A computer system and a computer-implemented method is provided for authoring a requirements document for a product or service. The requirements document includes one or more components for the product or service. Each component is described using one or more requirements statements. An online tool is used to provide electronic templates to view and/or modify features of the requirement statements. A common data structure is used to store attributes associated with portions of the requirements statements. The common data structure is accessible by the online tool to author the requirements document.