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Systems Analysis and Systems Analysis and Design with UML Version Design with UML Version 2.0, Second Edition2.0, Second Edition

Alan Dennis, Barbara Wixom, and David Tegarden

Chapter 5: Requirements DeterminationJohn Wiley & Sons, Inc.Copyright 2005

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Requirements Determination

Chapter 5

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Key Ideas

Goal of the analysis phase:Truly understand the requirements of the new systemDevelop a system that addresses them -- or decide a new system isn’t needed.

The line between systems analysis and systems design is very blurry

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Key Ideas

The first challenge is finding the right people to participate.The second challenge is collecting and integrating the information

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Requirements

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What is a Requirement

Business RequirementStatement of what the system must doFocus on what the system must do, not how to do it

There are 2 kinds of requirementsFunctionalNonfunctional

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Functional Requirement

Defines the functions the system must carry outSpecifies the process that must be performedExamples:

Must search for inventoryMust perform these calculationsMust produce a specific report

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Nonfunctional Requirements

Deals with how the system behavesOperational – Physical/technical environmentPerformance – Speed and reliabilitySecurity – Who can use the systemCultural & Political – Company policies, legal issues

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Requirements Definition

Report that lists the functional and nonfunctional requirementsAll requirements must be traceable back to business requiremets

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THE ANALYSIS PROCESS

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Analysis of the IS system is:A business taskAn IT task

Need to balance expertise of users and analysts

Analysis Across Areas

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The SDLC Process

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Three Steps of the Analysis Phase

Understanding the “As-Is” systemIdentifying improvement opportunitiesDeveloping the “To-Be” system concept

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Three Steps of the Analysis Phase

Understanding the “As-Is” systemTo-Be derived from As-IsCan’t focus just on what users want, need to understand what they needCan’t focus just on dry analysisneed to listen to users’ experience

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Three Steps of the Analysis Phase

Identifying improvement opportunities

Need business and technology skillsBusiness skills

Improvements in business processes improve what we do

Technology skills improve how we do it

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Three Steps of the Analysis Phase

Developing the “To-Be” system concept

Starts out as a fuzzy set of possible improvement ideasRefined into a viable system conceptAnalysis ends with a system proposalProposal presented to approval committee in the form of a system walk-through

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Proposal Outline

Table of contentsExecutive summarySystem request (from chapter 2)Work plan (from chapter 3)Analysis strategy

Summary of analysis tasks from this chapter

Recommended systemSummary of system concept with justificationPossibly different alternatives

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Proposal Outline (cont’d)

Feasibility analysis (from chapter 2) Behavioral and structural models(from chapters 6, 7, 8)AppendicesSurvey results, interviews, industry reports, potential design issues etc.Anything needed to support recommendation

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Three Fundamental Analysis Strategies

BPABusiness process automation

BPIBusiness Process Improvement

BPRBusiness Process Reengineering

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BUSINESS PROCESS AUTOMATION (BPA)

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Business Process Automation

Makes almost no changes to business processes

Just makes them more efficient

Improves efficiency by automating the business processesLeast impact on users

They do the same things, just more efficiently

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1. (BPA) Understanding the As-Is System

Much effort spent hereTo-Be system continues to support As-Is systemWill be doing essentially the same thingsBuild detailed behavioral and structural models

To document As-Is system

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2. (BPA) Identifying Improvement Opportunities

Most improvements come from problems in the current systemTwo techniques for identifying improvements:

Problem AnalysisRoot Cause Analysis

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Problem AnalysisMost commonly usedAsks users to identify problems and solutions (users love to do this anyway)Very good at improving users’ efficiencyBut Rarely finds significant monetary benefits

Problem Analysis

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Root Cause AnalysisSymptoms

ROOT CAUSES

Symptoms

Identify symptomsTrace each back to its causes

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Root Cause AnalysisTracing symptoms to their causesProblem analysis focuses on solutions to symptoms of problemsRoot cause analysis focuses on the problems themselvesGenerate list of all problemsPrioritize the listTracing symptoms to their causes

Root Cause Analysis

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Root Cause AnalysisUsers generate list of problems with As-Is systemPrioritize the listGenerate all possible root causesInvestigate each, until true root cause is identifiedLook for root causes that fix more than one problem

Root Cause Analysis

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Root Cause Analysis Example

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3. (BPA) Developing To-Be System Concept

To-Be system is quite similar to As-Is system

No real change is business processesModels of To-Be system not much different from As-Is systemOften models are just copied and small changes are made

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BUSINESS PROCESS IMPROVEMENT (BPI)

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Business Process Improvement

Goal is to improve the business processesChange what the users do,not just how efficiently they do itChanges to business process must be decided firstDecisions to change the business processes cannot be made by the analyst

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1. (BPI) Understanding the As-Is System

Still need to spend significant effort to understand As-Is system

The new system will support most of the As-Is systemNew system will do many of the same thingsBut some processes will be very different

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2. (BPI) Identifying Improvement Opportunities

Focus considerable effort hereLooking for improvements to business processesUsers and managersactively seek out new business ideas and opportunities

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2. (BPI) Identifying Improvement Opportunities

