Week 08 SYAD-Analysis - Requirements

AAPP007-4-2
Systems Analysis and Design
System Requirements
Topic & Structure of the lesson
• Requirement Gathering
Techniques.
• Types of Requirements
AAPP007-4-2 Systems Analysis and Design System Requirements Slide 2 (of

Topic & Structure of the lesson
• Systems Analysis
– Fact-finding techniques.
– Requirements
AAPP007-4-2 Systems Analysis and Design System Requirements

Learning Outcomes
• By the end of this lecture, YOU should be able to :

– Describe the following fact-finding techniques:
Interview, Document review, Observation, Surveys
and Questionnaires, Sampling, Research.
– List the principles to follow when recording facts.
– Identify and describe the software tools used for
recording facts.
– Identify types of requirements.
AAPP007-4-2 Systems Analysis and Design System Requirements Slide 3 (of 24)
For Assignment Individual
Component
• Describe in detail the RE done for the
project.
– Who is involved
– When/Where activities took place
– Why RE technique was chosen
• No actual Interview/Survey/Observation/
Document Review.

Key Terms you must be able to use
• If you have mastered this topic, you should

be able to use the following terms correctly
in your assignments and exams:
– Fact-finding
– Interview
– Sampling
– Questionnaire
– Observation

Questions asked in search of facts
are :
• WHO
• WHAT
• WHERE
• WHEN
• HOW
• WHY

Example of Business Process
(Clinic Management System)
Patient register his The employee Pass the card to The patient has to
information at the record this the doctor. wait until his name
registration information in is call.
counter. patients’ history
card.
All the cards will be store

in a file cabinet. Until the
patient next appointment
with the doctor. (if any)
8
Fact-finding Techniques
• Interview
• Document review
• Observation
• Sampling
• Research
• Surveys and Questionnaires

Interview
• Interview is one the most common fact-gathering
techniques use to collect information about the
existing system or propose system.
• Definition: An interview is a systematic approach
for eliciting information from a person (or a
group of people) in an informal or formal
setting by asking questions and documenting
the responses. It uses a specific questions and
answer format.
• One of the most important thing to keep in mind
while conducting an interview is to seek the
opinion of the person you are interviewing as
opinion are more important than facts.

Interview
There are TWO (2) types of interview:
• Structured Interview
– Structured interviews are those where the interviewee is
asked a standard set of questions in a particular
order. All interviewees are asked the same set of
questions.
– The questions are further divided in two kinds of formats
for conducting this type of interview. The first is the open-
response format in which the respondent is free to
answer in his own words. An example of open-
response is "Why are you dissatisfied with the current
leave processing method?"
– The other option is of closed-response format, which
limits the respondents to opt their answer from a set
of already prescribed choices. An example of such a
question might be "Are you satisfied with the current
leave processing methods?" or "Do you think that the
manual leave processing procedure be changed with
some automated procedure?"

Interview
There are TWO (2) types of interview:
• Unstructured Interview
– The unstructured interviews are undertaken in
a question-and-answer format. This is of a
much more flexible nature than the structured
interview and can be very rightly used to
gather general information about the
system.
– Here the respondents are free to answer in
their own words. In this way their views are
not restricted. So the interviewer get a bigger
area to further explore the issues pertaining to
a problem.

Interview
The person who will conduct an interview
should has a skill to plan, conduct and
document the interview.
FOUR (4) questions to ask before

conducting an Interview:
1. Are you interviewing one person at a time
or a group of people?
2. Are you thinking of using an office space
or a cafe?
3. What questions will you ask?
4. Who will document the responses and
how will it be done?

Steps to Conduct an Interview
• Step 1: Determine the people to interview.

