1. REQUIRED DISCOVERY PART II
CHAPTER 7
REQUIRED DISCOVERY PART II

2. Fact Finding Techniques
Characteristics for good system analyst;
Impertinence – you should question everything
Impartiality – your role is to find the best solution to a business problem opportunity.
Relax constraints – assume that everything is possible & eliminate the infeasible
Attention to details – every fact must fit with every other fact
Reframing – analysis is in part a creative process.

3. Interview
Def : planned meeting during which you obtain information from another person.
One must have the skill needed to plan, conduct & document interviews successfully.
Interviews can be used, to achieve any of these goals;
Find facts
Verify facts
Clarify facts
Generate enthusiasm
Get the end user involvement
Identify requirements
Solicit ideas & opinions.

4. Interview There are 2 roles assumed in an interview; Interviewer
System analyst is the interviewer, responsible for organizing & conducting the interview.
Interviewee
System user / owner is the interviewee, who is asked to respond to a series of questions.

5. Advantages of Interview
Gives the analyst an opportunity to motivate the interviewee to respond freely & openly to questions.
Allow the system analyst to probe for more feedback from the interviewee.
Permits the system analyst to adopt or reword questions for each individual.
Give the analyst the opportunity to observe the interviewees nonverbal communication. (body movement & facial expression)

6. Disadvantages of Interview
Time consuming & therefore costly fact-finding approach.
Success of interviews is highly depends on the system analyst’s human relation skills.
Interviewing may be practical due to the location of interviewees.

7. Interview types & techniques
2 types of interviews;
Unstructured interviews – conducted with only a general goal or subject in mind & few specific questions. Relies on the interviewee to provide a framework & direct the conversation.
Structured interviews – interviewer has a specific set of questions to ask the interviewee.

8. Interview Process Step 1: determine the people to interview
Your knowledge of the company’s formal & informal structures helps you determine the people to interview during the system’s analysis phase.
Step 2: Establish objectives for the interview
Determine the general area to be discussed & list down the facts that you want to gather. Ask for ideas, suggestions & opinions during the session
By setting specific objectives, you create a framework that helps you decide what questions to ask & how to phrase the questions.
Step 3: Develop interview questions
Helps you to keep on track & not deviate from the topic

9. Interview Process Types of questions; Range-of-response questions
Open-ended questions
Encourage spontaneous & unstructured responses. Useful when you want to understand a larger process, or to get interviewee’s opinions, attitudes or suggestions.
Ex; how is this task performed?, why you perform the task this way?
Closed-ended questions
Limits or restricts the response. Useful when you want specific information or when you need to verify facts.
ex; do you check the report daily?, how many computers is there in this department?
Range-of-response questions
Closed ended questions that asks a person to evaluate something
Ex; rate your performance from the scale of 1 to 5

10. Interview Process Step 4: prepare for the interview
Interview question guideline;
Use clear & concise language
Do not include your opinion as part of the question
Avoid long or complex questions
Avoid threatening questions
Do not use “you” when you mean a group of people.
Step 4: prepare for the interview
Schedule day, time, venue for the interview & keep the interviewee informed about the interview.
Interview guide – a list of specific questions the interviewer will ask the interviewee & time allocated for each question.
Avoid : loaded questions, leading questions & biased questions

11. Interview Process Step 5: conduct the interview
Begin by introducing yourself, describing the project & explaining your interview objectives.
3 ways to begin;
Summarize the problem, & explain how the problem was discovered.
Offer an incentive or reward for participation
Ask the interviewee for advice / assistance
Engaged listening – concentrate on what is being said & take notice of the nonverbal communication

12. Interview Process Do Avoid Be polite
Continuing the interview unnecessarily
Listen carefully
Assuming an answer is finished / leading nowhere
Maintain control
Reveling verbal & non-verbal clues
Probe
Using jargon
Observe mannerism & nonverbal communication
Revealing your personal biases
Be patient
Talking instead of listening
Keep interviewee at ease
Assuming anything about the topic / interviewee
Maintain self control
Tape recording (a sign of poor listening)

13. Interview Process Guideline to conduct interview;
Approach the session with a positive attitude
Set the other person at ease
Let them know you are listening
Ask questions
Do not assume anything
Take notes
Gives an impression that what he/she says is very important to you
Helps you to remember the major points.

14. Interview Process Step 6: Document the interview
Set aside time for you to record the facts & evaluate the information
Tape recorders are effective but you should discuss its use with the interviewee.
After interview, send a memo thanking the interviewee for his time & coorperation including a written summary on what has been discussed.

15. Interview Process Step 7: evaluate the interview
Try to identify any possible biases
Some interviewees might answer your question in an attempt to be helpful although they don’t have the necessary experience to provide accurate information.

16. Questionnaires & survey
Questionnaire is also called survey; is a document containing a number of standard questions that can be sent to many individuals.
Types of questions;
Free format questions – subjective way where respondent records the answer in space provided.
Fixed format questionnaires – objective way where respondents selects a predefined answer from the list.
Multiple choice questions
Rating questions
Ranking questions

17. Advantages & Disadvantages of questionnaires
Faster way in getting response
Inexpensive means of gathering data from large group
Allows respondent to maintain anonymity.
Responses can be tabulated & analyzed quickly.
Disadvantages
Number of respondents is often low
No guarantee that an individual will answer & expand on all the questions
Questionnaires tend to be inflexible
No way to observe non verbal communication
Good questionnaires are hard to prepare.

18. Developing Questionnaires
Guidelines to follow;
Keep the questionnaires brief & user friendly
Provide clear instructions that will answer all anticipated questions
Arrange the questions in logical order, from easy to complex
Use simple words & terms
Try not to lead the response
Limit the use of open ended questions
Avoid questions that raises job security / other negative issues
Include a section at the end of the questionnaire for general comments
Test the questions on a small group before actually using it.

19. Comparison between observation & interview
Characteristics
Observation
Document Review
Information richness
High
low
Time
Extensive
Low to moderate
Cost
Follow up / probing
Good
Limited
Confidentially
Moderate
Moderate to high

20. Fact finding strategy Steps in fact finding strategies are;
Learn all you can from existing document, forms & files.
Observe the system in action
Using the collected facts, design & distribute questionnaires to clear up things you don’t understand.
Conduct your interviews
Build discovery prototypes for any functional requirements that are not understood / to be validated.
Follow up

21. Documenting Requirements
Keeping accurate records of interviews, facts, ideas & observations is essential to successful systems development
The need for recording facts ? Importance of single item can be overlooked or complex system may be forgotten!
Principles to record facts;
Record information as soon as you got it
Record it in such a way that others may understand it too
Organize your documents so that related material can be located easily.

22. Documenting Requirements
Software tools – many software programs are available to help you to record & document information such as;
CASE tools
Can use at every stage of system development
Word processing
Helps to create reports, summaries, tables & forms.
Spreadsheet
Helps to track & manage numerical data or financial information
Can generate graphs & charts that displays data & show possible pattern

23. Documenting Requirements
Databases
Allows you to manage information about events, observations & samples
Presentation graphics
Powerful tool for organizing & developing your formal presentation.
Allows you to create charts to be used in modeling.
Personal Information managers (PIM)
Analyst needs to keep track of meetings, interviews, appointments & deadlines in advance.
Use hand held computer & programs like microsoft outlook.