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Todd Sayers Professor Chapman CINS 203 00F 27 September 2013 Review Questions: Session 6 Project Review Question 2: Describe four traditional techniques for collecting information during analysis. When might one be better than another? Answer: Traditional techniques for collecting requirements include interviewing and listening, administering questionnaires, observing users, and analyzing procedures and other documents. Interviewing and listening involves talking with users individually or as a group to discover their views about the current and target systems; it also involves carefully preparing an interview outline and guide before conducting the interview. Interviews are best done when only a few people are involved, when you need openended questions or the questions vary from individual to individual, or when a more personal method is needed. Administering questionnaires involves designing a questionnaire and determining who should respond to it; this method is typically used when there are too many key users to interview individually. Questionnaires are best when many people are involved, each person is to answer roughly the same questions, and people are remote or do not need personal care. Directly observing users involves watching how people work in order to uncover information users may not be consciously aware of. Direct observation is best when detailed or complicated procedures must be documented, when you do not want people to know they are giving you information you need, when only a few people are involved, and observational data are representative of all situations. Analyzing procedures and other documents involves identifying and collecting written procedures, forms, reports, and other relevant documents in order to better identify data and processes that would be part of the current and target systems. Analyzing documents is the best technique when documents are complete and unbiased, when other forms of requirements determination are too obtrusive, and when history must be studied and people do not have firsthand data about history.

Review Question 7: Describe how prototyping can be used during requirements determination. How is it better or worse than traditional methods? Answer: Prototyping can be used during requirements determination to collect user requirements and present them in the form of a working system prototype. Users can look at, play with, and compare the prototype to their system requirements. Analysts can then adjust the prototype to better fit what the users have in mind. Prototyping is better than traditional methods where system requirements are not well understood, where few users that are stakeholders are involved, where designs may be complex, where there have been past communication

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problems, and where the necessary tools are readily available. Prototyping may be worse than traditional methods where formal requirements are not documented, where prototypes become idiosyncratic to the initial user, where issues of data sharing and integration with other systems are ignored, and where SDLC checks are bypassed.

Review Question11: Describe Agile Usage-Centered Design. Describe the planning game. Compare and contrast these two requirements determination techniques.