Four techniques for identifying improvement opportunities

1. Duration Analysis2. Activity-Based Costing3. Informal Benchmarking4. Formal Benchmarking

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Duration AnalysisCalculate time for each process stepCalculate time for overall processCompare the two

If sum(time for each individual step) is much less than

sum (time for overall process)Then there is a problem

Will need to developProcess integration orParallelization

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Duration Analysis

When many different people work on small parts of the overall processProcess integration

Change fundamental process so fewer people work on the input

ParallelizationChange the process so the people can do there part at the same time

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Activity-Based Costing

Calculate cost of each process stepConsider both direct and indirect costsIdentify most costly steps and focus improvement efforts on them

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Benchmarking

Studying how other organizations perform the same business processInformal benchmarking

Check with customersPose as customers

Formal benchmarkingEstablish formal relationship with other organization

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3. (BPI) Developing To-Be System Concept

A small amount of information gathering is neededTo-Be system is still very similar to As-Is systemBut some (often very few) processes are completely reworked

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BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING (BPR)

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Business Process Reengineering

“Fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements…”Throw away everythingStart with a blank pageAppealing, but very expensive and risky

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1. (BPR) Understanding the As-Is System

Little effort spend hereJust get a basic understanding of the As-Is system

It’s going to be scrapped anyway

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2. (BPR) Identifying Improvement Opportunities

Focus is on radical improvementsThese are not easy to identify

Need techniques that are more powerful than is BPA or BPINeed to be pushed to“think outside of the box”

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Techniques for Identifying Improvements Opportunities

1. Outcome Analysis2. Breaking Assumptions3. Technology Analysis4. Activity Elimination5. Proxy Benchmarking6. Process Simplification

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Outcome Analysis

Consider desirable outcomes from customers’ perspectivePretend to be the customerConsider what the organization could enable the customer to do

Insurance company fixes cars

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Breaking Assumptions

Identify fundamental business rulesSystematically break each ruleIdentify how the the business would benefit if rule is broken

Bank accepts NSF checks & draws funds from credit card

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Technology Analysis

Analysts & managers list important and interesting technologies The group identifies

How each can be applied to businessThe benefits of each scenario

Saturn building intranet with suppliers for JIT parts delivery

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Activity Elimination

Identify what would happen if each organizational activity were eliminatedUse “force-fit” to test all possibilities, even though some results might be silly

Mortgage company removes approval process

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Proxy Benchmarking

List different industries that have a similar structureLook for techniques from other industries that could be applied by the organizationThrow in a few radically different industries

Hotel might look at:Airlines, newspapers, rock concerts

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Process Simplification

Eliminate complexity from routine transactionsConcentrate separate processes on exception handling

Online course registrationHandle lack of prerequisites separately

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3. (BPR) Developing To-Be System Concept

New system is radically differentRequires extensive information gathering

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DEVELOPING AN ANALYSIS PLAN

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Developing an Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan: plan for activities during the analysis phaseSelect analysis strategy first

Determined by project sponsorIt is a business decision

Potential business value Project cost Breadth of analysis Risk

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Analysis Strategies

Potential business valueBPA – benefits are tactical and smallBPI – potential benefits are moderateBPR – largest potential benefits

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Analysis Strategies

Project costBPA – Narrow scope, lest expensiveBPI – Depending on scope, can be

moderately expensiveBPR – Almost always very expensive

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Analysis Strategies

Breadth of analysisThe extent to which the analysis looks throughout the entire business function and beyond

BPA – Very narrow focus on currentsystems only

BPI – More extensive, but usually in just one narrow area

BPR – Broad perspective, focusing on many business processes

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Analysis Strategies

Risk – of failure due to:Being unable to complete the systemThe completed system being unable to deliver the business benefitsBPA – Low risk (same processes used)BPI – Low to ModerateBPR – High (completely new system)

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Characteristics of Analysis Strategies

Business Business BusinessProcess Process ProcessAutomation Improvement Reeingineering

Potential Business Low-Moderate Moderate HighValue

Project Cost Low Low-Moderate High

Breadth of Analysis Narrow Narrow-Moderate Very Broad

Risk Low Low-Moderate Very High

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Avoid Classic Analysis Mistakes

Reduced analysis timeSolution?Use RAD and timeboxing

Requirement gold-platingUnnecessary features are addedUsers over-specification of featuresSolution?Expensive requirements should be re-verified with requesterLower cost solutions should be looked at

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Analysis Tasks

How do we do the following?1. Understanding the As-Is system2. Identifying improvements3. Developing a concept for To-Be

system

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Analysis Tasks

To accomplish these tasks:Need to gather information

Many projects go wrongdue to a poor understanding of the requirements early on

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1st challenge of Info Gathering

Finding the right people to participate

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2nd challenge of Info Gathering

Deciding how to gather the informationFive techniques:1. Interviews2. Joint Application Design (JAD)3. Questionnaires4. Document Analysis5. Observation

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1. INTERVIEWS

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Interviews

Most commonly used techniqueVery natural

If you need to know something, you ask someone

There are 5 basic steps to interviewing…

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Interviews -- Five Basic Steps

1. Selecting interviewees2. Designing interview questions3. Preparing for the interview4. Conducting the interview5. Post-interview follow-up

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1. Selecting Interviewees

Need an interview schedulelist all people to be interviewedwhen each will be interviewedfor what purpose they will be interviewed

The list may be informal… or it may be part of the Analysis PlanList is based on info. needed

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1. Selecting Interviewees

Good to get different perspectivesManagersUsersIdeally, all key stakeholders

Select people for political reasonsInterviewing is iterative

List often grows by 50% to 75 %

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2. Designing Questions

Don't ask for information that can be obtained elsewhereWant to show interviewee respectWill get better information anyway

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2. Designing Questions

Types of Questions Examples

Closed-Ended Questions * How many telephone orders are received per day?

