1. Define Your Requirements – RCCAP – Regional Climate Consortium for Asia and the Pacific

Step 1: Define Your Requirements

Scoping out the requirements of your project or assessment will clarify the information and resources you will need to successfully undertake it, and provide an operational framework to guide decisions along the way.

The outputs of this activity will determine what you need to do in the subsequent activities: what climate information you need, which approach or methodology you use for developing climate projections, how you communicate the results of your analysis, and so on.

Be mindful that the steps taken in scoping are not always linear and straightforward. Sometimes, you may need to do a re-scoping or adjustment during your development of future climate information, to consider feedback or new learnings from subsequent steps.

For example, you may initially decide to produce projections for two climate variables (monthly temperature and rainfall), but further into the project stakeholders want you to also develop projections for other climate variables (monthly solar radiation and relative humidity). In this case, you need to re-scope and check if you have the resources to incorporate these new requirements.

Ideally, scoping the project will be undertaken in close conversation with the users of your climate information to ensure that you understand and accommodate their needs. Sometimes it is also useful to engage with relevant stakeholders (e.g. climate data provider and experts) to discuss their potential contribution to your work.

Identify your users and/or other stakeholders

A user and/or stakeholder is anyone with an interest in your project, and will likely use your project results. Your stakeholders may include people or organizations whose decisions will be influenced by the outcomes of your project, or who will benefit in the achievement of your objective. [Read more]

Define the project objectives

Your project objective must articulate the purpose of your project: why are you undertaking your project and what do you intend to achieve? [Read more]

Define project inclusions and exclusions

In many cases, project resources are limited, so it is essential to be clear about your focus. You (with your stakeholders or users) decide what to include and what to exclude in your project. [Read more]

Establish the project context

Establishing context will help in many aspects of the project, such as redefining the scope as needed, identifying suitable approaches, finding a source of data and information, and mapping gaps and needs. It is also an important step for understanding project resources. [Read more]

Establish approach or methodology

You now need to decide the overall approach or methodology that will be used in your project. [Read more]