6 ReqEcilitation Stu

7/25/2019 6 ReqEcilitation Stu

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Chapter 6Determining System

Requirements

2011 by Prentice Hall: J.A.Hoffer et.al., Modern Systems Analysis & Design, 6th Edition 2/43

Content

Requirements determination

Data collection methods interview

observation & document analysis

Joint Application Design (JAD)

Prototype

Questionnaire

Explain how computing can support requirements

determination

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1. Performing Requirements Determination

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1.1 Process of Determining Requirements

Systems Analyst Characteristics for Successful

Requirements Determination

Impertinence: question everything

Impartiality: find best solution

Relaxing constraints: assume every thing is possible

Attention to details: find all facts

Reframing: new create process


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1.2 Deliverables and Outcomes

Deliverables for Requirements Determination

From interviews and observations - interview

transcripts, observation notes, meeting minutes

From existing written documents - mission and

strategy statements, business forms, procedure

manuals, job descriptions, training manuals, system

documentation, flowcharts

From computerized sources Joint Application

Design session results, CASE repositories, reportsfrom existing systems, displays and reports from

system prototype

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2. Traditional Methods for Determining

Requirements

Interviewing (individuals & groups)Observing workers

Studying business documents

Questionnaire *

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2.1 Interviewing and Listening

One of the primary ways analysts gather

information about an IS project Interview guide is a document for

developing, planning and conducting an

interview

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Guidelines for Effective Interviewing

Interview Guideline

Plan the interview

Prepare interviewee: appointment, priming questions

Prepare agenda, checklist, questions

Listen carefully and take notes (tape record if

permitted)

Review notes within that day.

Be neutral

Seek diverse views


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Interview Outline

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Choosing Interview Questions

Each question in an interview guide can

include verbal & non-verbal information

Open-ended questions: questions that have no pre-

specified answers

Closed-ended questions: questions that ask those

responding to choose from among a set of

specified responses

T/F

Multiple choice

Rating a response

Ranking items

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2.2 Interviewing Groups

Drawbacks to individual interviews

Contradictions and inconsistencies between

interviewees

Follow-up discussions are time consuming

New interviews may reveal new questions

that require additional interviews with those

interviewed earlier

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Interviewing Groups (Cont.)

Interview several key people together

AdvantagesMore effective use of time

Can hear agreements and disagreements at once

Opportunity for synergies

Disadvantages

More difficult to schedule than individualinterviews


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Nominal Group Technique (NGT)

A facilitated process that supports idea generationbygroups

Process Members come together as a group, but initially work

separately

Each person writes ideas

Facilitator reads ideas out loud, and they are written on ablackboard or flipchart

Group openly discusses the ideas for clarification

Ideas are prioritized, combined, selected, reduced

NGT exercise used to complement group meetings oras part of JAD effort

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2.3 Directly Observing Users

Direct Observation

Watching users do their jobs

Obtaining more firsthand and objective

measures of employee interaction with IS

(negative) Can cause people to change their

normal operating behaviorTime-consuming and limited time to

observe

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2.4 Analyzing Procedures and Other

Documents

Document Analysis

Review of existing business documents

Can give a historical and formal view of systemrequirements

Useful document: work procedure/ form /report

For an individual or work group

Describes how a particular job or task is performed Includes data and information used and created in

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Types of information to be discovered

Problems with existing system

Opportunity to meet new needs

Organizational direction

Titles and names of key individuals

Values of organization

Special information processing circumstances

Reasons for current system design

Rules for processing data


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a)

User document:

a written workprocedure

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Analyzing Procedures and Other

Documents (Cont.)

Potential Problems with Procedure Documents

May involve duplication of effort

May have missing procedures

May be out of date

May contradict information obtained through

interviews

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Analyzing Procedures and Other

Documents (Cont.)

Formal Systems

the official way a system works as described inorganizational documentation (i.e. work

procedure)

Informal Systems

the way a system actually works (i.e. interviews,

observations)

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b)

User document:

a business form


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c)

User document:a report

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Comparison of Observation and Document Analysis

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3. Contemporary Methods for

Determining System Requirements

Joint Application Design (JAD)

Brings together key users, managers, and systems

analysts

Purpose: collect system requirementssimultaneously from key people

Conducted off-site

Group Support Systems

Facilitate sharing of ideas and voicing of opinionsabout system requirements

CASE/ Prototype24/43

3.1 Joint Application Design (JAD)

Intensive group-oriented requirements

determination technique

Team members meet in isolation for an

extended period of time

Highly focused

Resource intensive


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JAD (Cont.)

