Database Reference
In-Depth Information
You're ready to move on to the last subject when you've accounted for as many of man-
agement's future information requirements as possible.
Reviewing Overall Information Requirements
The last topic of discussion concerns the organization's
overall
information requirements.
In management's opinion, what generic class of information does the organization need?
Yourobjectivehereistodiscoverwhetherthereisdatathattheorganizationneedstomain-
tain that has not been previously discussed in either the user interviews or the management
interviews. If you determine that there is such data, you must account for it in the database
structure.
Takeallofthereportsthatyou'vegatheredthroughouttheanalysisandinterviewprocesses
and review them with the participants once more. Then ask the participants to consider the
informationthereportsprovideandhowtheymightusethatinformation.(Notethatthey'll
havetomakeassumptionsabouthowtheymightusetheinformationfromthenewreports.)
Next, ask participants to determine whether there is information that would be useful or
valuable to the organization, but that is not currently being received by
anyone
within the
organization. If they determine that there is indeed some new information that the organ-
ization could use, go through the normal process of identifying that information and the
subjects and characteristics represented within it. Sketch samples of new reports for the in-
formation, as appropriate, and add the samples to your existing collection of new reports.
For example, assume that one of the participants has identified a need for demographic in-
formation; she believes that it would help the organization identify a more specific target
market for its product. None of the existing reports furnishes this information, so you
identify exactly what she needs by working with her to create a sketch of a report that will
presentthisinformation.(Shemightactuallysketchmorethanonereport,butthisisneither
aproblemnoracauseforconcern.)Youthenusetheappropriatetechniquestoidentifyand
note the subjects and characteristics represented within the report and add it to your exist-
ing collection of new reports. Later in the design process, you'll define the data structures
necessary to support the new information.
Repeat this procedure until the participants can no longer identify any further information
that the organization might find useful or valuable. After you're reasonably confident that
you've accounted for all of the organization's information requirements, suspend the inter-
view process and begin the process of compiling the Preliminary Field List.
It's important for you to understand that you may have to revisit this process, even though
you and the participants may believe that you've accounted for all the information the or-
ganization could possibly use. You'll commonly identify new information as the database
design process unfolds.