• Step 2: Establish objectives for the interview.
• Step 3: Develop interview questions.
• Step 4: Prepare for the interview.
• Step 5: Conduct the interview.
• Step 6: Document the interview
• Step 7: Evaluate the interview
1
4
• Step 1: Determine the people to interview
– Select the right people and ask the right
questions.
– Don’t rely on just an organization chart.
– Decide on group and/or individual interviews.
• Step 2: Establish objectives for the interview
– Determine the areas to be discussed.
– List the facts you need to gather.
– Upper management provides the big picture.
– Users can give you specific details.
1
5
– Decide what to ask and how to phrase the
questions.
– The same question to different people - for
comparison
 Open ended questions encourage spontaneous and
unstructured responses.
 Close ended questions limit the response - used to verify facts.
1
6
Objective To identify the problems and solutions for the
project.
Questions 1. What is your roles in the organization?
2. Based on your roles, what are the processes
involved in the current system that helps you to
complete your task?
3. Do you encounter any problems while using
the current system?
4. Based on the problem that you’ve mentioned,
any suggestion for improvement?
1
7
• Step 4: Prepare for the interview
– Careful preparation is essential because an
interview is an important meeting and not just a
casual chat.
– Limit the interview to no more than one hour
– Verify time, place, length, and topics via e-
mail.
– Ask the interviewee to have samples available.
1
8
• Step 5: Conduct the interview
– Develop a specific plan for the meeting
– Begin by introducing yourself, describing the
project, and explaining your interview objectives.
– Engaged listening.
– Allow the person enough time to think about the
question.
– After an interview, you should summarize the
session and seek a confirmation.
1
9
• Step 6: Document the interview
– Note taking should be kept to a minimum.
– After conducting the interview, you must
record the information quickly.
– After the interview, send memo to the
interviewee expressing your appreciation.
– Note date, time, location, purpose of the
interview, and the main points you discussed so
the interviewee has a written summary and can
offer additions or corrections.
2
0
• Step 7: Evaluate the interview
– In addition to recording the facts obtained in an
interview, try to identify any possible biases.
2
1
Advantages of Interview
• Interviews offer the analyst an opportunity to
establish rapport and trust with the interviewee. By
conducting a face-to-face meeting, the analyst can
start a cordial relationship with the interviewee to make
them feel involved in the project.
• Interviews allow the interviewee to respond freely
and openly to questions, especially when the location
is private.
• Interviews provide an opportunity for the analyst to
ask follow-up questions or re-word the question
to get instant feedback from the interviewee.
• Interviews present an opportunity for the analyst to
observe non-verbal clues. It is not everything that an
interviewee can put into words.

Disadvantages of Interview
• Interviews can be time-consuming to prepare for. In
most cases, the analyst has to spend a significant
portion of their time preparing the interview questions
and gathering as much background information as
possible. Asking questions has to be carefully planned
to ensure the analyst gets the most out of the
interview session. Training is often required to
conduct effective interviews; the effectiveness of
interviews naturally depends on the interviewer’s
knowledge of the business domain.

Disadvantages of Interview
• Interviews can also be costly especially where
stakeholders have to be interviewed one at a time or
where the analyst has to travel to another
geographical location to interview stakeholders. In
some cases, the geographical dispersion of
stakeholders may make it impossible for them to be
interviewed via a face-to-face meeting. For such
scenarios, interviews can be conducted using web
conference facilities or via telephone.

Observation
• The observation technique is an effective means
of deciphering how a user does their job by
conducting an assessment of their work
environment.
• It increases the analyst's familiarity with the
culture and working style of a group of people.
• Observation technique is best applied where:
– A current process is to be monitored.
– The objective is to improve a process.
– Stakeholders find it hard to explain what they do or
what their requirements are.
– Processes are highly repeatable e.g. manufacturing
Steps to Conduct Observation
Step 1: Determine the which events to be observe.
Prepare question(s) that relate to the events.
Example:
Event/Process Actor Question(s)
Patient registration Receptionist 1. Who handle this process?

at the counter. Patient 2. What are the steps that a patient needs to
go through for a registration? (Existing/New
Patient)
3. Is there any registration form? What are
the data that need to be fill up?
4. How the receptionist search a record for an
existing patient?
The answer to each question should a description

of the event or process that happen during the
observation.
Steps to Conduct Observation
Step 2: Conduct the observation for the same
event/process for different time period (peak,
normal or low). Example:
Event/Process Peak Normal Low
Patient registration
at the counter.
The answer should be description the event or

