Database Reference
In-Depth Information
You will have to go to various user groups and IT personnel to gather informa-
tion requirements. Analysts adopt two basic techniques for meeting with people and
gathering requirements, (1) interview, one-on-one or in small groups, and (2)
joint application development (JAD) sessions. Note the following thoughts on indi-
vidual interviews and group sessions. We will consider JAD sessions in a separate
subsection.
Interviews
•
Up to two or three persons at a time
•
Easy to schedule
•
Good approach when details are many and intricate
•
Some users prefer one-on-one interviews
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Need adequate preparation to be effective
•
Always require preinterview research
•
Users also must be encouraged to prepare for the interview
Group Sessions
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Groups of 20 or fewer persons at a time
•
Useful only after obtaining a baseline understanding of requirements
•
Not good for initial data gathering
•
Effective for confirming requirements
•
Sessions need to be well organized
Interview Techniques
Interview sessions, when properly conducted, take up a lot
of the project time. Therefore, interviews must be planned, organized, and managed
well. Before the analysts begin the interview process, the project team must make
sure that the following major tasks are completed:
•
Provide further training in interviewing techniques to the selected analysts.
•
Assign specific roles to the members of the interviewing team (lead interviewer,
scribe, and so on).
•
List the persons to be interviewed.
•
Prepare a broad schedule of interviews.
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Note the expectations from each set of interviews.
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Complete preinterview research.
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Prepare interview questionnaires.
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Prepare users for interviews.
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Conduct a brief kick-off meeting of all users to be interviewed.
To a large extent, the effectiveness of the interviews rests on the preinterview
research. This task provides you with the necessary background information on
which the requirements definition may be built. Here is a list of a few topics for
preinterview research before interviewing a specific business unit:
•
History and organization of the business unit
•
Number of employees and their roles and responsibilities
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