Transcript Systems Analysis I Information Gathering ISYS 200 Glenn Booker ISYS 200 Week #2 Information Gathering  There are two types of methods for gathering information about a system    Interactive.

Systems Analysis I
Information Gathering
ISYS 200
Glenn Booker
ISYS 200
Week #2
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Information Gathering
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There are two types of methods for gathering
information about a system
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Interactive methods, which interact with
the users of the existing system
Unobtrusive (passive) methods, which
observe aspects of the existing system
Our goal is to understand the good and bad
aspects of the existing system, to help
determine requirements for our new system
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An Aside
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Notice a couple of key assumptions here:
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We assume that we are basing our system on
some existing set of activities and/or associated
information system(s)
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The existing activities could be automated,
manual, or (most likely) a mixture of the two
Part of the objectives for our new system is to
improve on the existing activities in some way
In order to understand the needs of the system
we’re going to create, we need to understand
the existing way things are being done
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Interactive Methods
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We’ll cover three methods for gathering
information interactively
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Interviews
Joint Application Design (JAD)
Questionnaires
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Interviews
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Preparation is key to giving good interviews
Look for your own biases, such as regarding
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The type of legacy system
The educational level of the users
The intelligence of the users
The type of work being done
And anything else which might be a factor
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Interviews
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Make sure the purpose and scope of
the interview are clear
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What kinds of information are you looking for?
Whom do you need to interview?
How much time do you need?
Are the interviewees all in one location?
Keep in mind that opinions are also
important information, not just facts
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Interviews
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Users may have strong feelings about
what’s good and bad about the existing
system, which can feed the problems
and opportunities analysis
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Also gives insight into the organizational culture
Look for the users’ objectives or goals
You want to interview to be a comfortable
experience for the subject, but you need to
keep control
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Interview Preparation
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To prepare for an interview
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Read background material
Establish interviewing objectives
Decide whom to interview, e.g. people in
different roles
Prepare the interviewee – call or email in advance
Decide on question types and structure
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Question Types
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Questions can be open-ended or closed
An open-ended question encourages a
long response
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What do you think about …?
What’s your opinion about …?
Please explain how you …?
What are the biggest problems …?
Could you tell me why …?
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Question Types
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Closed questions encourage a Yes or No
answer, or a very short response
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Who receives …?
Do you like …?
Do you want …?
How many times a week …?
Keep in mind they take little time to answer
compared to open-ended questions
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Question Types
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Open questions get more detail and help
build trust with the interviewee
Closed questions cover more subjects, keep
control better, and are easier to manage
Open questions may be followed up with a
probe question
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Why?
Can you give me an example?
Will you please explain that for me?
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Organizing Questions
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Just like logic can be inductive or deductive,
the structure of interview questions can follow
similar patterns
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The pyramid approach goes from specific
questions to general ones (inductive)
The funnel approach goes from general to
specific (deductive)
A diamond approach goes from specific, to
general, then back to specific
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Organizing Questions
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After the interview, write a report on it to
capture key information
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It’s common for someone to write down
responses during an interview, the avoid losing
key observations
Compare results with the objectives of
the interview
If needed, contact interviewee for clarification
or get missing info from later interviews
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Joint Application Design
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Joint Application Design (or Development)
(JAD) is uses a group setting to resolve
some key aspects of the system – often
requirements and/or high level design
Good to use when there are strongly
conflicting views or priorities, or urgent
need for a new perspective
Otherwise generally not worth while,
since it tends to be expensive
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Joint Application Design
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JAD typically involves 8-12 people
representing various users and technical
specialties, including
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Executive sponsor starts and finishes the session
At least one IS/IT analyst should be present, but
primarily for a sanity check on possible solutions
The session leader is typically an outside
consultant, trained in leading JAD sessions
Observers may attend
A scribe is used to record results (take minutes)
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Joint Application Design
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JAD sessions are typically held off-site (away
from the normal office) to help people focus
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JAD sessions typically last 2-4 days; they’re
too intense to last much longer
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For design work, prototyping tools may be needed
Attendees need 100% commitment to the session
The scope of a JAD session needs to be
clearly defined; a formal agenda is common
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Joint Application Design
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JAD can save time over interviews, reduce
the cycle time, improve ownership in the
decisions reached, and finally, it can
encourage more creative design work
OTOH, JAD requires a noticeable time
commitment, it relies on good preparation
and follow-up, and the organizational culture
needs to support its approach
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Questionnaires
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Questionnaires (surveys) can help determine
how people in the organization are affected
by the existing system
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Helps determine if a view found in an interview is
widespread or not
Or could be used to help identify problem areas
before interviews are conducted
If you use closed questions, the responses
can be quantified
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Questionnaires
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Questionnaires are good to use:
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If the respondents are widely distributed
geographically
You want statistics on certain viewpoints
You want an overview of the situation before
further investigation, or
If you want a survey of problems with the
existing system to follow up with interviews
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Questionnaires
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The questions used for questionnaires
need to be more carefully thought out
than for an interview
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You need to decide if open-ended questions
should have some structure (e.g. the top three
problems), instead of just an open question
about problems
If you want quantifiable information, you need
to structure the response section to give
consistent responses
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Questionnaires
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Closed questions typically need to be
answered by checking a box, circling a
response, or entering numbers
The choice of wording is very important
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Use local terminology
Keep wording simple, but don’t talk down to
the audience
Keep questions short
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Questionnaires
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Avoid bias in wording
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Why do you hate the existing system?
