INFORMATION GATHERINGFOR INFORMATION

SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT

IMS1001 - Information Systems 1 CSE1204 - Information Systems 1

Lecture Objectives

to be aware of various methods for data gathering in respect of information system development

to understand the usefulness and suitability of various data gathering methods for particular problem situations

Data gathering in systems development

Data gathering is a major task of systems analysis.Systems analysis involves:

Understanding and describing how the current system functions

Determining what users would like their new system to do (requirements)

Need to collect information:current and future situations, problems,

opportunities, constraints

Data gathering as a foundation for developing information systems

What data? Sources of data? What data gathering methods? What strategy for gathering data is

needed? How will the data gathered be

analysed?

Data about the business or organisation Data about the business environment Data about the system’s environment Data about the users of the system Data about the current system Data about the proposed system Constraints: e.g. cost, technical,timeframe

What data to gather?

What data to gather?

The business or organisation:• Data about the nature of the business and its

market and business environment

• Data about business goals and objectives that dictate what and how work is done

• Data about organisational structure: major functions, departments etc

• Data about major business subsystems and how they interact

• Data about business policies and guidelines

Users of the system:• Roles and responsibilities• Reporting structures• Job specifications and actual tasks performed• Information needed to do their jobs• Formal and informal communication and

workflow channels

What data to gather?

Users of the system:• Data about roles and responsibilities• Data about reporting structures• Job specifications and data about actual

tasks performed• Data about information needed to do their

jobs• Data about formal and informal

communication and workflow channels

What data to gather?

The existing system:• Data about tasks and workflow: functions,

processes, sequence of processes, methods and procedures, inputs, outputs

• Data about the data (definition, volumes, size etc.)• Data about interactions with other systems• Data about work volumes and processing cycles• Data about performance standards and criteria• Data about control mechanisms: e.g security,

accuracy• Data about problems: e.g. efficiency, information

What data to gather?

The new system:• Data about system requirement: a need or

desire to be met by a proposed system• Data about both functional requirements

(processes and functionality) and

non-functional requirements (security, performance, service etc.)

• Data about constraints e.g. existing technology• Data about interactions with other systems• Data about relationship to existing system/s

What data to gather?

Sources of data

Users and other stakeholders Documents about the system Documents about the organisation Documents and data used within the

existing system Transactions within existing system External sources

Users• System sponsor/owner: overall project objectives• Managers: high level, broad view of existing

system and requirements• End-users: detailed, operational level view of

existing system and requirements• Technical staff: technology capaabilities, limitations

etc. External stakeholders: e.g. customers

Sources of data

Documents about the system and organisation:• Organisation charts• Policy manuals• Business reports: financial, annual etc.• Jobs, procedure, operations manuals• Training manuals• Existing system documentation• Internal reports relating to the system

Sources of data

Documents and data used within the existing system:• Files, databases, programs, forms, reports• Informal: Memos, bulletin boards, files

External sources:• Other organisations’ systems• Hardware & software vendors• Business & industry publications

Sources of data

Interviews

Questionnaires

Observation

Sampling documents and transactions

Research and site visits

What data gathering methods?

Interviews

Generally the most important and widely-used method for data gathering

May be formal/structured (specific questions) or informal/unstructured (general goal or purpose)

Need an interview strategy for the entire interviewing process

Need an interview plan or guide for each interview

The interview strategy

Identify the users to interview:• Do this after you have an initial understanding

of the organisation and system• Establish general objectives and guidelines for

the entire interviewing process:

e.g. information to be obtained, sources, formats, documenting, analysis

• Ensure all key people are included

Determine the sequence of interviews:E.g. management first: • broad overview of system operations• gain support and co-operation• help to identify who to interview next

Then system users:• obtain information about detailed operations

Co-ordinate the interviewing process:• Compare results, select follow ups etc.

The interview strategy

The interview strategy Need individual interview plans:

• Initial interviews to meet users• Fact gathering interviews• Follow up interviews

Interview plans:• Decide on interview structure• Determine content of questions• Decide on question types

Interviews Need to consider:

Who has the information you need? Where to conduct the interview? When is the best time to interview? How should the interview progress?

The individual interview Before the interview:

• Arrange time and place, necessary materials, inform interviewee of interview purpose

Conduct the interview After the interview:

• Write an interview report• Review this with the interviewee at a follow

up interview

The interview structure

Preliminaries:• Introduction, purpose, environment and procedures e.g.

permission to tape “Body”:

• Define what you already believe to be true and confirm this, explore points & issues further, new areas (questions)

Conclusion:• Summarise and confirm your findings• Schedule a follow up interview

The interview plan See Whitten et al (2001),Figure 6.5 pp 233 for a sample

interview guide.

•SUBJECT

•DATE

•TIME

•PLACE

•OBJECTIVE

•TOPIC 1

•TOPIC 2

•TOPIC n

•General comments/ notes:

Interviews: types of questions

Closed: how many transactions per day?

