Investigation Initialization, The Requirement Analysis

Investigation Initialization, The Requirement Analysis

Investigation System Concepts
Based by a gap between systems objectives and condition in reality. To recognize the things which caused a failure to the system, then an analyst might better do the investigation in advance before conducting an action to improve the system.
Many reports in problem detection aren’t really trusted. They’re caused by :
• The systems objectives are too ideal so there’re possibilities that they could not be reached.
• Lack of resources and or attitudes.
• Systems measurement is less accurate.
• The systems objectives that was outdated.
• Differences between ideal system and the current system.
Some of the problem solving :
• Clarification of the system under way by investigating them in detail.
• Get the ideal system consensus.
• Develops some alternatives to lessen the gap between ideal systems with the systems under way.
• Choose the best alternatives.
To be noticed that the real objective of the investigation is to show the real problems that was happening, beside as a mode to an analyst to understand his system more clearly.

Constraints in investigation system
There are some constraint that might happened, those are :
• Time
Analysts often lacks time resources, so they may only done less investigation. Usually, time is related to the required expense problem.
• Cost
The released expense often related to the duration time for activity investigation, so that management will give the constraint of the expense.
• Knowledge
Manager of information system gives order to the junior analyst which not yet owned technical membership or the knowledge enough, so that will affect the investigation result less sharpen, or complete.
• Politics
Certain management, sides or possibly propagates the issues of the objectives to pursue activity of investigation.
• Interference
There are possibilities of the sides trying to interfere or arrange in one activity investigation so that will cause a bobber.

Recommendation
The result of the investigation is a recommendation that contains :
• Not taking any action because there’re no problems discovered.
• Doing regular system maintenance for minor problems.
• Improving the ability and skill of the user in using information system.
• Reconsider to remodify the systems totally.
• Placing the problem that was happening on reality into the system development plan that will be done.

Investigation Tactics
Why do we need tactics?
o To discover all possible problems
o To know the cause of the occuring problems.
o To find the appropriate solution.

Some of the tactics we could perform :
• Listen to the opinion of the systems user, and do not lecture them.
If you know all answers, sure you will not do the investigation. In activity of investigation, we better give enough time for management side or user to explain clearly, and make sure the system analyst doesn't predominating the discussion.
• Don't give the resolving early to problem (do not presolve the problem).
Mean don't try to show the idea to solve problem, before all activity of investigation is completed done.
• Compare solutions from different user.
People mean to have a different point of view to a same problem. So we shall not listen from one source so that there's only one point of view (opinion). When user have difference of view, it;s better to look for his difference and then look for the view that has same equality.
• Observe for a logical inconsistencies.
Logical inconsistencies stops a data flow, where the data could be lost, or suddenly emerged with the selected data. Some matters related to this problems :
o There are data entered but there’re no output (black hole).
o There are output but there’re no inputs (miracles).
• Expect a hard work.
We should be a patient and professional detective in handling problems of system gradually and continually.
• Avoid politics.
System analysts mission is fact not judging.

Investigation Technique
• Direct (Internal) Investigation :
This method is to know directly what is going on in user environment. They permit you to observe directly through it without going through selected sides (interpreter). Internal probes is the source of disruptive, because it may cause an arising in difference of attitude. There are three technique to do the direct investigation, those are:
o Questionnaires
This technique is very precise, if in an investigation has the needed expenses and time constraint. As for things in questionnaire condition of explanation will be difference if we look it directly (face to face interview). The best usefulness from questionnaire is a document was able to show differences that happened at the responder.
o Interview.
This activity required the specialty and time. Everybody couldn’t do the question and answer successfully. Interview question can applicable to a more successive beside it was more flexible as according to field condition.
o Observation.
Observation is a powerful internal investigation. Take a seat with the systems user by doing the perception with a more specific question. Like : why did you do this activity? or where this document will be removed? Every question is possibly can show the mysterious trouble-shooting.
• Indirect (External) Investigation :
This activity can be done swiftly and invisible of personal operational, so with this we can know the external side or something that was hidden from the user community. Ex :
o Procedure flow.
Procedure operational is medium for officer that is newly understand his work and experience of employees to handle the problem. If the flow of aprocedure is not going right, the information system also cannot be operated correctly. Use the systems flowchart to trace the way information as procedure explained in this operation. If there is this problems of procedure, the problem possibly will arise in the operational to be in reality.
o Document review.
By getting and collecting the important document (critical document). If a problem would happened in customer orders, we should collect the original document source from customer orders which used as the entry data, interactive screen format, detail transaction, summary and mistake of report that happened. The document often become the cause of the problem.
o Sampling.
We might require information from vendor billing which have given the discount at the time of payment, because company of discount moment money loss is not given on the happening of delay of payment. You can entangle customers of payer to get the information (despite of many transactions). Finally you can list sample data with election random for the one of last week, choose 20 page of daily transaction, choose 5 item from each chosen page, record the information to each 5 item and count average and variant to samples from all payment transactions that happened.
o Tabular tools
Named also matrix, that is a checklists to find a dismatch in transaction path.

