Chapter 4

Collecting Requirements

What do you want to know?

What is the problem area?How does the business you approach it?Is the data available?Who will use the results?Who cares?

ROMC

RepresentationsOperationsMemory AidsControls

Interviews

Individual or groupRoles Lead Interviewer Scribe

Pre-interview researchQuestionnaireAgendaUser PreparationWrite-up

Interview Roles

Lead Interviewer(s): direct the questions and adapt to the

conversation

Scribe: take notes. interject if the lead interviewer misses

something. write up the session

Observer (not more than two) observe – not participate

Tape recorders

Cannot really replace peopleAsk firstMay make subjects nervousRequire listening to the meeting twice

Subjects (pp. 116 – 117)

Business Executive What are the business issues? What is your vision?

Business Manager or Analyst What are your measures of success? What data do you use? What analysis do you typically do?

Data Audit Data quality or quantity issues? Potential roadblocks (political or technical)? How is ad hoc analysis conducted?

Caveats

The one question to never ask is “What do you want in your computer system?” That is your job, not theirs.

You need to be brave enough to ask executives what keeps them up at night?

The interview team needs to resist the temptation to focus only on the top 5 reports or top ten questions.

Continually manage expectations.

The interview process

Introduce everyone: make everyone feel comfortable.Introduce the subject Remember your role Verify communication Define terminology Establish peer basis: know

interviewees vocabulary and business understanding

The interview process (cont.)

Be flexible be prepared to schedule additional

interviews respect your interviewees time and

reschedule if needed

Avoid burnout don’t schedule too many at once leave time between sessions

Manage Expectations

The interview process (cont.)

Wrap up the interview Summarize Ask for permission to call back Get documentation

Write up the interview soon (2 hours to 2 days)

Requirements Findings Document (Business Case)

Establishes the relevance and credibility of the data warehouse project.

Ties the business requirements to the realistic availability of data.

Facilitated sessions

Each one takes more time than interviews, but may generate moreRequires an experienced facilitatorRequires an initial understanding of the user areaParticipants feed of of each others ideasParticipants can negotiate disagreements