[Like a psychiatrist asking “Why do you
hate your mother?”]
Make sure wording is accurate
Make sure the audience can answer
the questions – is it in the scope of
their knowledge?
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Scales in Questionnaires
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Consider how you are measuring responses
What kind of scale are you creating?
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Do you find the help desk staff courteous?
1 = Yes, 2 = No
How courteous do you find the help desk staff?
(Rate on 1-100, 1 = not at all, 100 = extremely)
Between those extremes, the 5-point Likert
scale is common (e.g. 1 = not at all,
5 = extremely)
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Designing Questionnaires
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The approaches for designing a
questionnaire can follow the same principles
as an interview – you just have no flexibility
to adapt it based on the responses
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Put questions important to the respondent
first (why?)
Cluster similar topics together
Introduce controversial questions later
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Questionnaires
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Administering (giving) a questionnaire can
be done many ways
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Hand them out at a meeting, and collect
them immediately
Collect finished questionnaires in a drop box
Provide instructions and return postage so they
can mail the completed questionnaire back
Email the questionnaire
Post the questionnaire on a web site
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Questionnaires
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Keep in mind that a questionnaire could be
more valuable (objective) if it’s anonymous
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Don’t include questions that would compromise
that objectivity
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Who is your manager?
How long have you been working here?
What is your age?
What is your gender?
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Unobtrusive Methods
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Unobtrusive methods for gathering
information include
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Sampling
Investigation
Observation
These should be used in conjunction
with one or more interactive methods
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Sampling
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Sampling refers to selecting a subset of the
whole subject (the population) in order to
deduce information about the population
In this context, we might want to know
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Which of our system’s inputs and outputs we
should examine? or
Which people we should interview?
We could also sample existing data to use for
test cases
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Sampling
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Sampling helps speed up data collection,
thereby reducing cost; but can also reduce
bias and improve effectiveness
To create a sample, need to
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Determine data to be collected
Determine population to be sampled
Choose type of sample
Calculate sample size
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Types of Samples
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A systematic sample just takes every nth
person or record
A simple random sample is the most
common kind for polling
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Use some objective means to generate a
random number, and include that person or
record in your sample
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Types of Samples
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Stratified samples look for types of groups in
the population (e.g. Windows, Mac, and Unix
users), then takes a simple random sample
within each stratum
A clustered sample is based on choosing
some number of clusters of information (e.g.
sites) to represent all clusters, and taking a
random sample within the selected clusters
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Sample Size
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Determine what attribute you want
to measure
Finding a sample size is weird, since you
have to start by guessing what the answer is
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Select a value for ‘p’, the proportion of things
which will have the thing you want (e.g. percent
of people who will vote for X)
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For the worst case (and largest sample size),
choose p = 0.50
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Sample Size
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Choose the acceptable margin for error, ‘i’
(typically 3-5%, a.k.a. interval estimate)
Choose the confidence level in your result,
and look up the corresponding ‘z’ value
Let sP = i/z
Then the sample size, ‘n’, is
n = p(1-p) / sP2 + 1
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Critical Z values
Confidence Level
2-sided critical Z
80%
1.28
90%
1.645
95%
1.96
99%
2.57
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Sample Size Example
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So if we want a worst case sample size for
3% confidence interval, and 95% level of
confidence, the simple random sample size is
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P = 0.50
i = 0.03
Z = 1.96
sP = i/z = 0.03/1.96 = 0.01531
n = p(1-p) / sP2 + 1 = 0.25 / (0.01531)2 + 1 = 1068
We need a sample size of 1068
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Sample Size Caveat
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The previous formula for ‘n’ assumes a
very large population (in the 1000’s)
To correct for a small population, ‘N’,
or if ‘i’ is extremely small, use this
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n = [N*Z2*p*(1-p)] / [N*i2 + Z2*p*(1-p)]
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Investigation
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Investigation in this context refers to
examining the existing system, both
quantitative and qualitative documents
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Quantitative Investigation
Qualitative Investigation
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Quantitative Investigation
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Existing reports may be examined to
determine several things
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What existing reports will need to be created
by the new system?
