Determining system requirements

Question 1

Subsets of Analysis

Answer 1

requirements determination

requirements structuring.

Question 2

characteristics for a good systems analyst

Answer 2

Impertinence. You should question everything.
Impartiality. consider issues raised by all parties and try to find the best organizational solution.
Relax constraints. Assume that anything is possible and eliminate the infeasible.
Attention to details. Every fact must fit with every other fact.
Reframing. You must challenge yourself to look at the organization in new ways. You must consider how each user views his or her requirements.

Question 3

deliverables from requirements determination

Answer 3

are the various forms of information gathered during the determination process: transcripts of interviews; notes from observation and analysis of documents
computer-generated output such as system prototypes.

Question 4

analysis paralysis

Answer 4

describe a systems development project that has become bogged down in an abundance of analysis work

Question 5

traditional methods for Determining requirements

Answer 5

interviews, group interviews, the Nominal Group Technique, and
direct observation.
collecting documentation on the current system and organizational operation in the form of written procedures, forms, reports, and other hard copy.

Question 6

interview guide

Answer 6

is a document for developing, planning and conducting an interview.

Question 7

Guidelines for Effective Interviewing

Answer 7

Plan the interview.
Prepare interviewee: appointment, priming questions.
Prepare agenda, checklist, questions.
Listen carefully and take notes (tape record if permitted).
Review notes within 48 hours.
Be neutral.
Seek diverse views

Question 8

Open-ended questions

Answer 8

questions that have no prespecified answers

Question 9

Closed-ended questions .

Answer 9

provide a range of answers from which the interviewee

may choose

Question 10

Drawbacks to individual interviews

Answer 10

Contradictions and inconsistencies between interviewees
Follow-up discussions are time consuming
New interviews may reveal new questions that require additional interviews with those interviewed earlier

Question 11

Advantages of Group interviews

Answer 11

More effective use of time
Can hear agreements and disagreements at once
Opportunity for synergies

Question 12

Disadvantages of group interviews

Answer 12

More difficult to schedule than individual interviews

Question 13

Nominal group Technique (NGT)

Answer 13

A facilitated process that supports idea generation by groups. At the beginning of the process, group members work alone to
generate ideas. The ideas are then pooled under the guidance of a trained facilitator.

Question 14

Advantages of observation

Answer 14

Used to obtain more firsthand and objective measures of employee interaction with information systems

Question 15

disadvantages of observation

Answer 15

Can cause people to change their normal operating behavior

Time-consuming and limited time to observe

Question 16

Document Analysis

Answer 16

Review of existing business documents. Can give a historical and “formal” view of system requirements

Question 17

Types of information to be discovered in document analysis

Answer 17

Problems with existing system
Opportunity to meet new need
Organizational direction
Names of key individuals
Values of organization
Special information processing circumstances
Reasons for current system design
Rules for processing data

Question 18

Useful document for document analysis

Answer 18

1- Written work procedure
2- business form
3- report generated by current systems.
4- describe the current information systems

Question 19

Potential Problems with Procedure Documents

Answer 19

May involve duplication of effort
May have missing procedures
May be out of date
May contradict information obtained through interviews

Question 20

Differences between formal and informal system

Answer 20

Formal system : The official way a system works as described in organizational documentation.
informal system : The way a system actually works

Question 21

Contemporary Methods for Determining System Requirements

Answer 21

1- Joint Application Design (JAD)
2- CASE tools
3- System prototypes

Question 22

Joint Application Design (JAD)

Answer 22

A structured process in which users, managers, and analysts work together for several days in a series of intensive meetings to specify or review system requirements.

Question 23

JAD Participants

Answer 23

1- Session Leader: The trained individual who plans and leads Joint Application Design sessions.
2- Users : The key users of the system under consideration
3- Managers :Managers of the work groups who use the system in question provide insight into new organizational directions
4- sponsors: JAD must be sponsored
by someone at a relatively high level in the company. If the sponsor attends any sessions, it is usually only at the very beginning or the end.
5- system analyst: their actual participation may be limited. Analysts are there to learn from users and managers
6- scribe: The person who makes detailed notes of the happenings at a Joint Application Design session.
7- IS staff: programmers, database analysts, IS planners, and data center personnel, may attend to learn from the discussion and possibly contribute their ideas on the technical feasibility of proposed ideas or the technical limitations of current systems.

Question 24

Prototyping

Answer 24

An iterative process of systems development in which requirements are converted to a working system that is continually revised through close collaboration between an analyst and users.

Question 25

evolutionary prototyping

Answer 25

The prototype serve as the basis for the production system

Question 26

throwaway prototyping

Answer 26

the prototype is discarded after it has been used

Question 27

Prototyping is most useful for requirements determination when

Answer 27

• User requests are not clear.
• Few users are involved in the system.
• Designs are complex and require concrete form.
• There is a history of communication problems between analysts and users.
• Tools are readily available to build prototype

Question 28

Prototyping also has some drawbacks as a tool for requirements determination

Answer 28

• 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

Question 29

Business process reengineering (BPR)

Answer 29

The search for, and implementation of, radical change in business processes to achieve breakthrough improvements in products and services.

Question 30

Key business processes

Answer 30

The structured, measured set of activities designed to produce a specific output for a particular customer or market.

Question 31

Goals of BPR

Answer 31

Reorganize complete flow of data in major sections of an organization.
Eliminate unnecessary steps.
Combine steps.
Become more responsive to future change

Question 32

Disruptive technologies

Answer 32

Technologies that enable breaking long held business rules that inhibit organizations from making radical business changes.

Question 33

Requirements Determination using Agile Methodologies

Answer 33

• Continual user involvement : Replace traditional SDLC waterfall with iterative analyze–design–code–test cycle
• Agile usage-centered design : Focuses on user goals, roles, and tasks
• The Planning Game : Based on extreme programming
  Exploration, steering, commitment