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Systems Analysis
Requirements determination
Requirements structuring
Alternative generation & selection
Performing Requirements
Determination
Gather information on what system
should do from many sources
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Users
Reports
Forms
Procedures
Performing Requirements
Determination
Characteristics for gathering requirements
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Impertinence
 Question everything
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Impartiality
 Find the best organizational solution
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Relaxation of constraints
 Assume anything is possible
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Attention to detail
 Every fact must fit in with every other fact
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Reframing
 View the organization in new ways
Deliverables and Outcomes
Types of deliverables:
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Information collected from users
Existing documents and files
Computer-based information
Understanding of organizational components
 Business objective
 Information needs
 Rules of data processing
 Key events
Methods for Determining
Requirements
Traditional
Modern
Radical
Traditional Methods for
Determining Requirements
Individual interviews
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Discover issues with the current system and
needs for the future
Questionnaires
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Discover issues with the current system and
needs for the future
Observation of workers
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See how data are handled and what information
people need to do their jobs
Document Analysis
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Study business policies and rules
Interviews
Gather facts, opinions and speculations
Observe body language and emotions
Guidelines
 Plan
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Checklist
Appointment
 Be neutral
 Listen
 Seek a diverse view
Interview Questions
Open-ended
Advantages
-New info can
surface
-Interviewees
are at ease
and more
involved
Disadvantages -Long answers
-Difficult to
summarize
Closed-ended
-Short time
commitment
-More topics
can be
covered
-Useful info
maybe ignored
if it does not fit
choices
Questionnaires
More cost-effective than interviews
Choosing respondents
 Should be representative of all users
 Types of samples
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Convenient
Random sample
Purposeful sample
Stratified sample
Questionnaires
Design
 Mostly closed-ended questions
 Can be administered over the phone or in
person
 Can be paper or electronic
Direct Observation
Serves as a good method to
supplement interviews
Often difficult to obtain unbiased data
 People often work differently when being
observed
 Can observe only a limited amount of time,
people and sites
Analyzing Documents
Types of information to be discovered:
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Problems with existing system
Opportunity to meet new need
Organizational direction
Names of key individuals
Values of organization
Special information processing circumstances
Rules for processing data
The Appropriate Technique?
Characteristic Interview
Questionnai Observation Document
re
Analysis
Information
type
As-is,
As-is,
improvement, improvements
to-be
As-is
As-is
Information
depth
Information
breadth
User
Involvement
High
Medium
Low
Low
Low
High
Low
High
High
Medium
Low
Low
Modern Methods for
Determining Requirements
Joint Application Design (JAD)
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Brings together key users, managers and systems
analysts
Purpose: collect system requirements
simultaneously from key people
Conducted off-site
Prototyping
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Repetitive process
Rudimentary version of system is built
Replaces or augments SDLC
Goal: to develop concrete specifications for
ultimate system
Joint Application Design (JAD)
Participants
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Session Leader (Facilitator)
Users & Managers
Sponsor
Systems Analysts & IS Staff
Scribe
End Result
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Documentation detailing existing system
Features of proposed system
Prototyping
Quickly converts requirements to working
version of system
Once the user sees requirements converted
to system, will ask for modifications or will
generate additional requests
Most useful when:
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User requests are not clear
Few users are involved in the system
Designs are complex and require concrete form
History of communication problems between
analysts and users
Tools are readily available to build prototype
Prototyping
Drawbacks
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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
Radical Methods for
Determining Requirements
Business Process Reengineering
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Search for and implementation of radical
change in business processes to achieve
breakthrough improvements in products
and services
Analysis Strategies
Business Process Automation
Business Process Improvement
Business Process Re-engineering
BPR Goals
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Reorganize complete flow of data in major
sections of an organization
Eliminate unnecessary steps
Combine steps
Become more responsive to future change
Business Process
Reengineering
Identification of processes to reengineer
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Identify key business processes
 Set of activities designed to produce specific
output for a particular customer or market
 Focused on customers and outcome
 Same techniques are used as were used for
requirements determination
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Identify specific activities that can be
improved through BPR
Business Process
Reengineering
To identify activities that can be
improved through BPR ask:
 How important is the activity to
delivering an outcome?
 How feasible is changing the activity?
 How dysfunctional is the activity?
Disruptive Technologies
Rule
Disruptive Technology
Information can only appear in
one place at a time
Distributed databases
Only experts can perform
complex work
Managers must make all
decisions
Expert Systems
Field personnel need offices
Wireless data communication &
portable computers
Personal contact is best
Interactive communications
Have to find out where things
are
Automatic identification and
tracking
Decision support tools for nonmanagers
Results of Requirements
Determination
Structured according to three views of
the information system:
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Process
 Data flow diagrams
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Logic
 Structured English & Decision tables
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Data
 Data modeling