gather data to identify business requirements

I C A I C T 5 0 9 A

GATHER DATA TO IDENTIFY BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS

INTRO

Ever been stopped on the street by a market

researcher?

Firstly there‟s a screening question to make sure you

fit the target profile and then come the questions.

Businesses do much the same with their employees:-

Extract information with a view to improving

organisational performance.

THIS UNIT

Provides information and activities to enable you to

gain the skills required to identify the needs of a

business or a business process and quantify those

needs into technical requirements that will enable

the business or process to meet expectations.

THE 4 TOPICS COVERED ARE ….

• Identify key information sources

• Gather data through formal processes

• Ensure analysis is accurate and complete

• Submit analysis and gain agreement

1. IDENTIFY KEY INFORMATION SOURCES

1. identify information repositories across the business

2. review current organisational documentation

3. develop critical questions to elicit information from key stakeholders using a mixture of open and closed questions

4. ensure information gathering techniques use a quality assurance methodology and meet budgetary constraints


What is the relationship between

• Data

• Information

• Knowledge


Searching for information and data

When gathering data to identify business

requirements, you will find a wide variety of sources.

Name some?


CATEGORIES OF DATA

Quantitative vs Qualitative Data

Quantitative can be measured:

Performance reports, data capture forms, numeric

results from surveys and statistical research.

It can be analysed mathematically.


CATEGORIES OF DATA

Quantitative vs Qualitative Data

Qualitative is a record of thoughts, observations,

opinions or words:

It comes from asking open-ended questions to which

answers are not limited by a set of choices or scale.


Information sources may come from internal or

external sources.

Internal examples: employees, annual reports, sales

figures

External examples: statistical information (Australian

Bureau of Statistics), standards, or research from

outside an organisation


Documents vs People

There are often a lot of documents available, which

means that an analyst must read extensively to gain

limited information.

On the other hand, people are also a source of

information. An individual is a wonderful source of

information that can respond dynamically to

questions and stimuli.


Question 1:

How would you categorise an interview with the project sponsor?

1. Quantitative; internal; people

2. Qualitative; internal; people

3. Qualitative; external; people

4. Quantitative; internal; document

5. Qualitative; internal; document

Question 2:

How would you categorize: A memo to the IT department?






Question 3:

How would you categorize: A report on the number of errors logged at the helpdesk?







RESEARCH TASK

Download Times

This activity is intended to help you qualify the quality of information sources.

Answer the following questions.

1. How long will users wait for web pages to download?

2. What is the URL for the source you quoted?

3. Can you trust the source you quoted? Why/Why not?


The Australian Bureau of Statistics

• The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is a source

of information. It also provides reference material

on research and survey methodologies.

• There is a lot of information available at

the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) website.

(http://www.abs.gov.au/)

http://www.abs.gov.au/



SAMPLING When determining requirements, it is likely that you will have to collect information from a number of people. If the organisation is small, you may choose to collect information from all people - this is called a census.

Alternatively, you may choose to collect information from only nominated specialists. This is known as judgement sampling or convenience sampling. Not all organisations are small and localised: consider determining requirements for an organisation with over 2000 computer users spread across 4 continents. In this situation, it is prudent to survey a sample of users.

Two commonly used sampling techniques are randomisation and systematic sampling.


Randomisation is a sampling technique characterised as having no predetermined pattern or plan for selecting sample data. http://www.randomizer.org/form.htm

Systematic sampling is a technique that attempts to reduce the variance of the estimates by spreading out the sampling. One example would be choosing documents or records by formula which avoids very high or low estimates.

http://www.randomizer.org/form.htm

http://toolbox.ait.org/toolbox/gbr_respak/gbr_e1/resources/gbr_e1_sampleblunder.htm


SAMPLING BLUNDERS

See doc on network

RANDOM SAMPLING

See doc on network

SYSTEMATIC SAMPLING

See doc on network


The Australian Bureau of Statistics

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is a source of

information. It also provides reference material on

research and survey methodologies. You can visit

ABS at http://www.abs.gov.au/.

This activity is intended to help you classify and

understand terms.

Read pages 1-9 of Statistics - A powerful edge from

the ABS and find the definition of data, information

and statistics.



