Database Reference
In-Depth Information
based ondata they don't directly control ormaintain, to determine what types ofadditional
information they need, and to determine what types of information they can foresee them-
selves needing in the future. You'll use the information you gather during this discussion
later in the design process to help define and verify field and table structures. You can
alsousethisinformation asyetanother wayofdetermining whether youaccidentally over-
looked anything during the previous discussions.
Current Information Requirements
Users typically receive the information they use through a variety of reports. Therefore,
the best way to begin this discussion is by reviewing the report samples. This time around,
though, you're not so concerned with how the reports are used as you are with the data
upon which they are based. It's quite common that information on some of the reports a
user receives is based on data he does not personally create and maintain. In this situation,
you must determine the origin of that data so that you can identify
all
the data used by a
user, whether he uses it directly or indirectly.
Select a report from the report samples and work with one of the participants to determine
what data is used to produce the report. Ask him if he creates and maintains the data on
whichthereportisbased.Youcanmoveontothenextsampleifheanswersyes,butyou'll
need to identify the origin of the data if he answers no. Here's an example that illustrates
this process.
Say you have an assistant named Kira who is beginning a discussion with a participant
named Joan regarding the report sample shown in
Figure 6.10
.
