Data and fact gathering techniques- Interviews, Group communication, Presentations, Site visits




Fact Finding techniques

For an Analyst Data and fact gathering is important step, on which he/she can develop better understanding of existing system and its problems, based on this analyst can understand the requirements of new system.

There are various techniques to gather data and facts of system. some of them re as follows :

  1. Record view and Background reading
  2. Interviews 
  3. Questionnaires
  4. Group communication
  5. Presentation
  6. Site visiting
  7. Observation
  • Record view and Background reading : Information related to system and organization is already available in some type documents and records(like system user manual , system review/audit, brochures etc. ) or is published in the sources like newspapers, magazines, journals etc. Study of already available document is the fastest and independant way of gathering fact and information based on which analyst can prepare questions for further gathering exercise.
  • Interviews : This method is used to collect the information from groups or individuals. Analyst selects the people who are related with the system for the interview. In this method the analyst sits face to face with the people and records their responses by which analyst learn about the existing system, its problem and expectation with the system. The interviewer must plan in advance the type of questions he/ she is going to ask and should be ready to answer any type of question. 
    The information collected is quite accurate and reliable as the interviewer can clear and cross check the doubts there itself. This method also helps gap the areas of misunderstandings and help to discuss about the future problems. 
  • Questionnaires : This method seeks information from the person in written and prescribed format. This is a quickest way for gathering information if respondents are scattered geographically or there is no time for the interviews. Questions can be : structured or unstructured. structured question where the answers are in the form of YES/NO , multiple choice option selection , ratings, fill int hte blanks. unstructured questions where person is asked for his opinion and he/she can answer it freely.
  • Group Communication : This method is often used when there no time for personal interview and information is required from face to face sessions. As there are many person present many type of ideas can be heard. Scheduling such sessions is a skillful matter because it has many problems such as : discussion may be dominated by one person others may shy to respond, presence of seniors in the group may not allow others to present their views freely,  discussion may lead to verbal fight etc.
  • Presentation : Sometime presentation can also be conducted by analyst for presenting his understanding for the system and problems with it.  Such presentation may include showing slide , interacting with people and talking to them regarding system, asking questions, answering questions etc. Presentations are useful when users are passive or too busy to actively explain things. 
  • Site Visiting : it is the process of examining the problems which had previously solved by other sources that can be either human or documents. To solve the requirements of problem, the analyst visits to other organization that had previously experienced for similar problems. In addition, the analyst can also find the information from database, reference books, case studies and Internet
  • Observation : Another fact finding technique is observation. In this technique, system analyst participates in the organization, studies the flow of documents, applies the existing system, and interacts with the users. Observation can be a useful technique when the system analyst have user point of view. Sampling technique called work sampling is useful for observation. By using this technique, system analyst can know how employees spend their days.

 



Frequently Asked Questions

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Ans: Management should not be lenient on part of documentation, management should never say like  “ as time running short , so just create the system and make the documentation later”. Phase should not be considered complete until documentation is done. Coding should not be considered done unless its has required comment lines. view more..
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Ans: System documentation: Detailed information about a system’s design specifications, its internal workings, and its functionality. Internal documentation: System documentation that is part of the program source code or is generated at compile time. view more..
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Ans: Systems Planning and Selection : The first phase of the SDLC, in which an organization’s total information system needs are analyzed and arranged, and in which a potential information systems project is identified.Systems Analysis : Phase of the SDLC in which the current system is studied and alternative replacement systems are proposed. view more..
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Ans: There are various techniques to gather data and facts of system. some of them re as follows : Record view and Background reading Interviews  Questionnaires Group communication Presentation Site visiting Observation view more..
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Ans: Feasibility studies are almost always conducted where large sums are at stake. Also called feasibility analysis. A feasibility study is conducted in order to determine the success and minimize the risks related to the project. When it becomes certain that the specific project could be carried out profitably view more..
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Ans: It is a final report of the feasibility study about the findings and conclusion of the study. it should be possible to review report and take decision on the project based on it view more..
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Ans: System selection means selecting the various hardware, software, and services that are needed for implanting the system. Before the system selection can be done, it is necessary to know the capabilities of required proposed system view more..
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Ans: Costs fall into two categories. There are cost associated with developing the systems and there are costs associated with a operating a system. view more..
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Ans: Quantitative measure of degree to which a system, component or process possesses a given attribute For ex. No. of errors found per person hours expended Cost and Effort Estimation : Boehm’s COCOMO model, Putnam’s SLIM Model & Albrecht’s function model. view more..
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Ans: There are three such classes: Process are collection of software related activities. Products are any artifacts, deliverables or documents that result from a process activity view more..
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Ans: A direct measure is obtained by applying measurement rules directly to the phenomenon of interest.For example, by using the specified counting rules, a software program’s “Line of Code” can be measured directly. and sofware reliabity is .... view more..
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Ans: What Is Information Systems Analysis and Design? Information systems analysis and design is a method used by companies ranging from IBM to PepsiCo to Sony to create and maintain information systems that perform basic business functions such as keeping track of customer names and addresses, processing orders, and paying employees. The main goal of systems analysis and design is to improve organizational systems, typically through applying software that can help employees accomplish key business tasks more easily and efficiently. As a systems analyst, you will be at the center of developing this software. view more..
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Ans: concurrency of components, lack of a global clock and independent failures of components and the ability to work well when the load or the number of users increases – failure handling, concurrency of components, transparency and providing quality of service view more..
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Ans: the wide range of applications in use today, from relatively localized systems (as found, for example, in a car or aircraft) to globalscale systems involving millions of nodes, from data-centric services to processorintensive tasks, from systems built from very small and relatively primitive sensors to those incorporating powerful computational elements, from embedded systems to ones that support a sophisticated interactive user experience, and so on. view more..
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Ans: The task of a web search engine is to index the entire contents of the World Wide Web, encompassing a wide range of information styles including web pages, multimedia sources and (scanned) books view more..
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Ans: The growth of the World Wide Web as a repository of information and knowledge; the development of web search engines such as Google and Yahoo to search this vast repository view more..
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Ans: The engineering of MMOGs represents a major challenge for distributed systems technologies, particularly because of the need for fast response times to preserve the user experience of the game. view more..
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Ans: a very different style of underlying architecture from the styles mentioned above (for example client-server), and such systems typically employ what is known as distributed event-based systems. view more..



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