C:/Users/Owner/Documents/TAFE 2010/Semester 2/Diploma IT/5778/lo/2826/documents/2826_reading11.pdf






Advantages and Disadvantages of Surveys

Read paper page 16 of of Statistics - A powerful

edge! from the ABS website and answer the

following:

1. One advantage of a ___________ is accuracy.

2. _______________ is a disadvantage of a census.

3. Speed is an advantage of a sample ________ .







ASSESS METHODS

• Data Gathering Methods & Budget Constraints

• Each method has its pros and cons

• The project in which you are involved - as well as the

project budget - will influence the blend of data gathering

methods that you use.


The METHODS for information gathering are

• Research

• Questionnaires (good for large groups, low cost)

• Interviews (most common)

• Workshops

• Observation


RESEARCH

Reviewing documents

Reviewing documents is the process of searching, finding and extracting information from documents

If you are developing a website with e-commerce facilities, it may be worthwhile reviewing customer order forms and documents identifying sales processes and procedures. If you are interested in identifying the number of items per order or the number of incorrect orders received from customers, you may need to sample records kept by the organisation.


Management

To establish objectives, boundaries, constraints, policies, information requirements, involvement in the project, potential problems

Clerical/operational staff To establish actual procedures carried out, documents used, volume of work, job satisfaction, morale.

Statements of company policy including mission statements

Gather information on overall objectives and likely changes

Administrative procedure manuals

QA documents, instruction and procedure manuals which provide a statement of the way in which tasks are supposed to be performed.

Document blanks or data entry forms

These are forms that are filled in and passed between departments or stored for reference. This gives the analyst an

indication of the formal data flows and data stores.

Completed documents or data entry forms

These are forms that have been filled in and passed between departments or stored for reference. These give the analyst an indication of the 'actual' data that is currently required.


Training manuals To identify processes and procedures.

Sales and promotional literature

To identify products; company image; marketing style; target market.

Job descriptions and specifications

These should define the responsibilities of personnel.

Reports for decision making

Reports may include: sales; inventory; production; costing.

Performance reports Identify gaps between actual performance and intended performance

Intranet and website Examine for metaphors, design features (such as colour). The intranet will be a valuable resource that can be searched for electronic copies of documents

Memos and letters May provide background for your problem statement and ultimate solution.


RESEARCH

Sampling Documents

Sampling documents is the process of collecting

representative samples of forms, records and other

documents in order to ascertain an implied

consistency for the total population. Two commonly

used sampling techniques are randomisation and

stratification.


RESEARCH

• Randomisation is a sampling technique

characterised as having no predetermined pattern

or plan for selecting sample documents.

• Stratification is a systematic sampling technique

that attempts to reduce the variance of estimates

by equally dispersing the sample selection within a

given population - that is, choosing documents or

records by formula.


Student population = 3000

sample size 5% = 150 student enrolments

Course Student enrolments Sample size

Law and Justice 200 10

Management Studies 800 40

IT Studies 1500 75

Engineering 500 25

Totals 3000 150


INTERVIEWS

• An interview is a planned meeting during which you

obtain information from another person. The

personal interview is often the preferred information

gathering technique when developing business and

user requirements.


INTERVIEWS

1. Determining the people to interview

2. Establishing objectives for the interview

3. Developing the interview questions

4. Preparing for the interview

5. Conducting the interview

6. Documenting the interview

7. Evaluating the interview


OBSERVATION

Observation is a technique that enables the analyst to view

how processes and activities are being done in the context

of the business. This additional perspective can give a

better understanding of system procedures. It is sometimes

worthwhile to read procedure manuals to find out how

things should be done. Then interview people to find out

how they believe it IS being done. Finally, observe processes

to find out how it is actually being done.

A note of caution: observation may induce a phenomenon

known as the Hawthorne Effect – an increase in productivity

when workers knew they were being observed.


WORKSHOPS

There are two main types of workshops that we are

interested in as information gatherers:

1. Joint Application Design (JAD) - or Joint

Requirements Planning (JRP)

2. Brainstorming


Joint Application Design (JAD) was developed by

IBM in the late 1970s. It is a requirements

determination method that brings together business

and IT professionals in a structured workshop to

determine and discuss system requirements. JAD is

discussed further on the IBM website and in many

other websites and textbooks.


Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a workshop or meeting where ideas are expressed and captured for later consideration. The three common rules of brainstorming are:

• Be spontaneous. Call out ideas as they occur.

• No criticism, analysis, or evaluation is permitted while the ideas are being generated. Any idea may be useful, if only to generate another idea.

• Focus on the quantity of ideas, rather than the quality of the ideas.


QUESTIONNAIRES

Questionnaires are sometimes called surveys. A questionnaire involves questions written onto a form. The respondent provides their response in the form.

Two common formats for questionnaires are free-format and fixed-format. A single questionnaire often includes both formats.

• Free-format questionnaires offer the respondent greater latitude in their answer. A question is asked, and the respondent records the answer in the space provided after the question. AKA?

• Fixed-format questionnaires contain questions that require the selection of predefined responses from individuals.


Topic 1 Summary

you have identified the difference between data,

information and knowledge. You are aware that

there are different sources of information. These

include internal or external, documents or people

and the data you collect may be qualitative or

quantitative data. When selecting samples, you may

choose a census, a judgment sample/convenience

sample, randomised sample or a systematic sample.

From each of the nominated information sources you

can expect to get a variety of information.

COLLECTING & DEALING WITH DATA

SAMPLING

Generally, for sampling, a good number to sample is

the square root of the total number.

n = √N where N is the total

So if there are a 100 people to sample the √N = 10


GENERATING RANDOM NUMBERS

with a spreadsheet

1. In cell A1 enter the formula =INT(RAND()*100+1)

2. Use the Fill Down function to copy this down to A50

This formula generates a random decimal number between 0 and 1, multiplies the result by 100 and adds 1. Only the whole number part is considered.

STATISTICES

Paste the values of the result of your randomiser and

use the spreadsheet statistical functions to calculate

the

Average

Count

Mode


STRATIFIED RANDOM SAMPLING

This type of sampling splits the population into

categories called strata.

Opinions expressed by people from the same stratum

may be similar to each other but may differ from

opinions from other strata.

The sample size from each strata should be

proportional to the stratum size as compared to the

population size.

STRATA

Student population = 3000

sample size 10% = 300 student enrolments

Course Student enrolments Sample size

Law and Justice 200

Management Studies 800

IT Studies 1500

Engineering 500

Totals 3000 300

CHARTING OR GRAPHING

A MULTIPLE OR CLUSTERED COLUMN GRAPH

PIE CHART

GATHER DATA THROUGH FORMAL PROCESSES

Now that you know about identifying key information sources, you gather data through formal processes within an information technology environment.

In this topic you will learn how to:

• conduct information gathering workshops and interviews to gather data

• review reports and other data sources for relevant business information

• confirm business-critical factors relating to current and future directions of the organisation with stakeholders

• analyse group and individual responses to clearly define business priorities


PROBLEM / OPPORTUNITY STATEMENTS

In order to implement data–gathering techniques, you will need to identify one of the following:

• the problem that has to be solved

• the opportunity that has to be realised.


Once the problem or opportunity has been

identified, it should be documented. This can then be

included in a Business Requirements Report under the

heading „Problem Statement‟ or „Opportunity

Statement‟.

• Problem Statements may use key words like cannot,

will not and unable to.

• Opportunity Statements may use key words

like would like to, leverage and evolve toward.


The following is an example of a Problem Statement:

• The XXX Company cannot efficiently update records to their database.

The following is an Opportunity Statement:

• The XXX Company would like to increase sales through an e–commerce website.

The problem or opportunity statement is usually ascertained from business owners or project sponsors. It is a high–level statement that concisely captures the problem or opportunity.


Details associated with the problem or opportunity

are documented in the functional requirements.

These are sometimes called the business

requirements.


EXERCISE – Develop a Problem Statement from this:

Interview Transcript with a Finance Officer of a Training Institute We have been given some information; however, we need to clarify some issues in order to develop a Business Requirements Report.

Q. To clarify the issue, what do you see as the main problem that you need to resolve?

I can't record the purchase price of PCs and where they are presently located.

Q. Can we explore this further? Is it the current value of the system or the purchase price that you want to retain?

We want a system so we can record PCs at their original purchase price and the date of the asset purchase. A method of depreciation and the current depreciated price might be good to keep, but let‟s look at this in an enhancement to the system.

Q. How do you want us to identify the location of the PC?

The system must identify PC locations by room number and campus.

