Software Requirements Specification
Financial E-Services Platform
Document Version: 1.0
Date: April 01, 2026
Classification: Confidential
Status: Draft
1. Introduction
1.1 Purpose
This Software Requirements Specification (SRS) defines the functional and non-functional requirements for the Financial E-Services Platform. The platform is intended to serve government entities, private-sector organizations, and individual users within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The purpose of this document is to establish a clear baseline of system requirements from which project risks can be systematically identified and assessed.
1.2 Scope
The Financial E-Services Platform is a centralized digital system designed to facilitate financial transactions, partnership management, and service delivery in support of national development projects aligned with Saudi Vision 2030. The platform shall enhance transparency, operational efficiency, and digital transformation of financial services across public and private sectors.
1.3 Definitions and Acronyms
| Acronym | Definition |
|---|---|
| SAMA | Saudi Central Bank (Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority) |
| NCA | National Cybersecurity Authority |
| PDPL | Personal Data Protection Law (Royal Decree M/19, 2021) |
| KYC | Know Your Customer |
| AML | Anti-Money Laundering |
| MFA | Multi-Factor Authentication |
| SLA | Service Level Agreement |
| API | Application Programming Interface |
1.4 Regulatory References
SAMA Regulatory Framework for Financial Institutions
NCA Essential Cybersecurity Controls (ECC-1:2018)
Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL), Royal Decree M/19
Anti-Money Laundering Law, Royal Decree M/31
Saudi Vision 2030 — Financial Sector Development Program
SAMA Rules on Electronic Financial Services
2. Functional Requirements
2.1 User Management
FR-01: The system shall support role-based registration for government entities, private-sector organizations, and individual users.
FR-02: The system shall authenticate users through multi-factor authentication (MFA) in compliance with SAMA electronic authentication guidelines.
FR-03: The system shall enforce role-based access control (RBAC) with configurable permission levels for each user category.
FR-04: The system shall integrate with the National Single Sign-On (SSO) service (Nafath) for identity verification of Saudi nationals.
2.2 Financial Transaction Services
FR-05: The system shall enable the initiation, approval, and tracking of fund disbursements for government development projects.
FR-06: The system shall support electronic payment processing, including bank transfers, SADAD payments, and credit/debit card transactions.
FR-07: The system shall generate unique transaction reference numbers and maintain a complete audit trail for every financial operation.
FR-08: The system shall perform real-time validation of transaction data against predefined business rules and regulatory thresholds.
FR-09: The system shall implement automated KYC and AML screening for all financial transactions in accordance with SAMA directives.
2.3 Partnership and Project Management
FR-10: The system shall provide a portal for managing development-project partnerships between government and private-sector entities.
FR-11: The system shall track project milestones, deliverables, and associated financial commitments.
FR-12: The system shall generate partnership agreements and contract documents using configurable templates.
2.4 Reporting and Analytics
FR-13: The system shall provide configurable dashboards displaying key financial indicators and service metrics.
FR-14: The system shall generate regulatory reports required by SAMA and other supervisory authorities.
FR-15: The system shall support export of reports in standard formats (PDF, Excel, CSV).
2.5 Notifications and Communication
FR-16: The system shall deliver real-time notifications via email, SMS, and in-application alerts for transaction status changes and approval requests.
FR-17: The system shall provide a secure internal messaging module for communication between platform stakeholders.
3. Non-Functional Requirements
3.1 Security
Given the sensitivity of financial data and regulatory obligations, security requirements are of paramount importance for the platform.
| ID | Requirement | Description |
|---|---|---|
| NFR-01 | Encryption | All data at rest shall be encrypted using AES-256. All data in transit shall be protected using TLS 1.2 or higher. Encryption key management shall comply with SAMA cryptographic standards. |
| NFR-02 | Access Control | The system shall enforce the principle of least privilege across all user roles. Administrative access shall require hardware-token-based MFA. Session timeouts shall not exceed 15 minutes of inactivity. |
| NFR-03 | Threat Protection | The system shall incorporate intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS/IPS), web application firewalls (WAF), and real-time threat monitoring aligned with NCA Essential Cybersecurity Controls. |
| NFR-04 | Vulnerability Management | The system shall undergo penetration testing at least annually and vulnerability scanning on a quarterly basis. All critical vulnerabilities shall be remediated within 48 hours of detection. |
3.2 Performance
The platform shall meet the following performance benchmarks under normal and peak load conditions.
