Course ID: CSE471

Course Title: System Analysis and Design

Lecture 3: Requirements Determination

Prepared by:
Dr. Muhammad Iqbal Hossain
Assistant professor
Department of Computer Science & Engineering
BRAC University.
 Objectives
■ Understand how to create a requirements definition.
■ Become familiar with requirements analysis
techniques.
■ Understand when to use each requirements analysis
technique.
■ Understand how to gather requirements using
interviews, JAD sessions, questionnaires, document
analysis, and observation.
■ Understand when to use each requirements-gathering
technique.

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Segment 1: Requirements Specification
Segment 2: Requirement Gathering Techniques and
Interview
Segment 3: JOINT APPLICATION DESIGN (JAD)
Segment 4: Other Requirement Gathering
Techniques

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 Key Ideas
• The goal of the analysis phase is to truly
understand the requirements of the new system
and develop a system that addresses them.
• The first challenge is collecting and integrating the
information
• The second challenge is finding the right people to
participate.

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 Analysis Phase
• This phase takes the general ideas in the system
request and
• refines them into a detailed requirements definition (this
chapter),
• functional models
• structural models and
• behavioral models

• This becomes the system proposal

• Includes revised project management deliverables,
• feasibility analysis and
• workplan
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 Requirement Specification
• A statement of what
• the system must do or
• characteristics it must have
• Written from businessperson perspective –
business requirement
• Later requirements become more technical –
system requirement

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 Functional vs. Nonfunctional
•A functional requirement relates directly to a
process the system has to perform or information
it needs to contain.

• Nonfunctional requirements refer to behavioral

properties that the system must have, such as
performance and usability.

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Functional Requirements
example
Nonfunctional Requirements example
Types of Nonfunctional Requirements

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End of segment 1
 Segment 2
Requirement Gathering Techniques and Interview

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 Requirement Gathering Techniques

• An analyst search for requirements using a variety of

techniques
• Make sure that the current business processes and the
needs for the new system are well understood before
moving into design.
• Five most commonly used requirements elicitation
techniques:
1. Interviews
2. JAD sessions
3. Questionnaires
4. Document analysis
5. Observation. 13
Interviews -- Five Basic Steps
• Selecting interviewees
• Designing interview questions
• Preparing for the interview
• Conducting the interview
• Post-interview follow-up

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 Selecting Interviewees
• Based on information needed
• Often good to get different perspectives
• Managers
• Users
• Ideally, all key stakeholders

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Types of Questions
 Designing Interview Questions
• Unstructured interview
• Broad, roughly defined information
• Structured interview
• More specific information

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Questioning Strategies
 Interview Preparation Steps
• 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

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 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

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 Conducting the Interview
Practical Tips
• Don’t worry, be happy
• Pay attention
• Summarize key points
• Be brief
• Be honest
• Watch body language

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 Post-Interview Follow-Up
• Prepare interview notes
• Prepare interview report
• Look for gaps and new questions

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 Interview Report
INTERVIEW REPORT

Interview notes approved by: ____________

Person interviewed ______________

Interviewer _______________
Date _______________
Primary Purpose:

Summary of Interview:

Open Items:

Detailed Notes:
Sample Interview Report

End of segment 2
 Segment 3
JOINT APPLICATION DESIGN (JAD)
 JAD Key Ideas
• Allows project managers, users, and
developers to work together
• May reduce scope creep by 50%. (changes,
continuous or uncontrolled growth in a
project’s scope)
• Avoids requirements being too specific or
too imprecise

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 Joint Application Design (JAD)
Important Roles
• Facilitator
• sets the meeting agenda and guides the
discussion
• Scribe
• assist the facilitator by recording notes, making
copies, etc.
• Project team, users, and management

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 Joint Application Design (JAD)
Setting
• U-Shaped seating
• Away from distractions
• Whiteboard/flip chart
• Prototyping tools
• e-JAD

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 JAD Meeting Room

JPEG Figure 5-5 Goes Here

 The JAD Session
• Tend to last 5 to 10 days over a three week period
• Prepare questions as with interviews
• Formal agenda and groundrules
• Facilitator activities
• Keep session on track
• Help with technical terms and jargon
• Record group input
• Help resolve issues
• Post-session follow-up
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 Managing Problems in JAD
Sessions
• Reducing domination
• Encouraging non-contributors
• Side discussions
• Agenda merry-go-round
• Violent agreement
• Unresolved conflict
• True conflict
• Use humor

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End of segment 3
 Segment 4
Other Requirement Gathering Techniques

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Questionnaires
 Questionnaire Steps
• Selecting participants
• Using samples of the population
• Designing the questionnaire
• Careful question selection
• Administering the questionnaire
• Working to get good response rate
• Questionnaire follow-up
• Send results to participants

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 Good Questionaire Design
• Begin with nonthreatening 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.

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 Document Analysis
Document analysis is used to understand the as-is system.
Very common in healthcare as majority of the systems are
developed to replace paper based workflow.
Forms, reports, policy manuals, organization charts
describe the formal system that the organization uses.
Analysis of previous system development documentation:
currency should be considered.

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 Observation
 The act of watching processes being performed.
 It is a powerful tool to gain insight into the as-is
system, and to check the validity of information
gathered from other sources.
 Nonetheless, people tend to be extremely careful
in their behaviors when they are being watched.

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Selecting the Appropriate Techniques
 Summary
• First Step is to determine requirements
• Systems analysts use these techniques
• Interviews
• JAD
• Questionnaires

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