process that happen during the observation.
Passive and Active Observation
An observation can be conduct in TWO (2) ways:
• Passive Observation
– Passive/Invisible observation happens where the
analyst has no interaction with the worker while the
observation is going on, but takes notes.
– The analyst would typically ask follow-up questions
after the observation session by using a prepared list
of questions or asking questions on the fly.
• Active Observation
– Active/visible observation, happen when the analyst
can interrupt the worker to ask questions during
the observation session.
– In some cases, the observer may participate in the
activity as an apprentice.
Advantages of Observation
• The data gathered during observation
sessions are quite reliable; it is often used to
confirm the data extracted using other
techniques.
• Observation can be used to extract information
on the physical environment where the task is
performed. For example, the analyst can get
information on level of noise, physical layout,
traffic and so on.
• It is relatively inexpensive.
• It allows the analyst to perform work
measurements.
Disadvantages of Observation
• The exceptions are difficult to capture in one
session; repeated observation sessions and
interviews may be needed to supplement the
facts gathered.
• Observers are also prone to bias reflected in the
form of seeing what they expect to see and what
they want to see, which can affect the results of
the observation.
• Stakeholders are prone to interruptions during
observation sessions and can respond differently
when being studied as demonstrated by the
Hawthorne Effect.
Document Review
• It is the art of studying relevant business,
system and project documentation with the
objective of understanding the business, the
project background and identifying
requirements or opportunities for
improvement.
• It’s a means of gathering information before
scheduling interviews or other elicitation sessions
with stakeholders.
Steps to Conduct Document
Review
• To perform document analysis effectively, the
analyst should always check the source of
documents for possible bias.
• Document Analysis is performed in 3 stages:
– Prepare Stage – this involves identifying which
materials are suitable and relevant for analysis.
– Review Stage – this involves studying the
material, taking note of relevant information and
listing follow-up questions for the stakeholders
– Wrap up Stage – this stage involves reviewing
notes with stakeholders, organizing requirements
and seeking answers to follow-up questions
Advantages and disadvantages
of Document Review
Advantages
• Can come in useful where the stakeholder is
unavailable or no longer with the organization.
• Ensures that the analyst does not start from a blank
page.
• Acts as a means of cross-checking requirements
with other sources.
Disadvantages
• Document Analysis is limited to the as-is situation.
• Documents usually need to be updated to reflect
current circumstances.
• It can be time-consuming to find and sift through
masses of information.
Examples of documents that
can be review.
• Business Process Documentation – contains details
of current business processes, process participants,
handoffs and other process–related information that
can help the analyst understand how processes work.
• Functional specifications of existing system –

contains details of how the current system works and
may help the analyst understand any missing features
or gaps that can be considered in future version.
• Business Rule Documentation – contains a list of all

the business rules that guide the business process in
context; it is usually documented separately from the
business process.
can be review.
• Organizational Structure – this is a hierarchical
representation of the teams or units in an organization,
business entities, communication lines and the
reporting structure. The analyst can obtain information
on which stakeholders to consult during requirements
elicitation.
• Benchmarking Studies – contain information on

industry best practices and the actions that other
organizations have taken to achieve success.
• Company Memos - company memos may contain

project information, meeting updates and requests.
can be review.
• Product Reviews – this is a review of one or more
comparable solutions by industry pundits, which
typically point at strengths and weaknesses of
solutions.
• Contracts – contains information like service level

agreements, customer expectations and the like.
• Customer Suggestions/Feedback – a catalogue of

