Information Systems Development MIS331

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Information Systems DevelopmentMIS331

• Information Gathering

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Agenda

• External success factors in SA D
• Get the user involved!
• Focus on Analysis phase activities
• Requirements determination
• Requirements structuring
• Alternative generation and selection
• Presentation issues and tips

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PIECES Framework
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System Success Factors

• The client may not be the end-user
• He who signs the checks is the client
• The system is for the end-user
• The analyst has the unenviable task of balancing
  the constraints of the client with the needs of
  the end-user
• Regardless of the need to balance...

You must get the user involved!
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User Involvement

• Creates a sense of ownership
• Builds a feeling of responsibility for success
• Reduces inhibitions associated with unknowns of a
  new environment
• Minimizes intrinsic resistance to change
• Eliminates anxieties created by lack of
  communication
• If you dont provide an agenda for a
  groupeventually they will create their own
• Has been shown to be directly related to system
  success

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Requirements Determination

• The facts, maam, just the facts
• Gathering information from a variety of sources
  for the purpose of determining just exactly what
  is happening and when.
• Often, what the users think is happening is
  different from what is actually happening.
• Also, the reality of when something happens can
  be radically different than the users
  perception.
• We need to make use of a variety of data
  gathering techniques.
• Obtrusive versus Unobtrusive
• Interactive versus Detached

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Traditional Methods

• Interviewing
• Can be used in both an exploratory and a
  confirmatory manner
• Questionnaires
• Primarily a confirmatory technique
• Direct Observation
• Exploratory or confirmatory
• Obtrusive and unobtrusive
• sometimes people change their behavior when being
  observed
• Hawthorne Effect
• Procedure and Document Review
• Forms, contracts, policy manuals, org.charts, etc.

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Modern Methods

• Joint Application Design (JAD)
• simultaneous collection of requirements from key
  personnel
• JAD sessions are simply structured group meetings
• Group Support Systems (GSS)
• Facilitates the JAD process
• Promotes anonymity thus reducing inhibition to
  participate
• Can provide structure to chaos
• CASE tools (Upper CASE)
• Can organize the findings of many analysts
• Provides consistency in modeling activities
• Prototyping
• Show me what youve got and Ill tell you if I
  like it.

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Structuring and Alternatives

• Structuring involves the use of models to
  describe the system requirements in an
  understandable fashion.
• Process, Logic, and Data Modeling
• Alternative Generation and Selection
• Some schools of thought allow for selection of
  development method based upon the identified
  system requirements.
• We do not subscribe to this school of thought.

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System Modeling

• Logical versus Physical
• A physical model describes a system in an
  implementation-dependent manner
• How we do it.
• A logical model describes a system in an
  implementation-independent manner
• What we do.

How
Physical
Physical
What
Logical
Logical
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Presentations

• Issues and Tips

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For Next Time...

• Were going to play a game (no
  preparations necessary)