1. 2.1 Topic 2 INFORMATION GATHERING FOR INFORMATION SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT IMS9001 - Systems Analysis and Design

2. 2.2 Systems analysis  Systems analysis: to determine what information and processing services are required to support selected objectives and functions of an information system  Systems analysis involves:  Requirements determination/acquisition/capture  Requirements modelling/structuring/specification  Deliverable is the requirements specification

3. 2.3 Data gathering in systems development: systems analysis  Data gathering is a major task of systems analysis.Systems analysis involves:  Understanding and describing how the current system functions  Determining what users would like their new system to do (requirements)  Need to collect information: current and future situations, problems, opportunities, constraints

4. 2.4 Data gathering  What data?  Sources of data?  What data gathering methods?  What strategy for gathering data is needed?  How will the data gathered be analysed?

5. 2.5  The business or organisation  The business environment  The system’s environment  The users of the system  The system: current and future  Constraints: e.g. cost, technical, What data to gather?

6. 2.6 What data to gather?  The business or organisation:  The nature of the business and its market and business environment  Business goals and objectives that drive what and how work is done  Organisational structure: major functions, departments etc  Major business subsystems and how they interact  Business policies and guidelines

7. 2.7  Users of the system:  Roles and responsibilities  Reporting structures  Job specifications and actual tasks performed  Information needed to do their jobs  Formal and informal communication and workflow channels What data to gather?

8. 2.8  The existing system:  Tasks and workflow: functions, processes, sequence of processes, methods and procedures, inputs, outputs  The data (definition, volumes, size etc.)  Interactions with other systems  Work volumes and processing cycles  Performance standards and criteria  Control mechanisms: e.g security, accuracy  Problems: e.g. efficiency, information What data to gather?

9. 2.9  The new system:  System requirement: a need or desire to be met by a proposed system  Both functional requirements (processes and functionality) and  non-functional requirements (security, performance, service etc.)  Constraints e.g. existing technology  Interactions with other systems  Relationship to existing system What data to gather?

10. 2.10 Sources of data  Users and other stakeholders  Documents about the system  Documents about the organisation  Documents and data used within the existing system  Transactions within existing system  External sources

11. 2.11  Users  System sponsor/owner: overall project objectives  Managers: high level, broad view of existing system and requirements  End-users: detailed, operational level view of existing system and requirements  Technical staff: technology capaabilities, limitations etc.  External stakeholders: e.g. customers Sources of data

12. 2.12  Documents about the system and organisation:  Organisation charts  Policy manuals  Business reports: financial, annual etc.  Jobs, procedure, operations manuals  Training manuals  Existing system documentation  Internal reports relating to the system Sources of data

13. 2.13  Documents and data used within the existing system:  Files, databases, programs, forms, reports  Informal: Memos, bulletin boards, files  External sources:  Other organisations’ systems  Hardware & software vendors  Business & industry publications Sources of data

14. 2.14  Interviews  Questionnaires  Observation  Sampling documents and transactions  Research and site visits What data gathering methods?

15. 2.15 Interviews  Generally the most important and widely-used method for data gathering  May be formal/structured (specific questions) or informal/unstructured (general goal or purpose)  Need an interview strategy for the entire interviewing process  Need an interview plan or guide for each interview

16. 2.16 The interview strategy  Identify the users to interview:  Do this after you have an initial understanding of the organisation and system  Establish general objectives and guidelines for the entire interviewing process:  e.g. information to be obtained, sources, formats, documenting, analysis  Ensure all key people are included

17. 2.17  Determine the sequence of interviews:  E.g. management first:  broad overview of system operations  gain support and co-operation  help to identify who to interview next  Then system users:  obtain information about detailed operations  Co-ordinate the interviewing process:  Compare results, select follow ups etc. The interview strategy

18. 2.18 The interview strategy  Need individual interview plans:  Initial interviews to meet users  Fact gathering interviews  Follow up interviews  Interview plans:  Decide on interview structure  Determine content of questions  Decide on question types

19. 2.19 Interviews  Need to consider:  Who has the information you need?  Where to conduct the interview?  When is the best time to interview?  How should the interview progress?

20. 2.20 The individual interview  Before the interview:  Arrange time and place, necessary materials, inform interviewee of interview purpose  Conduct the interview  After the interview:  Write an interview report  Review this with the interviewee at a follow up interview

21. 2.21 The interview structure  Preliminaries:  Introduction, purpose, environment and procedures e.g. permission to tape  “Body”:  Define what you already believe to be true and confirm this, explore points & issues further, new areas (questions)  Conclusion:  Summarise and confirm your findings  Schedule a follow up interview

22. 2.22 Interviews: types of questions  Closed: how many transactions per day?  Limits available responses  Open: tell me about …..  Leaves options open for interviewee  Probe: tell me more about the problem with the ….  To clarify and expand  Mirror: From what you said, I understand that….  To confirm what was said etc.

23. 2.23 Interviews: types of questions  Avoid long, complex, or double-barrelled questions:  what decisions are made during this process and how do you make them?  Avoid leading questions;  you don’t need the customer number on this report, do you?  Avoid loaded questions:  when did you first discover the mistake?  i.e. how long have you known and done nothing?