Limits available responses Open: tell me about …..

Leaves options open for interviewee Probe: tell me more about the problem with the

….

To clarify and expand Mirror: From what you said, I understand

that….

To confirm what was said etc.

Interviews: types of questions

Avoid long, complex, or double-barrelled questions:

what decisions are made during this process and how do you make them?

Avoid leading questions;

you don’t need the customer number on this report, do you?

Avoid loaded questions:

when did you first discover the mistake?

i.e. how long have you known and done nothing?

Interviews: advantages obtain extensive, complex detailed information

get insights and opinions

discover informal procedures

flexible e.g. explore issues further or new issues

establish rapport with interviewee and understand their attitudes

reveal the ‘politics’ of the system environment

information is revealed both by the spoken word and by the interviewee’s body language

guaranteed response

Interviews: Disadvantages

Time-consuming

Costly

Danger of bias

More difficult to tabulate and analyse results e.g. to obtain an overall picture

Success in interviewing depends on the inter-personal skills of the interviewer

Questionnaires

A structured method of data gathering in which written questions/comments are provided for the participants to respond to in written form

The questionnaire can take many forms - write comments/ select from a list of possible responses/ mark on a scale

May permit either quantitative or qualitative data (mark out of 10/grade from good to bad)

Usually involves no direct contact between data gatherer and respondents

Questionnaires Useful when small amounts of data are required

from a large number of people For geographically dispersed respondents Types of questions:

• Open-ended (free format)• Fill-in-the-blank• Multiple choice• Rating• Ranking

Designing questionnaires

What facts and opinions to be collected Who to sample and sample size Types of questions and wording (precise, accurate,

unambiguous) How to administer e.g. paper, online, mail out etc. Format and layout (grouping, crosschecks etc.) Test on small sample of respondents How completed questionnaires will be returned and

collated How analysis of the data will be carried out

Questionnaires Useful for:

• Obtaining simple opinions, facts• Quantifying what was found in interviews• Identifying issues before interviewing• Determining extent of problems

Not useful for detailed or complex information or exploring issues in depth

Can supplement other methods

Questionnaires: advantages

most economical method for gathering data from large numbers of people

quick and easy to administer results can be tabulated rapidly and analysed

readily allow respondents to be anonymous gives respondents time to reflect on answers respondents complete in their own time

Questionnaires: disadvantages

difficult to construct effective questionnaires specific and limited amounts of information possible low return rates possible bias and misinterpretation cannot probe issues further (inflexible) cannot clarify vague or incomplete answers lack non-verbal communication

Observation

observing the actual processes of a system need to prepare beforehand, and report on

data collected gain first hand knowledge of current system’s

operations clarify other information collected understand complex procedures inexpensive behaviour distortions may affect reliability unrepresentative samples affect reliability

Sampling of documents and transactions

Sampling: collecting a representative sample of documents, forms, transactions

Useful for specific information e.g. transaction volumes and types, file sizes

Useful where large volumes exist Information about existing system operations Representative samples must be selected:

determine sample size, appropriate range, avoid bias

Research and site visits

Most problems not unique: learn from experiences of other organisations

Professional societies can provide contacts for site visits

Computer trade journals and magazines and the internet can be sources for research into the problem/s e.g. do appropriate software packages exist?

Other data gathering methods

Other “modern” methods used:

Discovery prototyping JAD (Joint Application Development)

sessions Focus groups

A data gathering strategy Data gathering must be carefully planned

in order to make the most of the time and resources available:• Information sources• Data gathering methods• Recording and documentation methods• Data analysis methods• Procedures for reviewing results with

management and users

A data gathering strategy

E.g. a “top down” approach:• Initial interviews with management to determine major system

activities and data• Document and verify this• Expand major system component descriptions into detailed

descriptions:

Interview operational users, sampling, questionnaires, observation etc

• Document and verify this• Repeat these last two steps as necessary• Review findings with management

A data gathering strategy

Consider costs: allow for time and resources required for initial and ongoing information gathering

Use the least expensive methods first Plan how to check the validity of data:

• Cross checking between groups, methods• Evaluate data for inconsistencies• Ask further questions

Plan documentation of data e.g. records of interviews etc. data dictionary, system models

Data gathering in practice

Completeness? Accuracy? Objectivity? Biases? Stability? Representative? Finished?

References

WHITTEN, J.L., BENTLEY, L.D. and DITTMAN, K.C. (2001) 5th ed., Systems Analysis and Design Methods, Irwin/McGraw-HilI, New York, NY. Chapter 6

HOFFER, J.A., GEORGE, J.F. and VALACICH (1999) 2nd ed., Modern Systems Analysis and Design, Benjamin/Cummings, Massachusetts. Chapter 7

DWYER, J. (1997) The Business Communication Handbook (4th

edition) Prentice-Hall, New York, N.Y. Chapter 5