Q. Where do you get PC values from, and how do you know that they are correct?

The PC values are recorded on supplier orders and supplier invoices. The new system must source PC prices from supplier invoices. It would be nice if the new system could reconcile differences in pricing between orders and invoices.


BLOOM’S TAXONOMY

Benjamin Bloom, an American educational

psychologist, developed a system for organising and

categorising thinking skills in a hierarchical order from

lower to higher level, with the higher levels including

all of the cognitive skills from the lower levels.

The categorisation is often referred to as „Bloom‟s

Taxonomy‟.


MGMT PYRAMID

Inc

rea

sin

g

diffic

ulty

BLOOM’S TAXONOMY

MANAGEMENT LEVELS IN AN ORGANISATION

senior management

middle management

operational management

production, clerical and non-management employees

Strategic

decisions

tactical decisions

operational decisions

On-the-job

decisions

TYPES OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Office systems

Applications for administrative tasks that occur. Aka

productivity software – word processing, desktop

publishing, spreadsheet, database presentation

graphics, web browsers, e-mail.

Transaction Processing Systems

TPS process data generated by the day-to-day

transactions of an organisation. Billing systems,

inventory control systems, accounts payables and

order entry systems


Management Information Systems

These evolved as managers realised that computer processing could be used for more than just day-to-day transaction processing and that the power of rapid calculations and data comparisons could be used to produce meaningful information for management. MIS are integrated with the TPS and the focus is on information that management needs to see fast or slow-selling products, customers with past-due account balances, inventory that needs re-ordering. Etc.


Decision Support Systems

These summarise or compare data from internal and

external sources or both.

Internal = sales, manufacturing, financial data.

External = interest rates, population trends, new

housing construction, raw material pricing

A DSS can manipulate data to help with decision

making. Like “what-if” querying.


Expert Systems

Also known as knowledge system, these simulate human

experts‟ reasoning and decision-making processes.

For example the Ford Motor company has implemented a

system to help its dealers diagnose engine repair

problems. Previously, when they encountered a problem

they could not sole, they would call Michigan to talk to

experts. Now they access a nationwide computer system

that duplicates the experts‟ reasoning to troubleshoot a

problem….. Expert systems are associated with AI –

Artificial Intelligence.


1. Knowledge – Gathering Information

2. Comprehension – Confirming or

understanding

3. Application – Making use of knowledge

4. Analysis – Taking apart

5. Synthesis – Putting together

6. Evaluation – Judging the outcome


Knowledge

Exhibit memory of previously-learned materials by

recalling facts, terms, basic concepts and answers.

Knowledge of ways and means of dealing with

specifics.

Questions like: What are the health benefits of eating

apples?


Understanding or Comprehension

Demonstrative understanding of facts and ideas by

organizing, comparing, giving descriptions, and

stating main ideas

Questions like: Compare the health benefits of eating

apples vs. oranges.


Application

Using new knowledge. Solve problems

to new situations by applying acquired

knowledge, facts, techniques and rules

in a different way

Questions like: Which kinds of apples

are best for baking a pie, and why?


ANALYSIS

Examine and break information into parts by

identifying motives or causes. Make inferences and

find evidence to support generalizations.

• Analyse relationships

Questions like: List four ways of serving foods made

with apples and explain which ones have the highest

health benefits. Provide references to support your

statements.


SYNTHESIS

Compile information together in a different way by

combining elements in a new pattern or proposing

alternative solutions.

Production of a plan, or proposed set of operations.

Questions like: Convert an "unhealthy" recipe for apple

pie to a "healthy" recipe by replacing your choice of

ingredients. Explain the health benefits of using the

ingredients you chose vs. the original ones.


EVALUATION

Present and defend opinions by making

judgments about information, validity of ideas

or quality of work based on a set of criteria.

Judgments in terms of internal evidence.

Judgments in terms of external criteria.

Questions like: Do you feel that serving apple

pie for an after school snack for children is

healthy? Why or why not?


OPEN AND CLOSED QUESTIONS Question 1:

What size is your PC monitor?

Question 2: Are you well today?

Question 3:

Why do you use this form?

Question 4: What would you do with the new information you collect?

Question 5:

Why?

Question 6: How do you rate your satisfaction with the system?


