Civil Engineering Reference
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define some classes of system requirements as discussed in Table 7.2, primarily including organizational
requirements, general constraints on the system or process, and definition of the overall purpose and
business goals to be met by the system. Thus, the project planning activities are important not only
for ensuring project success, but also help to define the requirements.
7.3.2.3.2 Activities that Help Define the Work System
The distinction between these preparatory, planning activities and those that are more directly involved
with defining the work system is cloudy, at best. However, these activities tend to focus more on setting
the stage for the main requirements gathering processes (Stages 2 and 3), either through involvement
with stakeholders and representative users or through examination of relevant domain knowledge,
documentation, or competitive systems. This is the “context and groundwork” (Nuseibeh and
Easterbrook, 2000) that serves as the basis for project assessment, selection of RE methods, and where
to direct these methods. Some of the more unique or interesting work system defining activities will
now be discussed.
Stakeholder Analysis Stakeholder analysis, or the stakeholder meeting refers to the general process of
identifying those individuals within the work system that are affected by the development of a new
system and getting their input and buy- in on the development process. In the systems development
(or RE) process, stakeholders generally refer to any individuals who affect or are affected by the
system of interest (see Sharp et al., 1999, for a good review of stakeholder theory). In practice, this
often includes business managers, project managers, user representatives, training and support staff,
developers, etc. Stakeholder analysis is a technique used to identify, assess, and prioritize the needs,
goals, and requirements of the stakeholders (Damodaran et al., 1980). As stakeholders, by definition,
have the ability to significantly influence the success of the project, stakeholder analysis is also an
opportunity to establish buy- in and agreement at the onset of the project.
Stakeholder analysis helps to define the work system through the identification of the overall goals,
requirements, constraints, and needs related to the system to be developed. This process helps to
define some of the overarching organizational goals and business requirements that will help to scope
and define the system requirements. Additionally, usability analysis and the establishment and agreement
of usability priorities and goals, which are translated into usability requirements, can also be conducted
during this time (Maguire, 2001). The overall goal of stakeholder analysis is to bring together all relevant
parties to create a common vision of the overall purpose, scope, constraints, and high-level requirements
of the system to be developed.
Context and Domain Analysis Context or domain analysis refers to the general process of collecting
information about the context of use in which the system will be used. This context of use idea is similar
to our idea of the work system, as described previously. The basic goal is to gather stakeholders and
domain experts together to identify information such as identifying the users and work tasks, as well as
laying out the technical and environmental constraints of the work system (Bevan et al., 1996; Maguire,
2001). Context (of use) and domain analysis is also helpful in familiarizing the UCD team with
important background knowledge of application domain considerations and terminology. As
previously discussed, a firm understanding of domain-specific issues is necessary for the development
of meaningful system requirements.
More specifically with respect to the development and delineation of usability needs and requirements,
Bevan et al. (1996) and Bevan and Macleod (1994) have developed a structured method, called Usability
Context Analysis, which is used to elicit details from stakeholders about a potential system and how it
will be used in context. The method results in a list of important characteristics of systems' users,
their work tasks, and the context of work. This list serves as a framework to ensure that all factors affect-
ing system usability have been identified. Context, or context of use, analysis is also often the spawning
ground for associated RE activities such as analysis of competitive or existing system (Preece et al., 1994)
and usability planning (Mayhew, 1999).
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