common complaints by customers can be used to
generate a list of requirements to consider. It also
represents an "outside-in" perspective.
Surveys and Questionnaires:
Questionnaire VS Survey
Questionnaire.
• A questionnaire is a set
of questions typically used for research
purposes which can be both qualitative as
well as quantitative in nature.
• A questionnaire may or may not be
delivered in the form of a survey, but a
survey always consists of questionnaire.
• A questionnaire used in qualitative
research asks open ended questions via
email, telephone or face-to-face meetings.
• A questionnaire used in quantitative
research asks more closed ended
questions with restricted options to
answer.
Survey
• Survey is a sophisticated quantitative
research method comprised of
questionnaire with the intention of efficient
gathering of data from a set of
respondents.
• A survey mainly consists of closed ended
questions with very few open ended
questions for free form answers.
• The respondent can explain the answer in
a descriptive style in case of open-ended
questions or a responded can be asked to
choose a response or an answer from a
pre-defined set of options in case of close-
ended questions.
Survey
• It’s vital to remember that you decimate,
distribute or use questionnaire but you
don’t conduct a questionnaire.
• The list of questions in a survey is
called questionnaire. So the
questionnaire is a tool to conduct a survey.
Steps to Conduct Surveys and
Questionnaire
1. Start by identifying the objective of the
survey. This will help you streamline the
questions you need to ask to fulfil the
objective. Remember that shorter surveys
get higher response rates so don’t try to
achieve too many objectives with one
survey.
2. Determine the group of stakeholders to
be sampled. For very small groups of less
than 150, sample everyone, if possible.
For larger groups comprising thousands,
select the sample of participants that are
representative of the user population.
Questionnaire
3. In some cases, it may make sense to
divide users into different categories.
An example is designing a survey to focus
on the different modules of system and
having the users of each module respond
to specific questions.
4. Determine what tools will be needed for
the survey. Examples: Survey Monkey,
web-based surveys, email surveys,
telephone surveys and paper-based
surveys.
Questionnaire
5. Develop a rough draft of the questions
and examine if the responses will fulfil
the objectives of the survey. There are
different types of survey questions:
• Multiple Choice
• Binary
• Ranking
• Checklist response
Questionnaire
• In framing questions, take note of the
following:
– Ensure that your questions are concise and
easy to understand. Avoid the use of jargon
and ambiguous words.
– Move from general to specific questions.
– Arrange questions in a logical manner.
Questions that are similar should be grouped
within the same section. This categorization can
also be done based on type of question. For
example, multiple-choice questions can be
grouped together within the same section.
Questionnaire
6. Test and revise the survey based on the
results. This may involve conducting a pilot
exercise so that it can be adequately validated.
Observe how long it takes respondents to
complete the survey so that you can get an
accurate timing for your survey.
Questionnaire
7. Make sure you send a cover letter or
notification letter out with the survey that
clearly indicates:
– The purpose of the survey
– The sponsor
– How the results will be used
– Any incentives for participating in the survey
– Whether or not the responses will be confidential
– The deadline for submitting a response &
– The estimated time to complete the questionnaire.
Questionnaire
8. Distribute the survey and follow up with a
reminder before the completion date.
9. At the end of the survey, tabulate and analyze
the results.
Surveys and Questionnaires
FIGURE 4-23 Online version of a sample questionnaire. Does it follow

the suggested guidelines?
Advantages of Surveys and
Questionnaires
• Relatively easy to administer.
• Can be developed in less time (compared to other data-
collection methods).
• Cost-effective, but cost depends on survey mode.
• Can be administered remotely via online, mobile
devices, mail, email, kiosk, or telephone.
• Conducted remotely can reduce or prevent
geographical dependence.
• Capable of collecting data from a large number
of respondents.
• Numerous questions can be asked about a subject, giving
extensive flexibility in data analysis.
Disadvantages of Surveys and
Questionnaires
• Respondents may not feel encouraged to provide
accurate, honest answers
• Respondents may not feel comfortable providing
answers that present themselves in a unfavorable
manner.
• Respondents may not be fully aware of their reasons for
any given answer because of lack of memory on the
subject, or even boredom.
• Surveys with closed-ended questions may have a lower
validity rate than other question types.
• Data errors due to question non-responses may exist.
The number of respondents who choose to respond to a
survey question may be different from those who chose
not to respond, thus creating bias.
Research
• Research is a systematic investigation and
study of materials and sources in order to
establish facts and reach new conclusions.
• Research Area.
A research area is what a research topic is
placed into, but is much broader than the
scope of the topic. For example a research
area can be human physiology, computer
science (as you mentioned) or even relate to a
specific field within these broader terms such
as cardiac electrophysiology or machine
learning respectively.
Research
• Research Questions. General questions
related to the research area.
• All the information can be obtain from journals,
articles, books, seminars and meetings.
Sampling
• Process of collecting examples of actual
documents or people.
• There are several techniques of sampling:-
– Systematic Sample : Select every tenth customer for
review.
– Stratified Sample : Select five customers from each
of four postal codes.
– Random Sample : Any 20 customers
• Main objective : to ensure representation of
the overall population accurately.
• Should be considered for interviewing or
questionnaires.
Interviews vs. Questionnaires
Figure 7.3 – Comparison of Interviews and Questionnaires