The ultimate open-ended questions

“Now, have we missed anything?”

or

“Is there anything else you would like to say?”


OPEN QUESTIONS

There are some disadvantages to open questions, which could include the following:

1. trying to summarise the data into a concise form may be difficult

2. it takes a lot longer to collect information

3. ambiguities need to be recognised and expanded upon

4. open questions require more psychological effort on behalf of the respondent, and the respondent may answer in a haphazard manner.


BIAS, SENSITIVITY AND PLASTICITY

Bias elicits a desired result.

Sensitivity stirs emotion.

Plasticity is the wording and arrangement of

questions in order to mould a desired answer.


EXAMPLES of BIAS

Are you in favour of educational institutions requiring that all lecturers join a union, thus raising educational costs?

Is your life worth insuring?

You don’t like this pair of jeans, do you?

Don’t you agree that the new rule is a problem?


SENSITIVITY

Do you think the US was right or wrong in sending American

troops to stop the Communist Invasion of South Korea ?

Do you think the US made a mistake in deciding to defend

Korea, or not?


PLASTICITY

Order Question Result 1 Result 2

A Do you think a Communist country like Russia should let American newspaper reporters come in and send back to America the news as they see it?

82% Yes 64% Yes

B Do you think the United States should let Communist newspaper reporters from other countries come in and send back to their papers the news as they see it?

75% Yes 55% Yes

When the above questions were ordered A–B, Result 1 was obtained.

However, when the question order was B–A, Result 2 was obtained.


2 SIMILAR SURVEYS - 2 DIFFERENT RESPONSES "Mr. Woolley, are you worried about the rise in crime among teenagers?" "Yes" "Do you think there is lack of discipline and vigorous training in our Comprehensive Schools?" "Yes" "Do you think young people welcome some structure and leadership in their lives?" "Yes" "Do they respond to a challenge?" "Yes" "Might you be in favour of reintroducing National Service?" "Yes"


SURVEY 2 "Mr. Woolley are you worried about the danger of war?" "Yes"

"Are you unhappy about the growth of armaments?" "Yes" "Do you think there's a danger in giving young people guns and teaching them how to kill?" "Yes" "Do you think it’s wrong to force people to take up arms against their will?" "Yes" "Would you oppose the reintroduction of National Service?" "Yes"


FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS

Once the problem has been identified, the next step

is to do the following:

• Understand the problem, including the cause and

effect

• Understand any constraints that may limit the

solution.


What are functional requirements?

“A functional requirement is a function or feature that

must be included in an information system in order to

satisfy the business need and be acceptable to the

users

Functional Requirements are actions, therefore a

verb(s) should be included in the statement. .”


• The system must associate non–stock purchases of

raw materials to a specified customer order.

• The system must associate design work as well as

production work to customer special orders.

• The system may track the completion status of

customer special orders.

• The system must provide a users‟ guide for products.

• The system must capture customer details online.

• The system may have password protection for a

members‟ only section.


NON–FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS

“A non–functional requirement is a description of the features, characteristics, and attributes of the system as well as any constraints that may limit the boundaries of the proposed solution”

Some authors use the term “constraints” to identify non–functional requirements.

Note: Non–functional requirements are less important to the Business Requirements report – but highly important to the Technical Requirements report. It is important to understand the difference between functional and non–functional requirements.

NON-FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS Requirement

type Explanation

Performance

Performance requirements represent the performance the system is required to exhibit to meet the needs of users.

What is the maximum download time for web pages?

What is the acceptable throughput rate? What is the required response time?

Information

Information requirements represent the information that is pertinent to the users in terms of content, timeliness, accuracy and

format.

What are the necessary inputs and outputs? When must they happen?

Where is the required data to be stored?

How current must the information be?

What are the interfaces to the external systems?

Economy

Economy requirements represent the need for the system to reduce costs or increase profits.

What are the areas of the system where costs may be reduced?

How much cost should be reduced or profits should be increased? What are the budgetary limits?

What is the timetable for development?

Control (and Security)

Control requirements represent the environment in which the system must operate, as well as the type and degree of security

that must be provided.

Must access to the system or information be controlled?

What are the privacy requirements?

Does the criticality of the data necessitate the need for special handling (backups, off–site storage, etc) of the data?

