HY 351:
CS 351: Information Systems Analysis and Design
Requirements Gathering
Lecture : 7
Date
: 18-10-2005
Yannis Tzitzikas
University of Crete, Fall 2005
Outline
Requirements Gathering Techniques
Interview
Joint Application Development
Questionnaires
Document Analysis
Observation
[Selecting the Appropriate Technique]
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
Requirements Gathering
Objective:
The goal of the analysis phase is to truly understand the
requirements of the new system.
Challenges:
1) Find the right people to participate.
2) Collect and Integrate the information
analyst ~ detective (Sherlock Holmes)
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
Requirements Gathering Techniques
There are 5 main requirements techniques (else called Fact Finding
Techniques):
Interviews
Joint Application Development
Questionnaires
Document Analysis
Observation
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
Interviews
Interviews
The five steps:
[1] Selecting interviewees
[2] Designing interview questions
[3] Preparing for the interview
[4] Conducting the interview
[5] Post-interview follow-up
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
[1] Selecting interviewees
Based on information needed
Often good to get different perspectives
Managers
Users
Ideally, all key stakeholders
one-one-one (one interviewer, one interviewee)
sometimes one-on-many (if there are time constraints)
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
[1] Selecting interviewees (cont)
Create an interview schedule
Name
Position
PurposeOfInteview
Meeting
Manousos
Maria
Director
Resp. Sales
Mon, Oct 17, 9-10 AM
Sofia
Production Mgr
Strategic vision for the new system
Current Situation/Problems
Ideas for improvements
How production is planned?
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
Mon, Oct 17, 12-2 PM
Mon, Oct 17, 3-4 PM
[2] Designing interview questions:
Types of Questions
Closed
They require a specific answer (like multiple choice or arithmetic questions)
Open
they leave room to the interviewee to tell more
Probing (, )
used when some of interviewees answers are unclear to you
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
[2] Designing interview questions:
Types of Questions: Examples
Closed
How many orders do you receive per day?
How many customers you have?
How customers place orders?
Do the customers have complaints?
Open
Which are the problems with the current system?
How do you think the situation could be improved?
Probing
Can you give me an example?
Why this is a problem according to your opinion?
Why the solution X did not work?
Why a solution like THIS will not not work?
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
10
Designing interview questions
Unstructured interview
Broad, roughly defined information
Usually at the beginning of the project
Structured interview
More specific information
As the project proceeds
An important tip:
Dont ask about information that you can get from other sources (e.g.
by studying documents)
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
11
Designing interview questions:
the sequence of Questions
The questions should be logically organized
Strategies
top-down
from general issues to specific issues
bottom-up
from specific issues to general issues
: ;
: ;
: ;
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
12
[3] Preparing for the interview
Prepare general interview plan
List of question
Anticipated answers and follow-ups
Confirm areas of knowledge
Set priorities in case of time shortage
Prepare the interviewee
Schedule
Inform of reason for interview
Inform of areas of discussion
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
13
[4] Conducting the interview
Appear professional and unbiased
Record all information
Check on organizational policy regarding tape recording
Be sure you understand all issues and terms
Separate facts from opinions
Give interviewee time to ask questions
Be sure to thank the interviewee
End on time
Taken from Dennis et al. 2005
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
14
[4] Conducting the interview: TIPS
Dont worry, be happy
Pay attention
Summarize key points
Be succinct
Be honest
Watch body language
Taken from Dennis et al. 2005
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
15
[5] Post-interview follow-up
Prepare interview notes
Prepare interview report
Look for gaps and new questions
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
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[5] Post-interview follow-up: Interview Report
INTERVIEW REPORT
Person interviewed
Interviewer
Date
Primary Purpose:
______________
_______________
_______________
Summary of Interview:
Open Items:
Detailed Notes:
Adapted from Dennis et al. 2005
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
Joint Application Design (JAD)
17
JAD
It is a special type of group meeting
Key points
Allows project managers, users, and developers (10-20 persons)
to work together to identify requirements for the system
May reduce scope creep by 50%
Avoids requirements being too specific or too vague
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
19
JAD: Basic Roles
Facilitator
Profile:
is an expert in both group processes techniques and systems
analysis and design
Role:
guides the discussion but does not joins it as a participant
sets the agenda, helps with technical terms and jargon, record
group input, helps resolve issues
Scribes (1 or 2)
assist the facilitator by recording notes, making copies, ...