Modern Systems Analysis and Design, 3/e - Jeffrey A. Hoffer Joey F. George Joseph S. Valacich
Observation vs. Document
Analysis
Figure 7.4 – Comparison of Observation and Document Analysis

Modern Systems Analysis and Design, 3/e - Jeffrey A. Hoffer Joey F. George Joseph S. Valacich
Recording Facts
• Keeping accurate records of interview, facts,
ideas and research is important to
successful systems development.
• Basic rule is to write it down.
• Principles to follow when recording facts
are:-
– Record all information as soon as you obtain it.
– Use simplest recording method
– Record findings properly so that it can be
understood by someone else – not a member of
the IS department.
– Arrange documentation so that information can
be brought together and coordinated
Software Tools for Recording the
Facts
• CASE Tools (Computer-aided systems
engineering) tools
– Powerful programs that help systems analysts
develop and maintain information systems.
– Provide an overall framework for systems
development.
– Support a wide variety of design methodologies
– Two CASE categories :
• Upper CASE tools : support modeling process and produce
a logical design of the information system
• Lower CASE tools : speed the development process by
generating source code based on the logical model
Software tools for recording the
facts
• Word processing
– Create reports, summaries, tables and forms
– Prepare standard documentation
– Organize presentation with templates,
bookmarks, annotations, revision control,
index
– Create fill-in forms to conduct surveys and
questionnaires
facts
• Spreadsheet
– Track and manage numerical data or
financial information
– Generate graphs and charts that display
the data and show possible patterns
– Use statistical functions to tabulate and
analyze questionnaire data
facts
• Database
– To manage information about events, observations
and samples
– To manage the details of a complex project, create
queries to retrieve specific information, and generate
reports
• Presentation graphics
– For organizing and developing formal presentations
– To create organization charts which can be included
in written reports and management presentations
facts
• Personal Information Managers

– To keep track of meetings, interviews,
appointments, and deadlines that are weeks
or months in the future
– To manage tasks and provide a personal
calendar and a To-Do list, with priorities and
the capability to check off completed items
Requirements
• Requirement is a description of what the
system should do.
• It define a service and constraint of one
process.
• All the requirements will be documented in
System Requirement Specification. This
particular document need to be approved
by the customer and development team.

Requirements
• Types of Requirement:
– User Requirements (Functional + Non-
functional Requirements
– Architecture Requirements
– Business Requirements
– System / Technical Requirements
– Security Requirements
– User Interface Requirements, etc

User Requirements
• Statements, in a natural language plus
diagrams,
• Description of what services the system is
expected to provide to system users and
• The constraints under which it must
operate.

User Requirements
User Requirements consist of:
• Functional Requirements (services) +
Constrains ('things' that will make that
service happens)
• Non-Functional Requirements (based on
the property of non-functional requirements)

Functional Requirements
• Statements of services the system should
provide, how the system should react to
particular inputs and how the system should
behave in particular situations.
• May state what the system should not do.
• Depend on the type of software, expected
users and the type of system where the
software is used.

Example of Functional
Requirements
User/System Functional Requirements
System 1. The system shall generate monthly
management report showing the cost of
drugs prescribe by each clinic during
that month.
2. The system shall generate each day, for
each clinic, a list of patients who are
expected to attend appointments that
day.
Employee 1. An medical staff shall be able to search
the appointments lists for all clinics.
2. Each employee using the system shall
be uniquely identified by his or her
eight-digit employee number.
Patient 1. A patient should be able to make an
appointment through his/her account.

Non-functional Requirements
• They usually specifies the system’s
constraints as a whole. This is in terms of
the system’s reliability, responds time,
performance, security, availability and
other constraints.
• Non-functional requirements may be more
critical than functional requirements. If these
are not met, the system may be useless.

