System Requirements
System Requirements
System Requirements
Steps in the Analysis Phase
Requirements Definition
Requirements Analysis Techniques
Requirements Gathering Techniques
The major output of the systems analysis phase is a Systems Proposal that describes
the findings of the analysis.
In this section, we discuss the process of determining requirements. Requirement
analysis will be discussed in several sections, through the discussion of data-flow
diagrams, data dictionary, entity-relationship diagrams, and process description.
Finally, evaluation of alternative solutions will be discussed in another section.
System Objectives:
Identify the objectives of the current system
Evaluate these objectives
System Functions:
(Provide Examples)
Define the functions of the current system
Identify the components of the systems: manual procedures, user
interfaces, computer programs, files and databases
Identify timings of input, output and processing
Identify controls on data entry, security, and processing
(Provide Examples)
Interviews
Questionnaires
Observation
Work and Product Sampling
Joint Application Design (JAD)
Prototyping
The systems analyst uses more than one technique to collect required information.
Interviews
Open-ended questions: Open-ended questions are those that leave rooms for
further elaboration by the interviewee. These questions provide additional
information or problems that a user normally does not like to talk about.
Probes: These are follow-up questions in response to one of the above questions,
when the analyst is unclear about the answer.
Ask questions, even if they sound dumb. Not asking questions may result wrong
conclusion causing further potential problems.
Separate facts from individual user opinions. Facts are important but opinions are
not.
Do not make any premature promise on any part of the delivery of the system.
Thank the interviewee at the end and mention that a follow-up interview may occur
to further clarify questions that may arise.
Questionnaire
A project that requires input from a large number of people, the questionnaire can be a
valuable tool to determine system requirements.
A questionnaire is a document containing a number of standard questions that can be
sent to many individuals.
Questionnaires can be used to obtain information about workloads, reports received,
volumes of transactions handled, types of job duties, difficulties, and opinions of how
the job could be performed.
Choosing Respondents to Questionnaire
It is important to select the right group of people to send the questionnaire. The group
should be a representative sample of all users of the system.
In general, the following methods can be used to obtain a representative sample:
Random Sample: Select randomly any number of persons to interview, or from a list
of documents select any number of documents to review. For example, out of 100
users, select any 20 persons to interview.
Systematic Sample: Select every nth person to interview or every nth document to
review. For example, out of 100 users, select every 10th person.
Purposeful Sample: Select only those people who satisfy certain criteria. For
example, select users who worked with the system for more than two years.
Convenient Sample: These are the people who are willing to be surveyed, or those
most motivated to respond.
Designing Questionnaire
When designing a questionnaire, the most important rule is to make sure that the
questions collect the right data that can be used to further fact-finding information for the
system.
Some guidelines for designing questionnaire are:
Clear instructions
Interview
Interviews build rapport between the users and the systems analyst.
Questionnaire
Questionnaires are most useful when used for specific purposes rather than for
more general information gathering.
They are most useful for closed-end questions, although some open-ended
questions can be included for information gathering.
Observation
A system can be understood better and faster through observation than other
techniques.
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The main objective of any sampling is to ensure that it represents the overall population
accurately. For example, while sampling inventory transactions, select a sample of
transactions that are typical of actual inventory operations.
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Session Leader: The session leader organizes and runs the JAD. This person
guides the team to keep on agenda, aids participants in openly expressing ideas,
and resolving conflicts and disagreements between participants.
Active Participants: The users and managers who know the necessary facts and
details regarding both the current system and the objectives of the future system.
Recorders: These are IT personnel who document the discussions and conclusions
of the session. This record is formally published and distributed to the participants
after the session.
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Prototyping
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Advantages of Prototyping
Prototyping is most useful when user requirements are not clear or well understood.
Tools (such as form and report generators) and data are readily available to rapidly
build working systems.
Disadvantages of Prototyping
Prototyping can become very idiosyncratic to the initial user and difficult to diffuse or
adapt to other users.
Prototypes are often built as stand-alone systems, thus ignoring issues of sharing
data and interactions with other systems.
Prototyping might miss some very important system requirements such as security,
data entry controls, or standardization of data across systems.
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