Efficiency

Efficiency requirements represent the system‟s ability to produce outputs with minimal waste.

Are there duplicate steps in the process that must be eliminated?

Are there ways to reduce waste in the way the system uses its resources?

Service

Service requirements represent needs in order for the system to be reliable, flexible and expandable.

Who will use the system and where are they located?

Will there be different types of users?

What are the appropriate human factors?

What training devices and training materials are to be included in the system?

What training devices and training materials are to be developed and maintained separately from the system, such as stand–

alone computer–based training (CBT) programs or databases?

What are the reliability/availability requirements?

How should the system be packaged and distributed?

What documentation is required?

Source: Whitten, J., Bentley, L., Dittman, K. (2001). System Analysis and Design Methods, Sydney, McGraw–Hill Irwin. Page 216


Non–functional requirements are often associated

with the technical requirements of a system –

therefore the non–functional requirements may be

part of the Technical Requirements Report rather

than the Business Requirements Report.

Your organisation or client will often specify the

format and content of the required report.


In this section, you have looked at functional

requirements which should appear in the Business

Requirements Report.

Functional requirements are sometimes known as

business requirements, and non–functional

requirements are sometimes known as constraints.

Constraints may limit the project or solution.


Summary

In this 2nd topic you have identified that a problem

statement or opportunity statement needs to be

defined at the beginning of the project. You then use

data–gathering techniques to understand the

problem, including the cause and effects, as well as

identifying constraints that may limit the project or

solution. Problem/opportunity statements and

functional requirements should all appear in the

Business Requirements Report.

ANALYSIS IS ACCURATE & COMPLETE

In this topic you will learn how to:

• analyse and evaluate information gathered for

accuracy and consistency

• document conflicts in information gathered

• resolve conflicts in information or points of view with

stakeholders.


Broadly speaking you analyse data as you collect it

or when it has been collected.

The 28000 surveyed and what they said.


ORGANISING AND SUMMARISING

Once you have classified data into meaningful

categories, it should be documented in tables and

summarised in a paragraph. Often data in tables can

be visually represented through the use of charts. You

need to carefully select the type of chart to match

your data.

Read pages 103 - 127 of the Australian Bureau of

Statistic‟s Statistics – A Powerful Edge! to get a better

understanding of graph types.

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CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING SCENARIO:- You have been asked by your manager to collect data from a survey about your company‟s intranet. You and your manager feel that the site needs an upgrade, but you need evidence to support this view. Your task is to analyse the data and present the findings in a clear format to support your view. Select a method that shows the results of the survey, which are listed below: • 78% use the site regularly. • 65% find it easy to navigate. • 36% believe it should be upgraded. • 40% believe it needs more multimedia. • 55% have had technically problems with the site over the last 12 months. • 74% stated that the intranet is crucial to their daily business. • 31% stated that the colours used in the site were poor. • 15% stated that they still use paper manuals and avoid the site.


What data would you highlight?

What data would you possibly omit?

How would you present the data in your report

and/or your presentation?


PRIORITISING REQUIREMENTS

Categorising your data is the first stage of analysing it.

Our particular interest is in business requirements so

therefore we will rank them (aka functional

requirements).

Consider a website. Are each of the listed

requirements A(pto) of equal importance?


System requirements • conduct transactions over the Internet • display products on screen • provide an animation of the production process • display a privacy policy • link Internet sales to the inventory system • display a returns policy • enable a "contact us" facility • enable customers to check delivery and production status • provide "about us" information • display customer satisfaction testimonies • provide a user's guide for products • capture customer details online • have password protection for a "members only" section • display correct pricing - especially for customers with discounts • describe products • accept multiple payment methods.


A little caution needs to be taken when collating and

analysing the results of a ranked list. You need to

consider who responded to the request and their

importance within the organisation. For example, if

the distribution list included five from sales and

marketing yet only one from finance, the results may

skew toward sales.

As another example, the business owner may want

their response to be weighted three times the

strength of their management team.


Absolute ranking is important, but relative ranking is also important. To use the example above, where there are 16 items listed, it should not be inferred that the item on the top of the list is 16 times more important than the item on the bottom of the list. Perhaps the item on the bottom of the list is only 50% less important. For this reason, a relative importance should be allocated to the requirement. A scale of 5-10 is frequently used when allocating the relevant importance of a business requirement.