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
20
The JAD Session
Tend to last 5 to 10 days over a three week period
Prepare questions and participants as with interviews
Formal agenda and groundrules
Facilitator activities
Post-session follow-up
like the interview report
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
21
JAD Meeting Room
U-Shaped
seating
Away from
distractions
Whiteboard/flip
chart
Prototyping
tools
JPEG
e-JAD
Figure 5-5 Goes Here
(anonymous
messages)
Taken from Dennis et al. 2005
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
22
How to manage problems in JAD Sessions
(if you are the Facilitator)
How to reduce domination
contact dominating persons in private during a break
How to encourage non-contributors
ask them a standard question you are sure they can answer
How to stop side discussions
approach them while you continue playing the role of facilitator (e.g. talking)
How to avoid repetitions
if a person keeps returning to the same issue, write his points on the board and
whenever he raises the same issue, ask him if there is anything new to add on the board
How to avoid fake disagreements
Sometimes persons think they disagree because they just use different names and
terms. Clarify the issues.
How to manage unresolved conflicts
Ask for criteria that will allow to identify the best alternative.
How to manage true conflicts
postpone the discussion and move on (name it open issue)
Use humor
but in context
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
Questionnaires
23
Questionnaires
Mainly used when we need information for many persons
(commonly these persons do not belong to the organization)
Examples
from the customers of an organization
from users that spread across many geographic locations
for developing a generic software (e.g. a new wordprocessor, mailing tool,
)
Forms of Questionnaires
printed on paper
electronic (by email, Web): fast, cheap, less laborious results analysis
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
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Questionnaires
Steps:
1/ Selecting participants
Using samples of the population
2/ Designing the questionnaire
Careful question selection
3/ Administering the questionnaire
Working to get good response rate
4/ Questionnaire follow-up
Send results to participants
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
26
2/ Designing the questionnaire
Be sure that you know how you will analyze the results that
you will get
Design the questionnaire having this in mind.
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
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Good Questionnaire Design
Begin with non-threatening and interesting questions
Group items into logically coherent sections
Do not put important items at the very end of the questionnaire
Do not crowd a page with too many items
Avoid abbreviations
Avoid biased or suggestive items or terms
Number questions to avoid confusion
Pretest the questionnaire to identify confusing questions
Provide anonymity to respondents
Adapted from Dennis et al. 2005
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
28
3/ Administering the questionnaire
How we can make the participants to complete and send back
the questionnaire?
Tips from the Marketing Research:
Explain why this research takes place
Explain why the respondent has been selected
Specify a date by which the questionnaire is to be returned
Offer an inducement to complete the questionnaire
a free pen,..
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
Document Analysis
29
Document Analysis
Provides clues about existing as-is system
Typical documents
forms
organization charts
company reports
policy manuals
job descriptions
documentation of existing systems
Web sites
Look for user additions to forms
Look for unused form elements
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
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( , , ,
, , )
.
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
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Examples
Objective:
Build a system for the
electronic submission of
applications for the
acknowledgement of
abroad academic titles
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
Observation
33
Observation
Watching processes being performed
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
35
Why observation is useful?
You see the reality (you dont listen how others describe it)
Users/managers often dont remember everything they do
(how many hours you spend last week for this course?)
You can check the validity of information gathered other ways
Remarks
Behaviors change when people are watched
Careful not to ignore periodic activities
Weekly Monthly Annual
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
36
Synopsis
There are five major information gathering techniques that all systems
analysts must be able to use: Interviews, JAD, Questionnaires, Document
Analysis, and Observation.
Systems analysts must also know how and when to use each as well as
how to combine methods.
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
37
Reading and References
Systems Analysis and Design with UML Version 2.0 (2nd edition) by A. Dennis, B. Haley Wixom,
D. Tegarden, Wiley, 2005. CHAPTER 5
Systems Analysis and Design, Kendall & Kendall, Prentice-Hall, 2005. CHAPTER 4 & 5
Object-Oriented Systems Analysis and Design Using UML (2nd edition) by S. Bennett, S.
McRobb, R. Farmer, McGraw Hil, 2002, CHAPTER 6
Joint Application Development :
http://www.carolla.com/wp-jad.htm
http://www.utexas.edu/hr/is/pubs/jad.html
U. of Crete, Information Systems Analysis and Design
Yannis Tzitzikas, Fall 2005
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