24. 2.24 Interviews: advantages  obtain extensive, complex detailed information  get insights and opinions  discover informal procedures  flexible e.g. explore issues further or new issues  establish rapport with interviewee and understand their attitudes  reveal the ‘politics’ of the system environment  information is revealed both by the spoken word and by the interviewee’s body language  guaranteed response

25. 2.25 Interviews: Disadvantages  Time-consuming  Costly  Danger of bias  More difficult to tabulate and analyse results e.g. to obtain an overall picture  Success in interviewing depends on the inter- personal skills of the interviewer

26. 2.26 Questionnaires  A structured method of data gathering in which written questions/comments are provided for the participants to respond to in written form  The questionnaire can take many forms - write comments/ select from a list of possible responses/ mark on a scale  May permit either quantitative or qualitative data (mark out of 10/grade from good to bad)  Usually involves no direct contact between data gatherer and respondents

27. 2.27 Questionnaires  Useful when small amounts of data are required from a large number of people  For geographically dispersed respondents  Types of questions:  Open-ended (free format)  Fill-in-the-blank  Multiple choice  Rating  Ranking

28. 2.28 Designing questionnaires  What facts and opinions to be collected  Who to sample and sample size  Types of questions and wording (precise, accurate, unambiguous)  How to administer e.g. paper, online, mail out etc.  Format and layout (grouping, crosschecks etc.)  Test on small sample of respondents  How completed questionnaires will be returned and collated  How analysis of the data will be carried out

29. 2.29 Questionnaires  Useful for:  Obtaining simple opinions, facts  Quantifying what was found in interviews  Identifying issues before interviewing  Determining extent of problems  Not useful for detailed or complex information or exploring issues in depth  Can supplement other methods

30. 2.30 Questionnaires: advantages  most economical method for gathering data from large numbers of people  quick and easy to administer  results can be tabulated rapidly and analysed readily  allow respondents to be anonymous  gives respondents time to reflect on answers  respondents complete in their own time

31. 2.31 Questionnaires: disadvantages  difficult to construct effective questionnaires  specific and limited amounts of information  possible low return rates  possible bias and misinterpretation  cannot probe issues further (inflexible)  cannot clarify vague or incomplete answers  lack non-verbal communication

32. 2.32 Observation  observing the actual processes of a system  need to prepare beforehand, and report on data collected  gain first hand knowledge of current system’s operations  clarify other information collected  understand complex procedures  inexpensive  behaviour distortions may affect reliability  unrepresentative samples affect reliability

33. 2.33 Sampling of documents and transactions  Sampling: collecting a representative sample of documents, forms, transactions  Useful for specific information e.g. transaction volumes and types, file sizes  Useful where large volumes exist  Information about existing system operations  Representative samples must be selected: determine sample size, appropriate range, avoid bias

34. 2.34 Research and site visits  Most problems not unique: learn from experiences of other organisations  Professional societies can provide contacts for site visits  Computer trade journals and magazines and the internet can be sources for research into the problem/s e.g. do appropriate software packages exist?

35. 2.35 Other data gathering methods Other “modern” methods used:  Discovery prototyping  JAD (Joint Application Development) sessions  Focus groups

36. 2.36 Discovery prototyping  Build a small-scale working model of the users’ requirements to discover or verify them  Develop the prototype quickly, get feedback from the users to add/change requirements  Useful for poorly understand parts/aspects of the system  Throw away prototypes: technology of prototype vs target technology platform  Prototyping is a process of discovery for users and developers

37. 2.37 Discovery prototyping  Advantages:  Improved understanding of new system  Better requirements definition  May speed up requirements process  Disadvantages:  Users may develop unrealistic expectations  Prototype may inhibit further exploration  Non-functional requirements often ignored

38. 2.38 JAD sessions  Often called JRP (Joint Requirements Planning) sessions when used for requirements  Highly structured group meeting held in special- purpose rooms involving system users, system owners and system developers who meet intensively for a period of time to analyse problems and define requirements  An effective JAD session requires extensive planning  selecting location, selecting participants, preparing an agenda

39. 2.39 JAD sessions: participants  Project sponsor or champion  top management with authority  full support for the project  encourages active participation  JAD leader/ facilitator  good communicator and negotiator  good business and organisational knowledge  impartial

40. 2.40  Business users and managers - clear understanding of the business  IS developers - not active participants, primarily there to learn  Scribe - takes notes, need to be published and disseminated quickly JAD sessions: participants

41. 2.41 JAD sessions  actively involves users  improved consensus and resolution of conflicts/misunderstandings  reduces overall development time  is very expensive in  location costs  participants’ time

42. 2.42 Focus groups  an intensive group meeting held to get further information about a particular aspect of the business  sometimes used as a follow-up to other data gathering methods e.g. to explore issues in more detail  need a facilitator and appropriate users as participants

43. 2.43 A data gathering strategy  Data gathering must be carefully planned in order to make the most of the time and resources available:  Information sources  Data gathering methods  Recording and documentation methods  Data analysis methods  Procedures for reviewing results with management and users

44. 2.44 A data gathering strategy  E.g. a “top down” approach:  Initial interviews with management to determine major system activities and data  Document and verify this  Expand major system component descriptions into detailed descriptions: Interview operational users, sampling, questionnaires, observation etc  Document and verify this  Repeat these last two steps as necessary  Review findings with management

45. 2.45 A data gathering strategy  Consider costs: allow for time and resources required for initial and ongoing information gathering  Use the least expensive methods first  Plan how to check the validity of data:  Cross checking between groups, methods  Evaluate data for inconsistencies  Ask further questions  Plan documentation of data e.g. records of interviews etc. data dictionary, system models

46. 2.46 Data gathering in practice  Completeness?  Accuracy?  Objectivity?  Biases?  Stability?  Representative?  Finished?

47. 2.47 References  HOFFER, J.A., GEORGE, J.F. and VALACICH (2005) Modern Systems Analysis and Design, (4th edition), Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, USA. Chapters 5,6  WHITTEN, J.L., BENTLEY, L.D. and DITTMAN, K.C. (2001) 5th ed., Systems Analysis and Design Methods, Irwin/McGraw-HilI, New York, NY. Chapter 6  DWYER, J. (1997) The Business Communication Handbook (4 th edition) Prentice-Hall, New York, N.Y. Chapter 5