The reason for a relative scale becomes apparent next: "Capability Analysis".


Business Requirement (Functional Requirement)

Importance Rating

Absolute (1-16) Relative (5-10)

The system must display products on screen.

16 10

Requirements 15 - 2 n

The system must enable customers to check delivery and production status.

1 5

The table below provides an example of relative and absolute rating, where the higher the number the more important the requirement is.


CONSIDERING AVAILABLE RESOURCES

Once you have ranked and rated the requirements by importance, you have completed the second analysis stage. By now you should have a list of business requirements (functional requirements), and you should know how important they are to the organisation.

Question:

Should we implement all of them?

Answer:

"All things are possible given enough time and money."

The answer to these questions requires the application of the third stage of analysis: CAPABILITY ANALYSIS

CAPABILITY ANALYSIS


CAPABILITY ANALYSIS

In order to estimate the ease of realisation,

you need to know the following:

• your capability

• the capability of your client

• the capability of your organisation

• the capability of any other organisations

that you may incorporate into the project

• the capability of the tools that will be used

to develop the solution for the client.


Often a specialist or project manager who has

experience in the field will rate the ease of realisation

for a given business requirement.

A simple method of applying capability to business

requirements is to simply rate the ease of realisation

between 5 and 10, where 10 is the easiest and 5 is

the hardest. Once you have the ease of

implementation, multiply it by the relative importance

of the requirement.


Business

Requirement

(Functional

Requirement)

Importance Rating Ease of

Realisation

Final

Rating

Absolute

1-16

Relative

5-10

Relative

5-10

The system must

display products on

screen

16 10 8 80

Requirements 15 - 2 n n n x n

The system must

enable customers

to check delivery

and production

status

1 5 5.5 27.5


There are various methods and software that can be used to assist in the identification of capability.

When the solution is to be developed by a consulting firm, the capability resides with the consultant. A tool that can be used in the negotiation phases of the contract as well as the requirements determination phase is EasyWinWin.

This software package has been designed for online workshop participants; when using the software, the team will be collecting and analysing data at the same time. http://csse.usc.edu/csse/research/easy_win_win

http://csse.usc.edu/csse/research/easy_win_win

http://csse.usc.edu/csse/research/easy_win_win


Frequent Software Development Win-Lose Patterns

(That Usually Turn into Lose-Lose Situations)

Proposed solution Winner Loser

Quickly build a cheap, sloppy

product

Developer and

customer User

Add lots of "bells and whistles" Developer and user Customer

Drive too hard a bargain Customer and user Developer


By now, you should have a list of requirements that

has been ordered by importance and ease of

realisation.

The final stage is to estimate how many of the

requirements can be implemented given the

available time and money. Again, there are various

techniques to establish the boundaries, but put

simply, you need to draw a line through the

requirements list and identify what you can achieve

and what you cannot achieve.


The requirements that you can achieve become

mandatory functional requirements and retain the

verb "MUST". The requirements that you cannot

achieve become optional or desirable functional

requirements and the verb "must" changes to "MAY".

For example:

• The system must display products on screen.

• The system may enable customers to check delivery

and production status.

BAZAAR CERAMICS

PRIORITISING REQUIREMENTS EXERCISE A workshop was held with Bazaar Ceramics in order to determine the requirements for the proposed website. The workshop was conducted to compile a comprehensive list of website feature and functions which were ranked by participants in order of importance.

The 9 elements identified for Bazaar Ceramics are:

• Images and descriptions of products

• Production techniques and tours

• e-commerce and ordering online • Automated functions

• Policies and Procedures

• Awards and testimonies

• Product delivery and care • Miscellaneous

BAZAAR CERAMICS

Each of the elements were discussed in detail. New

features and functions were added to each element

until a comprehensive list was developed.

See the document on the network.

Comprehensive requirements for Bazaar

Ceramics.doc

BAZAAR CERAMICS

Each participant ranked the features and functions

by their perceived order of importance. It is your job

to aggregate the participant’s ranked value into one

value that represents the priority of Bazaar Ceramics

as a whole. When aggregating all participants‟

values into one value, you need to consider the

importance of each person‟s opinion.

A Production worker‟s opinion is valued at ¼ of a

Manager‟s opinion.