Systems description at this point
Determining the system performance in this time will find it difficult if the company doesn't have a standard measurement of system performance. It’s very unfortunate, that the company tend to not renewing (to update) the system documentation. Therefore, an analyst should improve the document during investigation problem of a system. Descripting system is in this time covers the explanation below :
• Inputs
• Outputs
• Files
• Data elements
• Transaction and action document volume
• Data flow diagrams

Requirement Analysis
Intensive interaction phase between system analysts and end user where the system development team show their skill to get response and trust from the user so that get we can get a good participation from them. Four objectives that should be attained :
- Explaining the systems completely.
- Giving a big picture of how is an ideal information system.
- Bring the ideal information system to this current state with paying attention to the resource constraints.
- Giving a persuasive motivation to the user in developing system.

Requirement Analysis Method
Selection of data collecting method, is required to doing a correction in the requirement system. The methods are interviews, questionnaires, observation, procedure analysis, and document survey. They are :
- Interview
1. How the method is used.
• Select potential interviewees.
• Make an agreement to the potential interviewees.
• Prepare the complete question structure and clearly.
• Choose the person which will be interviewed personally and immediately record it.
2. Goals of the method.
• Personal key in course of DFD.
• Sometimes involve the outsider, like the customers or vendors.
3. Advantage of method.
• Interviewer can measure the respond through question and accommodate it according to the situation that happened.
• Good to the problems that doesn't have structures.
• Show impression to the interviewer personally.
• Peeped out the high response since compilation of meeting.
4. The disadvantage of the method.
• Require dozens of expenses and times.
• Require the special experience and training of interviewer.
• Difficult, compare to the report interview because of subjective natural.
5. When is the method good to be used
• Get the explanation or view from the personal key.
• Test the credibility from interviewees.
• Look for interviews which is contradicted.
• Stabilize the credibility team.
- Questionnaire
1. How the method is used.
• Designed by using standard questionnaire.
• Questionnaire was delivered to the end-users environment work.
• Structure respond summarized in distribution statistic.
2. Goals of the method.
• All end-user with their horizon will be involved in the solution process resolving of system.
• End-User attributed to the process usage of symbols in DFD.
3. Advantage of method.
• Cheap and quick at the interviews.
• Don't require investigator which train only one required expert to design questionnaire to end-user chosen.
• Easy to predict the result of since making questionnaire.
• Easily minimize the expense for all end-user.
4. The disadvantage of the method.
• Cannot make specific question for end-user.
• Cannot show the person end-user.
• Inadaptable of question to end-user specific.
5. When is the method good to be used.
• Simple when asking, and don't have the ambiguous meaning.
• Require wide knowledge from end-user.
• If we only have a few time and expense.
- Observation.
1. How the method is used.
• Personally, an analyst visit the perception location.
• Analysts record the occurrence in perception location, including processing of spread sheet.
2. Goals of the method.
• Process location is geographically shown in DFD (Data Flow Diagram)
3. Advantage of method.
• Get the fact records (data in reality) rather than opinion.
• Don't require question construction.
• Don't disrupt or hide something (end-users don't know that are being perceived).
• Analysts didn't base on the verbal explanation from end-users.
4. The disadvantage of the method.
• If seen, analyst is possibly alter the operation (end-user feel to be perceived).
• On a long term, the fact obtained in one observation might not precise (representative) daily or in a condition weekly.
• Require the experience and special expertise of analyst.
5. When is the method good to be used.
• Require the quantitative picture, as like time, volume, etc.
- Procedure Analysis.
1. How the method is used.
• With this method we can study and identify the document stream lock passing the information system, that is with the data flow diagram (DFD).
• Every key document stream, explain the system operating procedure.
• Through observation, analyst study the reality, than describes the distribution volume (high, lower, medium) and what to do next is to done copying its genuine document.
2. Goals of the method.
• Special document in DFD (Data Flow Diagram)
• Process in DFD.
3. Advantage of method.
• Workable Procedure evaluation with interferences.
• Minimum and not influencing the user operation.
• Stream procedure can become a structure checklist to do the observation.
4. The disadvantage of the method.
• Procedure might not complete and not up-to-date again.
• Studying document stream schema require the time.
5. When is the method good to be used.
• When deciding to do a problem failure of system can assist good scheme.
• Analyst team don't totalize familiar with document stream.
• Describe the document stream disruption activity of function.
- Document survey
1. How the method is used
• Identify the special document and report (physical data flow diagram).
• Collect the real document copy and report.
• Each report or document, used to record data, cover the field ( type and measure), usage frequency and coding structure.
2. Goals of the method.
• Data key stream shown in data flow diagram (DFD).
3. Advantage of method.
• Minimization has been interupted from his operational function.
• Start of data dictionary element.
• Often can consider the fortunate modification procedural.
4. The disadvantage of the method.
• Require more time (there are natural business organization report and document floods).
5. When is the method good to be used.
• Could be used if a system will be designed (during activity of analysis, in clarifying design new system and document analysis can assist to determine the scheme duty hereinafter).
- Sampling
Sampling can assist to lessen the expense and time. We must becareful to choose sample from the population, so that is not experiencing of threat or failure.