JAD Participants:

Session Leader: facilitates group process.Users: active, speaking participants

Managers: active, speaking participants

Sponsor: high-level champion, limited

participation.

Systems Analysts: should mostly listen.

Scribe: record session activities.

IS Staff: should mostly listen.

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JAD (Cont.)

End Result

Documentationdetailing

existing

system (AS-IS)

Features of

proposed

system (TO-BE)

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3.2 Upper CASE Tools during JAD

Used to analyze existing systems

Help discover requirements to meet changing

business conditions

Enables analysts to enter system models

directly into CASE during the JAD session

Screen designs andprototyping can be done

during JAD and shown to users

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3.3 Using Prototyping during Requirements

Determination

Iterative development process

Elementary working version of system is built

Quickly converts requirements to working version

of system

Refine understanding of system requirements

in concrete terms

Once the user sees requirements converted to

system, will ask for modifications or will generateadditional requests


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Using Prototyping During Requirements

Determination (Cont.)

Most useful when

User requests are not clear

Few users are involved in the system

Designs are complex and require concrete form

History of communication problemsbetween

analysts and users

Tools are readily available to build prototype

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Using Prototyping During Requirements

Determination (Cont.)

Drawbacks

Tendency to avoid formal documentation

Difficult to adapt to more general user audience

Sharing data with other systems is often not

considered

Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)checks are often bypassed

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4. Radical Methods for Determining

System Requirements

Business Process Reengineering (BPR)

Search for, and implementation of radical change

in business processes to achieve breakthrough

improvements in products and services

BPR Goals

Reorganize complete flow of data in major

sections of an organization

Eliminate unnecessary steps / Combine stepsBecome more responsive to future change

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4.1 Identifying Processes to Reengineer

Key business processes

Structured, measured set of activities designed to

produce specific output for a particular customer

or market

Focused on customers and outcome


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4.2 Disruptive Technologies

Technologies that enable thebreaking of long-

held business rules that inhibit organizations

from making radical business changes

Information technologies must be applied to

radically improve business processes

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Disruptive Technologies (Cont.)

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5. Requirements Determination using

Agile Methodologies

Continual user involvement

Replace traditional SDLC waterfall with iterative analyze

design code test cycle

Agile usage-centered design

Focuses on user goals, roles, and tasks

Planning Game from eXtreme programming

Based on eXtreme programming

Exploration, steering, commitment

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5.1 Continual User Involvement

FIGURE 6-11

The iterative analysisdesigncodetest

cycle


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5.2 Agile Usage-Centered Design: Steps

Gather a group of people: users, programmers, analysts,

testers, facilitator

Document complaints of current system

Determine important user roles

Determine, prioritize, and describe tasks for each user role

Group similar tasks into interaction contexts

Give description of each interaction context

Associate each interaction context with a user interface for

the system, andprototype the interaction context

Step through and modify the prototype

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5.3 Planning Game from eXtreme Programming

FIGURE 6-12

eXtreme Programmings Planning Game

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6 e-Commerce Applications: Determining

System Requirements

Determining system requirements for Pine

Valley furnitures Webstore

System layout and navigation characteristics

Webstore and site management system capabilities

Customer and inventory information

System prototype evolution

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Summary

Requirements Elicitation

Observing workers and business documents

Questionnaire

Interviews

Prototyping

Joint Application Design

Explain how computing can provide support forrequirements determination

Understand how requirements determinationtechniques apply to the development of e-Commerceapplications


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Questions & Answers

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Quiz

1 _________________________ is the search for,

and implementation of, radical change in business

processes to achieve breakthrough improvementsin products and services.

2 __________________ are questions in interviews

that have no pre-specified answers.

3 The structured, measured set of activities designed

to produce a specific output for a particularcustomer or market is called _________________

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Exercise

1 Describe traditional techniques for collecting

information during analysis. When might one

be better than another?2 What is JAD? How is it better than traditional

information gathering techniques? What is its

weaknesses?

3 Describe how prototyping can be used during

requirements determination. How is it better orworse than traditional methods?