Analysis

Systems analysis involves a substantial amount of effort and cost, and is therefore undertaken
only after management has decided that the systems development project under consideration has
merit and should be pursued through this phase.

The purpose of analysis is to determine what information and information processing

services are needed to support selected objectives and functions of the organization.
Gathering this information is called requirements determination.

The results of the requirements determination can be structured according to three essential
views of the current and replacement information systems:

 Process: The sequence of data movement and handling operations within the system.
 Logic and timing. The rules by which data are transformed and manipulated and an
indication of what triggers data transformation.
 Data: The inherent structure of data independent of how or when they are processed.

Determining System Requirements

Analysis has two sub phases: Requirements determination and Requirements structuring.

 Traditional requirements determination methods, including interviewing, observing users in

their work environment, and collecting procedures and other written documents.
 Current methods for collecting system requirements. Joint Application Design

(JAD), CASE tools, prototyping, and new Agile techniques.

The Process of Determining Requirements

Once management has granted permission to pursue development of a new system and a project
is initiated and planned, you begin determining what the new system should do.

 During requirements determination, you and other analysts gather information on what the
system should do from as many sources as possible: from users of the current system; from
observing users; and from reports, forms, and procedures.
 All of the system requirements are carefully documented and prepared for structuring. In
many ways, gathering system requirements is like conducting any investigation.

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 In many ways, gathering system requirements is like conducting any investigation.

When gathering requirements, you should question everything. You need to ask questions
such as:

 Are all transactions processed the same way?

 Could anyone be charged something other than the standard price?
 Might we someday want to allow and encourage employees to work for more than one
department?

Impartiality: Your role is to find the best solution to a business problem or opportunity.

Not, to find a way to justify the purchase of new hardware or to insist on incorporating what
users think they want into the new system requirements.

You must 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.

e.g. do not accept statement like: “We’ve always done it that way, so we have to continue the
practice.” Traditions are different from rules and policies.

Attention to details: Every fact must fit with every other fact.

One element out of place means that even the best system will fail at some time.

For example, Inaccurate definition of who a customer is may mean that you remove customer
data when a customer has no active orders, yet these past customers may be vital contacts for
future sales.

Reframing: Analysis is, in part, a creative process.

You must challenge yourself to look at the organization in new ways.

You must consider how each user views his or her requirements.

You must be careful not to jump to the following conclusion: “I worked on a system like that
once—this new system must work the same way as the one I built before.”

Deliverables and outcomes: The primary deliverables from requirements determination are: -

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 The various forms of information gathered during the determination process:
 Transcripts of interviews; notes from observation and analysis of documents;
 Sets of forms, reports, job descriptions, and other documents; and
 Computer-generated output such as system prototypes.

Grouping of collected information

Collected information can be grouped in three groups:

 Information collected from conversations with or observations of users (interview transcripts,

notes from observations etc.)
 Existing written information (business mission or strategy, forms, reports, training manuals,
flow charts and documentation of existing system etc.)
 Computer-based information (results from JAD sessions, CASE repository contents)

Data gathering methods

The best way to get information is to talk to the people who are directly or indirectly involved in
the different parts of the organizations affected by the possible system changes: users, managers,
funders, and so on.

Another way to find out about the current system is to gather copies of documentation relevant to
current systems and business processes.

1. Interviewing and listening

Interviewing is one of the primary ways analysts gather information about an information
systems project.

In the early project phase, an analyst may spend a large amount of time interviewing people
about their work, the information they use to do it, and the types of information processing that
might supplement their work.

Other stakeholders are interviewed to understand organizational direction, policies, expectations.

managers have on the units they supervise, and other non-routine aspects of organizational
operations.

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  During interviews you will gather facts, opinions, and speculation (Guess, when you
guess possible answers to a question without having enough information to be certain)
 Observe body language, emotions, and other signs of what people want and how they
assess current systems.

Choosing Interview Questions

You need to decide what mix and sequence of open-ended and closed-ended questions you will
use.
Open-ended questions, are usually used to probe for information for which you cannot
anticipate all possible responses or for which you do not know the precise question to ask.
The person being interviewed is encouraged to talk about whatever interests him or her within
the general bounds of the question.

Example: -

 What would you say is the best thing about the information system you currently use to do
your job?
 List the three most frequently used menu options

Closed-ended questions, provide a range of answers from which the interviewee may choose.

Example: -

Which of the following would you say is the one best thing about the information system you
currently use to do your job (pick only one)?

a. Having easy access to all of the data you need

b. The system’s response time

c. The ability to access the system from remote locations

Closed-ended questions work well when the major answers to questions are well known.

closed-ended questions do not necessarily require a large time commitment—more topics can be
covered.

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A major disadvantage of closed-ended questions is that useful information that does not quite fit
into the defined answers may be overlooked as the respondent tries to make a choice instead of
providing his or her best answer.

Closed-ended questions, can follow several forms, including the following choices:

 True or false.
 Multiple choice (with only one response or selecting all relevant choices).
 Rating a response or idea on a scale, say from bad to good or strongly agree to strongly
disagree. Ranking items in order of importance.
2. Directly observing users

By examining existing system and organizational documentation, system analyst can find out
details about current system and the organization.

In documents, analyst can find information, such as problem with existing systems, opportunities
to meet new needs if only certain information or information processing were available.
organizational direction that can influence information system requirements, and the reason why
current systems are designed as they are etc.

3. Analyzing Procedures and other Documents

When analyzing those official documentations, analysts should pay attention to the difference
between the systems described on the official documentations and the practical systems in real
world.

For the reason of inadequacies (not enough) of formal procedures, individual work habits and
preferences, resistance to control, and other factors, the difference between so called formal
system and informal system universally exists.

In documents you can find information about: -

 Problems with existing systems (e.g., missing information or redundant steps)

 Opportunities to meet new needs if only certain information or information processing were
available (e.g., analysis of sales based on customer type)

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 Organizational direction that can influence information system requirements (e.g., trying to
link customers and suppliers more closely to the organization)
 Titles and names of key individuals who have an interest in relevant existing systems (e.g.,
the name of a sales manager who led a study of the buying behavior of key customers)
 Values of the organization or individuals who can help determine priorities for different
capabilities desired by different users (e.g., maintaining market share even if it means lower
short-term profits)
 Special information processing circumstances that occur irregularly that may not be
identified by any other requirements determination technique (e.g., special handling needed
for a few large-volume customers that requires use of customized customer ordering
procedures)
 The reason why current systems are designed as they are, which can suggest features left out
of current software, which may now be feasible and more desirable (e.g., data about a
customer’s purchase of competitors’ products were not available when the current system
was designed; these data are now available from several sources)
 Data, rules for processing data, and principles by which the organization operates that must
be enforced by the information system (e.g., each customer is assigned exactly one sales
department staff member as a primary contact if the customer has any questions)
4. Contemporary Methods for Determining System Requirements

Today, however, there are additional techniques to collect information about the current system,
the organizational area requesting the new system, and what the new system should be like.

In this section, you will learn about several contemporary information gathering techniques for
analysis JAD, CASE tools to support JAD, and prototyping.

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