Constraint of the Resources
- Time
- Expense
- Expert skill
- Technology
- External factor

Requirement Analysis Document
- Analysis Instruction : Relationship with end user, process monitoring, problems in collecting data
- User Requirement : Real requirement, document requirement, training and new system influence requirement.
- Systems constraint : Explain the time and costs constraint, skill, technology, and external factor.
- Document could be in form of data collection instrument, statistical consensus, logical and physical data stream, initial data element in data dictionary.

Generating Systems Alternatives
How to approach the current state of the system with the ideal system condition :
- By making alternative to solve information system problems.
- Those best alternatives must be applied wisely.

Strategic option :
- Distributed versus centralized processing
Transformation of information decision from centralized data processing to decentralized end user responsibility center.
- Integrated versus dispersed database
Systems developer must consider which data that was entered into the database and into files.
- Surround Strategy of System Development
Sorrounding environment strategy is important in company's take-over because the information system from other company might be different from this current company.

choosing tactics :
- Is done before operational designing selection.

Operational designing selection
Could be grouped into :
- Input
- Online vs Offline Data Entry
- Keyed vs Machine Readable Data Entry
- Centralized vs Decentralized Data Entry
- Processing
- Batch vs Realtime Record Update
- Sequential vs Direct Access To Records
- Single vs Multiple User Update of Records
- Output
- Traditional vs Turn Around Document
- Structured vs Inquiry Based Reports

SELECTING THE PROPER SYSTEM
Comparison strategy : System is compared based on the costs and the profit relatively. There're three ways to say that system A is more superior than other system :
- A has less cost than B, and their profit is equal
- A has less cost than B, and A has more profit than B
- A and B has the same cost, but A has more profit than B

System Comparison Method
- Break Even point Analyisis
- Payback Period
- Discounted PayBack period
- Internal Rate of Return

Costs Category
- Hardware
- Software
- People
- Suppliers
- Telecommunications
- Physical Sites

Costs Spesification
Comparing information system expense through systems life, analysts project how much is the costs conversion for the future and there're three information system costs model, those are the Linear, Eksponensial dan Step Function.

Information system costs may exist just once and might also be continous.
- The information system costs that exist just once is called the ontime cost and the development cost that exist when systems being developed.
- The information system costs that exist continually is called reccuring cost and operational cost where this costs is existed when the information system is on charge daily.

INFORMATION SYSTEM FACTOR
Qualitative factor that was referred to a good information system, are :
- Decreasing the mistake level
- Decreasing the time to correct mistake
- Decreasing the response time from alternative workstation
- Quicken the time to providing information
- Increasing the security level
- Extend the update for active record resources
- Increasing the satisfaction of the user

Company Strategy Factor
- Customer satisfaction
- Selling standard increased
- Customer and vendors commitment
- Product selling information

REPRESENTATING THE SYSTEMS LEARNING
- Doing a brief presentation
- Decreasing the technical explanation in detail
- Presentating clearly with help of visual tools
- If using model, use tools like laptop so that it become more informative
- Emphasize the profit from information system suggestion with existing possible alternative in suit with the condition on the company.

DECISION TO EXTEND OR NOT
- If a company decide to develops the system so then the information department shall do the next process that is System Design Process
- If otherwise, then the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) will be stopped
- Often we will find a problem with the study system and usually the top management shall ask for reprocessing of the study system
- The model will explain some part of the phase that was reprocessed and sometimes the information department will make a decision to repeat the phase before explaining the study system
- With the alternatives, a decision to repeat the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) beforehand or not, is called a Go–No–Go Decision