Stakeholder needs, expectations, constraints, and interfaces are collected and translated into customer requirements.

The needs of stakeholders (e.g., customers, end users, suppliers, builders, testers, manufacturers, and logistics support personnel) are the basis for determining customer requirements. The stakeholder needs, expectations, constraints, interfaces, operational concepts, and product concepts are analyzed, harmonized, refined, and elaborated for translation into a set of customer requirements.

Frequently, stakeholder needs, expectations, constraints, and interfaces are poorly identified or conflicting. Since stakeholder needs, expectations, constraints, and limitations should be clearly identified and understood, an iterative process is used throughout the life of the project to accomplish this objective. To facilitate the required interaction, a surrogate for the end user or customer is frequently involved to represent their needs and help resolve conflicts. The customer relations or marketing part of the organization as well as members of the development team from disciplines such as human engineering or support can be used as surrogates. Environmental, legal, and other constraints should be considered when creating and resolving the set of customer requirements.