Non-functional Requirements
Matrices of specifying non-functional requirements:
Property Measure
Speed Processed transactions/second
User/event response time
Screen refresh time
Size Mbytes
Number of ROM chips
Ease of use Training time
Number of help frames
Reliability Mean time to failure
Probability of unavailability
Rate of failure occurrence
Availability
Robustness Time to restart after failure
Percentage of events causing failure
Probability of data corruption on failure
Portability Percentage of target dependent statements
Number of target systems

Examples of Non-functional
Requirements
Property Measure
Speed The system should be able to process each transaction
under 3 seconds for a normal accessibility.
Ease of use Medical staff shall be able to use all the system functions
after four hours of training. After this training, the average
number of errors made by experienced users shall not
exceed two per hour of system use.
Reliability The PMS should be available to all clinics during normal
working hours (Mon - Fri; 9.00AM - 6.00PM). Downtime for
normal working hours should not exceed more than 5
seconds in one day.
Users of the PMS shall authenticate themselves using their
health identity authority card.

Types of Requirements
• Architectural requirements
– explain what has to be done by identifying the necessary
systems structure and systems behavior.
• Business requirements
– High-level statements of the goals, objectives, or needs of an
organization.
• Technical Requirements
– The infrastructure that the new system needs to run on.
– Minimum Hardware requirements such as server, storage
space, processing power, etc.
– Software requirements needs such as OS, applications, plug-
ins, etc.
– Network requirements needs such as bandwidth, protocols etc.

Types of Requirements
• Security Requirements
– The types and levels of security that the new system needs.
– Authorization levels, Encryptions, etc.
• User Interface Requirements
– Specific design criteria for the user interface.
– Color, language, etc.

Summary of Main Teaching Points
• Systems Analysis
– Fact-finding techniques
• Document review
• Observation
• Surveys and questionnaires
• Sampling
• Research
– Recording facts
• Principles to follow
• Software tools used
Question and Answer Session
Q&A
Next Session
• System Analysis – Logical Modelling

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AAPP007-4-2

Systems Analysis and Design

AAPP007-4-2 Systems Analysis and Design System Requirements Slide 2 (of

AAPP007-4-2 Systems Analysis and Design System Requirements

• By the end of this lecture, YOU should be able to :

AAPP007-4-2 Systems Analysis and Design System Requirements Slide 5 (of

• If you have mastered this topic, you should

AAPP007-4-2 Systems Analysis and Design System Requirements

AAPP007-4-2 Systems Analysis and Design System Requirements

All the cards will be store

AAPP007-4-2 Systems Analysis and Design System Requirements

AAPP007-4-2 Systems Analysis and Design System Requirements

AAPP007-4-2 Systems Analysis and Design System Requirements

AAPP007-4-2 Systems Analysis and Design System Requirements

FOUR (4) questions to ask before

AAPP007-4-2 Systems Analysis and Design System Requirements

• Step 1: Determine the people to interview.

AAPP007-4-2 Systems Analysis and Design System Requirements

AAPP007-4-2 Systems Analysis and Design System Requirements

AAPP007-4-2 Systems Analysis and Design System Requirements

Patient registration Receptionist 1. Who handle this process?

The answer to each question should a description

The answer should be description the event or

• Functional specifications of existing system –

• Business Rule Documentation – contains a list of all

• Benchmarking Studies – contain information on

• Company Memos - company memos may contain

• Contracts – contains information like service level

• Customer Suggestions/Feedback – a catalogue of

FIGURE 4-23 Online version of a sample questionnaire. Does it follow

Figure 7.3 – Comparison of Interviews and Questionnaires

Figure 7.4 – Comparison of Observation and Document Analysis

• Personal Information Managers

AAPP007-4-2 Systems Analysis and Design System Requirements

AAPP007-4-2 Systems Analysis and Design System Requirements

AAPP007-4-2 Systems Analysis and Design System Requirements

AAPP007-4-2 Systems Analysis and Design System Requirements

AAPP007-4-2 Systems Analysis and Design System Requirements

AAPP007-4-2 Systems Analysis and Design System Requirements

AAPP007-4-2 Systems Analysis and Design System Requirements

AAPP007-4-2 Systems Analysis and Design System Requirements

AAPP007-4-2 Systems Analysis and Design System Requirements

AAPP007-4-2 Systems Analysis and Design System Requirements

AAPP007-4-2 Systems Analysis and Design System Requirements Slide 71 (of

• System Analysis – Logical Modelling

AAPP007-4-2 Systems Analysis and Design System Requirements

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