How has data been entered into the system?
What are the current performance and process
goals or objectives?
How well have they been doing in meeting
those goals?
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Quantitative Investigation
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Examples of quantitative reports might
include reports used for decision making
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Status of inventory
Production quality
Amount of sales
Profitability
Staffing reports
These typically look for trends and problems
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Quantitative Investigation
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Performance reports might compare actual
performance to the planned or goal values
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Could look for completeness of such reports – are
all areas reporting their performance?
General records can show individual
data updates
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Such as payment records, invoices, timesheets
Check for completeness, accuracy, and
opportunities for improvements
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Quantitative Investigation
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Data capture forms are generally the
lowest level of data
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Great for understanding the start of business
processes
Look for unofficial and informal forms in use
Document how the forms are used
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What is the business process flow?
Who fills out each form?
Who approves each form?
Is their use mandatory?
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Quantitative Investigation
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Check for consistency between the forms
and the existing database
Are some forms never used?
Are there variations of the same form used?
Are there multiple places to find a form?
Data capture forms are often the most
frequently used work products, so
improvements here can pay off a lot
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Qualitative Investigation
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Qualitative documents include any kind of
relatively unstructured text – memos, letters,
procedures, fliers, web sites, etc.
These often tell a lot about the company
culture and document expectations
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Is the company portrayed as a machine?
Family? Corporation? Team?
Is there a sense of humor?
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Qualitative Investigation
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Memos, for example, can tell a lot from their
distribution and tone
What’s most important to the organization?
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Safety? Profit? Happy customers? Happy
stockholders? Quality? Market share?
Signs posted in common areas can
answer this
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Qualitative Investigation
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What about their web site?
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What kind of metaphors does it use?
Is it clear?
Is it interactive?
Look at their manuals, procedures & policies
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Are they current?
Are they used by anyone?
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Observing Behavior
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Another key way to obtain information
unobtrusively is to observe people doing
their jobs
Need to get their managers’ approval, and
explain what you’re doing
Can observe people at different levels – data
entry people, analysts, managers, etc.
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Note this differs from the text
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Observing Behavior
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At low levels of the organization, observation
can help answer key questions
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How often are different types of tasks done?
Are they following the stated procedures?
What do they do when something goes wrong?
In what order do they do things (e.g. data entry)?
For managers, how do they make decisions?
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This can help outline procedures as they occur
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Observing Behavior
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Can model behavior by treating each person
as an actor, and summarize the steps each
follows in their “script”
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How do they gather data? Read, observe, ask?
What decisions do they make? Whom do they tell
about those decisions?
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Observing Environment
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Another aspect of observation is to look at
the work environment
The STROBE method refers to “STRuctured
Observation of the Environment”
Decision makers often define the work
environment, so it’s helpful to see what
kind of world they have created
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Like the director of a movie
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Observing Environment
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What does their office location say?
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Do they have corner offices?
Are they located with other managers,
or with their staff?
Does their desk placement encourage
communication? Demonstrate power?
Where do they store data? Do they have a
lot of it or a little?
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Observing Environment
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Do they appear to use their PC and/or
PDA often?
Do they get information from outside
publications or the Web?
Do the office’s lighting and colors encourage
communication, or detailed work?
What do their clothes say about them? Is
there a clear hierarchy based on clothes?
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Observing Environment
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Using STROBE can help understand the
priorities of a user
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If they don’t use a PC often, maybe reports
should be formatted for paper instead of Web
If they don’t care about looking at data, then the
ability to “drill down” in reports might not be urgent
If they are very hierarchical, that could imply a
limit on the distribution of reports
And so on…
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