Lecture 9(1).pdf

Investigation Techniques Diploma in Information & Communication Technology Dr. KN Ohei  Lesson 9 Requirement gathering/elicitation techniques ✓ When business analysts first enter an area of study, they...

Investigation Techniques Diploma in Information & Communication Technology Dr. KN Ohei  Lesson 9 Requirement gathering/elicitation techniques ✓ When business analysts first enter an area of study, they need a range of tools and techniques to help them understand the breadth and depth of issues. Ref: Chapter 3 Page 79-101  Prior Research When a business analyst enters an organization that he/she wants to investigate, you will do a prior research. First thing is to approach their client organisation, (or division or department), this is simply by spending reasonable amount of time in gathering as much background information as they can. Study the Company's website ✓ This is the quickest and simplest way to get a view of what the organisation does, what its values are, how it brands itself and how it wants to be perceived.  Study company’s reports ✓ It is useful to look at company reports to confirm the health of the company. For example Income Statement (Profit and Loss Account) and Balance Sheet. ✓ As these documents can provide much rich information about the levels of debt, liquidity, gearing, trends in growth or stagnation over the previous years, and a first insight into where there may be problems.  Study procedure manuals and documentation ✓ Studying the documentation is never a substitute for proper investigation and analysis; rather it enables preparation, a prior understanding of the domain in question that gives the analyst an entry point for various lines of investigation. Brainstorming ✓ Used to get as many ideas as possible from a group of people. ✓ Generally used to identify possible solutions to problems, and clarify details of opportunities. ✓ It casts a wide net, identifying as many different possibilities as possible. ✓ Prioritization of those possibilities is important to finding the needles in the haystack. Document Analysis ✓ Is a means to elicit requirements of an existing system by studying available documentation and identifying relevant information. ✓ Is used if the objective is to gather details of the “As Is” environment such as existing business rules, entities, and attributes that need to be included in a new system or need to be updated for the current system. ✓ It is useful for reviewing the requirements that drove the creation of the proposed system. Focus Groups ✓ Is the gathering of people who are representative of the users or customers of a product to get feedback. ✓ The feedback can be gathered about needs / opportunities / problems to identify requirements, or can be gathered to validate and refine already elicited requirements. ✓ It is distinct from brainstorming (usually used in marketing) in that it is a managed process with specific participants. Interface Analysis ✓ It is a process used in systems engineering or software development, to understand and define the interactions between two components systems or stakeholders. ✓ The primitive goal is to ensure that these interactions are efficient, effective and meets the needs of the parties involved. ✓ Most systems require one or more interfaces with external ✓ parties, systems or devices. ✓ Interfaces types: User interfaces- human user directly engaged with the system as well as reports provided to the user Interviews ✓ Is a systematic approach to elicit information from a person or group of people in an informal or formal setting. ✓ The interviewer asks relevant questions and documents the responses. ✓ Without understanding the goals and expectations of the stakeholders, we are very unlikely to satisfy them. Interviews (continue) ✓ Like a great reporter, listening is the skill that helps a great analyst to get more value from an interview than an average analyst. ✓ Interviews tend to take place on a one-to-one basis, which is a key reason why they can be invaluable in obtaining individual concerns. ✓ Interviews must have an objective (know what you want to know) ✓ The relevant stakeholders, project members must be involved ✓ Questions must be direct and unambiguous (clear and concise) and must address a specific objective ✓ Interviews must be ideally recorded or notes must be taken (don’t go back to stakeholders twice) Observations ✓ The study of users in their natural habitats. ✓ By observing users, an analyst can identify process flows, awkward steps, pain points and opportunities for improvement. ✓ Observation can be passive or active (asking questions while observing). ✓ Passive observation is better for getting feedback on a prototype (to refine requirements). ✓ Active observation is more effective at getting an understanding of an existing business process. Prototyping ✓ T is a method used in system development, product design, and software engineering to create preliminary versions or models of a system or product. ✓ The goal of prototyping is to visualize, test, and refine ideas before finalizing the design or development. ✓ Quickly developed program to test functionality. ✓ Aims to uncover and visualize interface requirements before the application is designed or developed. ✓ Very effective at gathering feedback. Requirements Workshop ✓ More commonly known as a joint application design (JAD) session. ✓ More structured than a brainstorming session, involved parties collaborate to document requirements. ✓ It is a structured meeting where stakeholders, including business users, project managers, developers, and other relevant parties, come together to identify and define the requirements of a project or system. ✓ Is useful for all project types but especially well-suited to complex projects. ✓ One way to capture the collaboration is with creation of domain- model artefacts (like Use-case diagrams, activity diagrams). ✓ A workshop will be more effective with two analysts than with one, where a facilitator and a scribe work together. Requirements Workshop ✓ It is a highly productive focused event attended by carefully selected key stakeholders and subject matter experts for a short, intensive period (typically one or few days). ✓ Well-run workshops are considered one of the most effective ways to deliver high quality requirements quickly. ✓ A business analyst is usually the facilitator in these workshops. ✓ They promote trust, mutual understanding, and strong communications among the project stakeholders and project team and produce deliverables that structure and guide future analysis. ✓ Is useful for all project types but especially well-suited to complex projects. Reverse Engineering ✓ Reverse engineering is a process of analysing a subject system/product to identify underlying business processes, data and rules. ✓ Is an elicitation technique that can extract implemented requirements from the software code. ✓ Forward engineering is the traditional process of moving from high level abstractions (or concept) to physical implementation. Surveys ✓ Often referred to as a questionnaire. ✓ A means of eliciting information from many people, anonymously, in a relatively short time. ✓ A survey can collect information about customers, products, work practices and attitudes. Questions in a survey are of two types: ✓ Closed ended: The respondent is asked to select from available responses. Useful when the issues are known but the range of user responses to them is not such as whether something is liked, useful, is an improvement, etc. Surveys ✓ Open-ended: The respondent is free to answer the questions as they wish. ✓ Open-ended questions may provide more detail and a wider range of responses than those gained from closed-ended questions but open-ended questions are more difficult to quantify and summarize.