Elicitation Techniques

Overview

The requirements serve as the foundation for the solution to the business needs .It is essential that the requirements be complete, clear, correct, and consistent.

Typically, requirements are identified throughout the elicitation, analysis, verification and validation activities.

1. Preparation for Elicitation2. Elicitation technique.3. Documentation .4. Confirm Elicitation Results

Topics covered

Prepare for Elicitation

Build a detailed schedule for a particular elicitation activity, defining the specific activities and the planned dates.

InputBusiness Need: Required to ensure that the business analyst understands what information should be elicited from the stakeholders.

Stakeholder List, Roles, and Responsibilities: Used to identify the stakeholders who should participate in elicitation activities.

Here are the list of elicitation techniques defined by the BABOK for business analysts:

Brainstorming

Interviews

Prototyping

Focus Groups

Document Analysis

Interface Analysis

Observation

Survey/Questionnaire

Root Cause Analysis

5 Why’s

Fishbone Analysis

BrainstormingBrainstorming is an excellent way to foster creative thinking about a problem. The aim of brainstorming is to produce numerous new ideas, and to derive from them themes for further analysis.

Clustering Listing

Freewriting

Three Activities

Clustering1. Start with the main topic of your essay. Write that word in

the center of your paper.

2. Write down any sub-topics that are connected to that main topic. Draw arrows to the sub-topics from the main topic.

Listing1. Start with the main topic of your essay. Write that word or

words at the top of your paper.

2. Write down any word or phrase that might relate to your main topic underneath.

•Practice speaking with others

•Take classes

•Guess at the meanings of words

•Listen to radio or TV

•Observe others

•Set reasonable goals

•Don’t be afraid to experiment

•Study vocabulary in related topics

How to be a Successful

Language Learner

Freewriting1. Start with the main topic of your essay. Write that word or

words at the top of your paper.

2. Freewriting is like talking to yourself on paper. Write as much as you can in connected sentences (not lists) about your topic. Write as quickly as you can without stopping to think about grammar or organization. My Favorite Book

My favorite book… I don’t know where to start. I read so many books that are interesting that it’s hard to choose just one. I guess I could start by talking about the kinds of books I really like. I like biographies and autobiographies the best. I really enjoy reading about another person’s life. One of my favorite books is called Roots by Alex Haley. How the author was able to trace his family history all the way back to Africa was amazing! Another book I really enjoyed was Carl Sandburg’s biography of Abraham Lincoln. What an incredible president!

Pros and cons

Pros Cons

Brainstorming helps to reduce conflicts – it helps participants to see other points of view and possibly change their perspective on problems.

Can take too much time if the group is not properly controlled and is allowed to run for too long

Brainstorming brings new ideas on how to tackle a particular problem – the freethinking atmosphere encourages creativity, even imperfectly developed thoughts may push the thinking of other participants.

Opponents may refuse to consider each other's ideas. It is important to explain to participants how the results will be used to underline that they are not wasting their time.

All participants have equal status and an equal opportunity to participate.

InterviewsAn interview is a systematic approach designed to elicit information from a person or group of people in an informal or formal setting by talking to an interviewee, asking relevant questions and documenting the responses. For the purpose of eliciting requirements, interviews are of two basic types:

▶ Open end question.▶ Closed end question.

**Make the interviewees aware of the goals of the interview

Interviewing is not simply a matter of asking questions; it requires development of some general social skills, the ability to listen, and knowledge of a variety of interviewing tactics.

Four phases• Identifying candidates• Preparing for an interview• Conducting the interview• Following up

General guidelines• Improve your understanding by summarizing, rephrasing, showing implications• Be an active listener• Be courteous; keep the interviewee at ease• Remain in control; bring the interview back on track• Use non-verbal communication techniques

Pros and ConsPros Cons

Encourages participation and establishes rapport with the stakeholder

Interviews are not an ideal means of reaching consensus across a group of stakeholders.

Simple, direct technique that can be used in varying situations.

Requires considerable commitment and involvement of the participants.

Allows the interviewer and participant to have full discussions and explanations of the questions and answers.

Training is required to conduct good interviews. Unstructured interviews, especially, require special skills. Facilitation/virtual facilitation and active listening are a few of them.

