IS2210: Systems Analysis and Systems Design and Change Twitter: Website:

Stakeholders O A stakeholder is any person, group, and/or organisation who has an interest in an existing or new information system O For IS stakeholders can be: O System Owners O System Users O Systems Analysts O System Designers O IT Vendors and Consultants

What We Intend AIM: Gather requirements and turn these into software Requirements Software

Systems Analysis O Understanding and specifying in detail what an information system should do. O A detailed study of how the current system functions O An assessment of what users would like to see in a new systems.

Requirements Analysis O This is a very difficult aspect of the IS development O Often the major cause of a project failure O Poor user input O Incomplete requirements O Changing requirements O Often 20%-50% of the original requirements change = miscommunication

O Difficulties include: O Complex problems O Unknown domains O Nontechnical customers

Requirements Gathering O There are three areas under which requirements can be gathered: O Traditional Methods O Modern Methods O Radical Methods

How To: Part 1 O Traditional Methods: O Interviews O Surveys O Observation O Study Business Documents

Determining Requirements with Traditional Methods O

Interviews

Aim of an Interview O Gather facts, opinions, and speculations O Observe body language and emotions

Interview Guidelines O Plan the interview O Checklist O Appointment O Be neutral O Listen and take notes

Interview Questions O Open-Ended O No pre-specified answers O conversational, questions with no specific answers in mind O Close-Ended O Respondent is asked to choose from a set of specified responses O structured, questions with limited range of possible answers

Questionnaire O Structured Questions O Often more questions than in interviews O These can be open or closed questions

Advantages O Lets people to recall information O Is less time consuming then an interview O Allows us to collect more information, from different people, in a short time

Disadvantages O No sense and feeling of persons O Not always possible to evaluate accuracy of answers O Less rich than an interview

Observation O Directly observe users O This is a good method to compliment interviews O Often difficult to collect unbiased data as people work differently when being observed

How It Works O We observe people in their daily routine to gather requirements O This may complement what they say in an interview/survey

Analysis of Existing Documents O Types of Information to be discovered O Problems with existing systems O Organisational Direction O Titles and Names of Key Individuals O Rules for Processing Data

O Documents to be Analysed O Minutes of Meetings O Annual Reports O Business Missions and Strategy O Training Manuals O Flow Chart and Description of Existing Systems

How To: Part 2 O Modern Methods O Joint Application Design O Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS) O Prototyping

Joint Application Design (JAD) O Collect system requirements simultaneously from key people & reviewing system design O This is to bring a structure to the requirement determination phase of analysis

O Participants O Session Leader: facilitates group process O Users: active, speaking participants O Managers: active, speaking participants O Sponsor: high-level champion, limited participation O Systems Analysis: should mostly listen O Scribe: record sessions activities O IS Staff: should mostly listen

O End Result O Documentation detailing existing system O Features of a replacement system

Roles in JAD JAD leader Is a neutral person Plan meetings Set agenda Facilitate discussions Check completeness of the agenda Don’t contribute to idea generation & opinions Resolve conflicts & disagreements Solicit all ideas IT staff Learn from discussion Propose idea Evaluate technical feasibility Explain limitation of current system Sponsor Fund the project Attend beginning and end Of meetings Managers Give organisational directions Explain motivations for system Explain organisation impact of system Emphasis support for requirement determination Emphasis collaboration during SR Users Explain their need How they will use the system System analyst Limit their participation Learn from end-users & managers Don’t run the sessions Don’t dominate the meeting

O Disadvantages O Group meeting doesn’t allow all participants to speak O Outcomes reflect only those who are present O Suffer from the dominance of the leader O Some people are afraid to speak out of fear of being criticised O Most people unwilling to challenge the boss

GDSS O GDSS are an electronic meeting system, designed as a collaborative platform O This allows users to interact via a computer rather than speaking O This allows for anonymity to be used

O Advantages O Less dominance of leaders during discussion O Comments will be criticised but not the person themselves O Important ideas are less likely to be missed O Poor ideas are more likely to be criticised

O Disadvantages O Difficulties in solving a conflict

Prototyping O User quickly converts requirements to working version of a system O This leads to users seeing the requirements, and then asking for modifications, or new ones O Most useful when: O User requests are not clear O Few users are involved in the system

How To: Part 3 O Radical Methods O Business Process Reengineering (BPR)

Business Process Re- Engineering (BPR) O BPR is the search for, and implementation of radical change in business processes to achieve breakthrough improvements in products and services O In other words, BPR is looking for new ways to perform current tasks

Why BPR? O Previous traditional and modern methods for system requirements are used to automate existing business processes by new systems O Changing conditions such as pressure of competition, globalisation, rapid change of customer needs have lead to re-engineer existing processes O Reengineering is driven by improvement in speed, quality, and customer satisfaction

How To Perform BPR O We may ask the question: “If we were a new organisation, how would we accomplish this activity?” O Changing the way work is done now, implies to change the way information is shared, stored, and processed O New ways may be radically different from how things are currently done – e.g. Amazon.com

Summary O Interviews O Open-ended and closed-ended questions O Preparation is key!!! O Questionnaires O Must be carefully designed O Can contain close-ended, as well as open- ended questions

O Other means of requirement gathering: O Observing workers O Analysing business documents O Joint Application Development (JAD) O Prototyping

O Business Process Reengineering (BPR)

Thanks O Any Questions?