: Problem or Opportunity Context • BP: Business Process • MS: Market Segmentation • FL: Financial and Lifecycle • QA: Quality of Service (QoS) Aspects • FR: Functional The answers to these questions will be input to your architecture development, as part of the process of Architecture Requirements Management. (See, for example, the Architecture Requirements Management process in TOGAF™ [1].) Introduction This White Paper describes a questionnaire that will help you identify your requirements for Cloud computing in a structured way, so that you can more easily reach the best solution. It contains questions about your enterprise – not about the products and services that you might be considering. It is put forward for discussion, with the intention that this discussion, and validation in the field, will result in a practical tool for use by enterprises. Your responses to this Questionnaire will ensure a complete and structured statement of your business situation and requirements, thereby ensuring a better solution fit, strengthening your negotiating position, and mitigating risks. Cloud computing knowledge is not needed to respond to this Questionnaire because its scope does not extend to describing the solution architecture, but rather is confined to collecting the business requirements needed to determine the most appropriate Cloud solution. Your business situation is either a problem or an opportuni

FAQs

What is the purpose of the Cloud Buyers' Requirements Questionnaire?

It helps enterprises identify cloud computing requirements in a structured discussion format, leading to a practical tool based on field validation.

Does the questionnaire require cloud computing knowledge?

No. It focuses on collecting business requirements to determine an appropriate cloud solution, not describing solution architecture.

Which requirement areas are covered by the questionnaire?

It explores PD (problem/opportunity definition), PC (context), BP (business process), MS (market segmentation), FL (financial and lifecycle), QA (QoS aspects), and FR (functional).

How should respondents complete the questionnaire?

Answer all questions, using “not applicable” where needed, and respond either based on as-is or to-be state depending on objectives, in the order presented.

Sep 11, 2026

Uploaded by Stanford