* How do customers place orders?* What additional information would you like the new system to provide?

Open-Ended Questions * What do you think about the current system?* What are some of the problems you face on a daily basis?* How do you decide what types of marketing campaign to run?

Probing Questions * Why?* Can you give me an example?* Can you explain that in a bit more detail?

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Closed-Ended Questions

Requires a specific answerOften multiple choiceGood for specific, precise info.

not "are there a lot of requests?"but "how many requests are there?"

Analyst is controlDoesn't uncover "why"

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Open-Ended Questions

Leave room for elaborationGives interviewee more controlYields more rich, deep info

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Probing Questions

Follow-up questionsFor clarificationEncouraged to expand answerShow your listening and interested

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2. Designing Questions

No one type of question is bestInitially use unstructured interviews to determine As-Is system (open-ended questions)As the analyst gains knowledge, structured interviews will be used (closed-ended questions)

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2. Designing Questions

Unstructured interviewBroad, roughly defined information

Structured interviewMore specific information

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3. Preparing for the Interview

Prepare for the interview in the same way you would for a presentationPrepare general interview plan

List of questionAnticipated answers and follow-upsSegues between related topics

Confirm interviewee's area of knowledgeDon't ask questions that can't be answered

Set priorities in case of time shortage

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3. Preparing for the Interview

Structured Interviews with closed-ended questions take longerDon't try to "wing it"

will need follow-up interviewsuser's don't like you to waste their time

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4. Conducting the Interview

Appear professional and unbiasedBuild rapport (and trust) with intervieweeRecord all informationCheck on organizational policy regarding tape recordingBe sure you understand all issues and termsSeparate facts from opinionsGive interviewee time to ask questionsBe sure to thank the intervieweeEnd on time

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4. Conducting the InterviewPractical Tips

Don’t worry, be happyPay attentionSummarize key pointsBe succinctBe honestWatch body language

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5. Post-Interview Follow-Up

Prepare interview notesPrepare interview report within 48 hoursGet buy-in from intervieweeLook for gaps and new questions

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2. JOINT APPLICATION DESIGN (JAD)

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JAD Key Ideas

Allows project managers, users, and developers to work togetherMay reduce scope creep by 50%Avoids requirements being too specific or too vague

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Joint Application Design (JAD) Important Roles

FacilitatorScribe

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Joint Application Design (JAD) Setting

U-Shaped seatingAway from distractionsWhiteboard/flip chartPrototyping toolse-JAD

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The JAD Session

Include 10 to 20 usersTend to last 5 to 10 days over a three week periodPrepare questions as with interviewsFormal agenda and groundrulesFacilitator activities

Stay neutralKeep session on trackHelp with technical terms and jargonRecord group inputHelp resolve issues

Post-session follow-up

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3. QUESTIONNAIRES

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Questionnaire Steps

Selecting participantsUsing samples of the population

Designing the questionnaireMore important than interview questionsPrioritize questions to grab attentionDistinguish between

Fact-oriented questions (specific answers) Opinion questions (agree – disagree scale)

Test the questionnaire on colleagues

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Questionnaire Steps

Administering the questionnaireNeed to get good response rateExplain its importance & how it will be usedGive expected response dateGive it out in personFollow up on late returnsHave supervisors follow upPromise to report results

Questionnaire follow-upSend results to participants

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4. Document Analysis

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Document Analysis

Provides clues about the "formal" existing As-Is systemTypical documents

FormsReportsPolicy manuals

Look for user additions to formsLook for unused form elementsDo document analysis before interviews

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5. Observation

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Observation

Users/managers often don’t remember everything they doValidates info gathered in other waysBehaviors change when people are watchedKeep low profile, don’t change the processCareful not to ignore periodic activities

Weekly … Monthly … Annual

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Selecting the Appropriate Techniques

Interviews JAD Questionnaires Document Observation Analysis

Type of As-Is As-Is As-Is As-Is As-IsInformation Improve. Improve. Improve. To-Be To-Be

Depth of High High Medium Low LowInformation

Breadth of Low Medium High High LowInformation

Integration Low High Low Low Lowof Info.

User Medium High Low Low LowInvolvement

Cost Medium Low- Low Low Low- Medium Medium

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Expanding the Domain

Additional resources regarding Joint Application Development can be found at:http://www.carolla.com/wp-jad.htm http://www.utexas.edu/hr/is/pubs/jad.html