The Business Owner‟s opinion is valued at double the

value of a Manager‟s opinion.

BAZAAR CERAMICS

Open the spreadsheet called

Bazaar ceramics workshop data and calculate the

features‟ ranking.

Which is seen as the most important?

Which is the least important?

CONCLUSION OF TOPIC 3

1. True or False: A workshop typically involves data collation and analysis after the workshop has been completed.

2. What is the output from the first stage of analysis?

a list of business requirements a list of key stakeholders an opportunity or problem statement

a list of technical requirements

3. True or False: Absolute rankings can give a false indication on the actual importance of a business requirement. 4. The business requirements that you CAN achieve and which are described using the word “must” are called:

optional functional requirements desirable functional requirements mandatory functional requirements all of the above

GAIN APPROVAL

Now that you know about

• identifying key information sources,

• gathering data through formal processes,

• and ensuring that the analysis is accurate and

complete.

We submit an analysis and gain agreement within an

information technology environment.

GAIN APPROVAL

In this final topic you will learn how to:

• prepare detailed documents according to

documentation standards and organisational

templates

• write documents in a style that is succinct and

appropriate to the audience

• communicate data gathered to the client to gain

consensus and agreement on business

requirements

GAIN APPROVAL

REPORT FINDINGS

• The contents and degree of detail for

a Requirements Report will vary depending on the

size and scope of a project, but a Requirements

Report is generally an informal document that can

be easily understood by the customer. The report

may contain only business requirements, or it may

extend to technical requirements and a feasibility

study. Your organisation will often provide a

template for requirements documentation.

GAIN APPROVAL

PURPOSE OF A REQUIREMENTS REPORT

to communicate and confirm the requirements. The

next section describes the different sections of the

report.

GAIN APPROVAL

There are many templates available for

writing a Requirements Report. This

section looks at one possible report

layout.

There are some examples of alternative

report layouts on the network in the

folder Week 7 – Gather Data

GAIN APPROVAL

• Introduction

• System description

• Functional requirements

• Non-functional requirements

• Information domain

• Project costs

• Benefits

• Other project specific topic

GAIN APPROVAL

Requirements definition report elements

Introduction Purpose Scope Definitions Overview of document

Systems description Overall system Sub systems Operating environment

Functional requirements Logical view Physical view

Non-functional requirements Performance Quality Business rules

Information domain Data definitions Structure

Project costs Analysis Software development Hardware and network

Benefits Tangible Intangible

GAIN APPROVAL

STORYBOARDS FOR WEB PAGES

A common technique for providing functional

information for websites to the client is to provide a

storyboard. Storyboards are a visual representation of

what a website interface is supposed to look like.

They can consist of a site map and a detailed

representation of some or all of the pages in the site.

• Here is an example of a site map:

GAIN APPROVAL

Here is an example of a site map:

GAIN APPROVAL


Here is an example of a mock up of a website page:

GAIN APPROVAL - ACTIVITY 1


Activity 1 - Functional requirements

A workshop was held with Bazaar Ceramics in order to determine the

requirements for the proposed website. The workshop was conducted

to compile a comprehensive list of website features and functions

which were ranked by participants in order of importance. The results of

the workshop can be found in the Bazaar requirements workshop

data.xls. It contains the requirements ranked in importance from

highest to lowest, high having a larger number and low having smaller

number.

Pair up with another student (optional), analyse the information in the

spreadsheet and put it into the IEEE standards document.

C:/Users/Owner/Documents/TAFE 2010/Semester 2/Diploma IT/Gather Data to Identify Client Requirements/5778/lo/2830/documents/2830_activity01.xls



GAIN APPROVAL – ACTIVITY 2


Role play: Presenting the requirements to the client

You go to a meeting with your client at Bazaar Ceramics to present the

mandatory and desirable functional requirements. The goal of the role

play is to deal with any objections your client may have, and to reach

agreement on the requirements.

Consider the questions and objections your client may have and how you

will deal with them.

Round 1

Deliver the presentation to the client; another plays the role of the client.

Round 2

Reverse roles (or rotate pairs) so that the pair who played the role of the

client is now presenting their requirements.

Each pair now gives feedback to the pair who presented to them. Give

feedback on both the written document (the Requirements Report) and

the presentation itself.

GO FORTH AND GATHER DATA

That‟s it.