PrototypingA software requirements prototype is a mock-up or partial implementation of a software system• Helps developers, users, and customers better understand system requirements• Helps clarify and complete requirements• Provides early response to “I'll know it when I’ll see (or won’t see) it” attitudePrototyping is effective in resolving uncertainties early in the development process• Encourages user participation and mutual understanding

Prototypes can take many forms:• Paper prototypes

• Screen mock-ups

Interactive prototypes• Using high-level languages (e.g., Visual Basic, Delphi, Prolog) • Using scripting languages (e.g., Perl, Python) • Using animation tools (e.g., Flash/Shockwave)

Process for Prototyping

• Use Cases

•Activity Diagram

•Sequence Diagram

• Data Flow Diagram

Pros and Cons

Pros Cons

A prototype allows for early user interaction and feedback.

Assumptions about the underlying technology may need to be made in order to present a starting prototype.

Supports users who are more comfortable and effective at articulating their needs by using pictures, as prototyping lets them "see" the future system's interface.

A prototype may lead users to set unrealistic expectations of the delivered system's performance, reliability and usability characteristics.

It quickly uncover and confirm user interface requirements.

Focus Groups

A focus group is composed of pre-qualified individuals whose purpose is to discuss and comment on a topic or a process . This is an opportunity for individuals to share their own perspectives and discuss them in a group setting. This could lead participants to reevaluate their own perspectives in the light of others' experiences.

Pros and Cons

Pros Cons

Ability to elicit data from a group of people in a single session saves time and costs as compared to conducting individual interviews with the same number of people.

In the group setting, participants may be concerned about issues of trust, or may be unwilling to discuss sensitive topics.

Effective for learning people's attitudes, experiences and desires.

Data collected (what people say) may not be consistent with how people actually behave.

If the group is too homogenous the group's responses may not represent the complete set of requirements.

Root cause analysis

Root cause analysis (RCA) is a method of problem solving used for identifying the root causes of faults or problems.

5 Why’s

The 5 whys are around asking ‘why’ to a problem , getting the answer and then asking why again and again , until you come up with the real root cause of a problem.

 There can be more than one cause to a problem as well. In an organizational context, generally root cause analysis is carried out by a team of persons related to the problem. 

Problem: Your client is refusing to pay for the leaflets you printed for them.

Why? The delivery was late, so the leaflets couldn't be used.

Why? The job took longer than we anticipated.

Why? We ran out of printer ink.

Why? The ink was all used up on a big, last-minute order.

Why? We didn't have enough in stock, and we couldn't order it in quickly enough.

Counter-measure: We need to find a supplier who can deliver ink at very short notice.

Fishbone Analysis

Visual display of possible causes

Helps team reach common understanding of why loss exists

The fishbone will help to visually display the many potential causes for a specific problem or effect. It is particularly useful in a group setting and for situations in which little quantitative data is available for analysis.

Cause and Effect Diagram Loading My Computer

PEOPLE METHODS

MATERIALS MACHINERY

OTHER

Cannot Load

Software on

PC

Inserted CD Wrong

Instructions are Wrong

Upside Down

Backward

Not Enough Free Memory

Inadequate System

Graphics Card IncompatibleHard Disk Crashed

Not Following Instructions

Cannot Answer Prompt Question

Brain Fade

CD Missing

Wrong Type CDBad CD

Power Interruption

Document Elicitation Results

For an elicitation event (brainstorming, focus groups, interviews, observation, prototyping, requirements workshops) a summary of the output from the event, including issues is produced.

InputElicitation Results: Includes the information provided by stakeholders that will be recorded and structured.

Documentation can take a number of forms, including:▶ Written documents describing the outcomes, such as meeting minutes▶ Visual or audio recordings▶ Whiteboards (either actual or virtual) where notes are retained until they are transferred to another medium.

Confirm Elicitation Results

Some elicitation techniques benefit from reviewing the documented outputs with the stakeholders to ensure that the analyst’s understanding conforms to the actual desires or intentions of the stakeholder.Input

Requirements [Stated, Unconfirmed]: Represent the business analyst’s understanding of the stakeholder’s intentions.

Stakeholder Concerns [Unconfirmed]: Represent the business analyst’s understanding of issues identified by the stakeholder, risks, assumptions, constraints, and other relevant information that may be used in business analysis.

Q & A