| ID | Requirement | Description |
|---|---|---|
| NFR-05 | Response Time | The system shall respond to user requests within 2 seconds under normal load (up to 5,000 concurrent users) and within 5 seconds under peak load (up to 15,000 concurrent users). |
| NFR-06 | Transaction Throughput | The system shall process a minimum of 500 financial transactions per second during peak operational hours without degradation of service quality. |
| NFR-07 | Page Load Time | Dashboard and reporting pages shall render within 3 seconds, inclusive of data retrieval and visualization. |
3.3 Availability and Reliability
| ID | Requirement | Description |
|---|---|---|
| NFR-08 | Uptime | The system shall maintain a minimum availability of 99.9% (excluding scheduled maintenance windows), equating to no more than 8.76 hours of unplanned downtime per year. |
| NFR-09 | Disaster Recovery | The system shall support a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of 4 hours and a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of 1 hour. Backup data centers shall be geographically separated within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. |
| NFR-10 | Failover | The system shall implement automatic failover mechanisms for all critical components, with failover completion within 60 seconds. |
3.4 Compliance and Regulatory
The platform shall adhere to all applicable Saudi Arabian regulatory frameworks governing financial services and data protection.
| ID | Requirement | Description |
|---|---|---|
| NFR-11 | SAMA Compliance | The system shall comply with all applicable SAMA regulations, including rules governing electronic financial services, outsourcing arrangements, and business continuity management. |
| NFR-12 | Data Sovereignty | All financial and personal data shall be stored and processed within data centers located in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in accordance with PDPL and SAMA data localization requirements. |
| NFR-13 | AML/CFT Compliance | The system shall implement controls aligned with the Anti-Money Laundering Law (Royal Decree M/31) and Counter-Terrorism Financing regulations, including automated suspicious-activity reporting. |
| NFR-14 | Audit Compliance | The system shall maintain immutable audit logs for all user actions and financial transactions, retained for a minimum of 10 years as required by SAMA record-keeping directives. |
3.5 Data Privacy
NFR-15 — Personal Data Protection: The system shall process personal data in strict compliance with the PDPL, including obtaining explicit user consent for data collection, providing data-subject access and deletion rights, and implementing data minimization principles.
NFR-16 — Data Classification: The system shall classify all data assets according to sensitivity levels (Public, Internal, Confidential, Restricted) and apply corresponding protection controls as mandated by the NCA Data Classification Policy.
3.6 Scalability
NFR-17 — Horizontal Scalability: The system architecture shall support horizontal scaling to accommodate a 200% increase in user base and transaction volume over a three-year period without requiring architectural redesign.
NFR-18 — Modular Architecture: The system shall adopt a microservices-based or modular architecture to allow independent deployment and scaling of individual service components.
3.7 Usability
NFR-19 — Localization: The system shall provide full bilingual support (Arabic and English), including right-to-left (RTL) interface rendering for Arabic. All financial figures shall be displayed in both SAR and USD where applicable.
NFR-20 — Accessibility: The system shall comply with WCAG 2.1 Level AA accessibility standards to ensure usability by persons with disabilities.
NFR-21 — User Experience: The system shall enable a new user to complete the registration and onboarding process within 10 minutes without requiring external assistance.
3.8 Interoperability
NFR-22 — System Integration: The system shall expose RESTful APIs for integration with external government systems (e.g., Etimad, Mudad) and private-sector banking platforms. All APIs shall conform to the Saudi Open Banking Standard.
NFR-23 — Data Exchange Standards: The system shall support standardized financial data exchange formats, including ISO 20022 for payment messaging and XBRL for regulatory reporting.
4. Constraints and Assumptions
4.1 Constraints
All infrastructure shall be hosted within Saudi Arabia to comply with data sovereignty requirements.
The platform shall be operational within the regulatory sandbox defined by SAMA prior to full production deployment.
Third-party integrations shall be limited to vendors approved by SAMA and NCA.
4.2 Assumptions
Government entities will provide the necessary APIs and data interfaces for integration.
Users will have access to mobile devices or desktop systems with modern web browsers.
SAMA and NCA will provide timely guidance on any evolving regulatory requirements during the development phase.