Systems Analysis -- FAQ

Systems Analysis FAQ
Background Assignment

Some FAQ's and their answers have been provided by former students.
If some advice seems inconsistent with what Dr. Sauter has said in class, please contact her for clarification.

When doing your background what should you include?

You should include anything that is necessary to know about the system prior to starting the project. Such as an overview of the system of what it does and how it does it.

Is there such thing as too many questions? I am afraid to ask too many because it may aggravate the client.

If the question is within your scope the question should be asked. If you feel that there are a lot of questions, look them over to see if you can combine some or eliminate some.

How many questions should we prepare for this assignment?

Unless I say otherwise in class five questions will be the requirement.

What type of questions do we ask?

What does your client want? Once you have that answer you can and a who, what were, when, and why. Now you have your starting questions and can build from that.

How can I generate some ideas for questions to ask my client?

Use your current job as an example, and work "backwards". If someone wanted to come into your workplace and get a full understanding of your job, what would you tell him? Once you have decided the answers, figure out what questions they would need to ask you in order for you to tell the these answers.

Are there any off-limits questions that we should know about?

No most of the clients that come in here are not in the CIA working on top-secret projects. Anything you want to ask feel free to ask but please keep it relevant to the project. If the client does no wish to answer I leave that up to that person.

What information should be researched during the background assignment?

You should research the entire scope of your project. Once you have a clear understanding of the entire system that you are working with you will be able to find the weakest link of the process.

How many questions are there supposed to be?

As many questions as you can justify. Each one must be justified in terms of how it might contribute to your solution.

When doing background research how do you know where to start?

Pick a place and if it wasn't the right place you will know that place wasn't the right one and you will hopefully have a little bit better idea where is the right place. Plus even the wrong starting place will give you good information. Remember all questions are good questions. When an answer wasn't the one you were looking for that does not mean it's not the right answer.

How many questions should our group have to ask the client?

Each group should have 5-7 questions to ask the client about the specific system.

Is there a set number of questions we have to have when the client comes to the class?

Your group is not required to ask a specific number of questions when the client comes to the class. This assignment is to ask any and all questions that you have found you cannot get anywhere else. I encourage you to have as many as possible to allow for things that the other groups may not have thought of. This question session is for your benefit and can be as detailed as you see fit.

Will we have an opportunity to adjust our questions according to your feedback before posing them to the client?

Yes. Questions will be discussed in class and you will have an opportunity to adjust according to peer feedback as well as the instructor's.

What kind of questions should we pose to the client?

Anything that is relevant to your project. Whatever information you might find pertinent to your work.

How many questions should we have?

Each person in the group should come up with ten questions. This will ensure that you have thought about the analysis and have a good list of relevant questions.

What are some basic issues that should be addressed?

The scopes and bounds of the tasks, anecdotes and advice, sequencing of tasks, relationships, heuristics, and verification.

What questions should we ask?

Ask questions that will help your group find where a problem is. These questions should help you in getting a better understanding of the system.

Should we decide what our focus scope should be prior to the meeting, or should we decide our focal point based on the interview?

I would have an idea of what the topic will be before hand, this way the questions that you ask will be more helpful to the group. However after interviewing the scope may change somewhat.

Should all of my questions center on a particular focus of the system?

No you can ask as many questions as you deem appropriate. The more questions you ask the better you can determine your focus for the project. Having a wide assortment of questions gives other individuals a chance to expand on them.

What type of questions do you consider appropriate?

Any questions that help you to more accurately define the system, as well as define problems in the system. I recommend finding out as much background information as possible before writing out the questions. These questions should require the client to answer the question in more than one sentence. Try to write questions that require more than a simple, "Yes or No".

How will the assignments be graded?

Your assignment will be graded on how relevant your questions are and how well you justify those questions.

How do you know you are asking the right questions?

First of all, make sure your questions are on the subject, and ask yourself if the questions you ask will contribute to your cause. Also construct the question in a way that you feel will bring a better answer.

You ask that we justify our questions by addressing how the information will help in completing the analysis, and why the information is not available prior to the meeting with the client. Is there any information that should be included in the summary section of the background exercise?

Yes, you should include any information you find regarding the client including board members, salaries, financial records, previous activities, non profit organization goals, regulations, etc. Then from that information you should come up with your questions from information that is missing.

What do you think about the background assignment thus far?

The background assignment is not hard, but not easy either. You are working with a group of students who come from different and similar backgrounds in the IT field as well as work ethic. You have to gather information on your client prior to speaking with them. This information is collected to generate questions and ideas for a direction your group wants to go. After the collection of data, and possible solutions to participate and meet is a necessity. You may not meet in person but you will need to meet and communicate on a regular basis.

What should I dig up as background information?

Research the company. Fill in any information that would describe their processes in producing their goal as a company. Be it their products, how they create the products, their creative processes and even production of their material goods/services. All of this is important to keep in mind before taking on later assignments for this class.

When doing your background what should you include?

The Background assignment is really made up of three parts, the client's background information, your questions for the client, and an overview of the client's system. In the first part, Include everything your research has produced relevant to your client and their business. In your questions, formulate them based upon what you did or didn't learn from your background research. Dig deep here, there is always plenty you don't know yet, and everything should be explored to help build your analysis. Finally, the system overview. You may not know much, but based upon what you know give a brief description of what you think the clients system looks like. If you aren't sure about some facets of the clients operation, make questions about what you don't understand and include them with your other questions for the client.

If I only have a general idea of what the client is interested in and am unable to contact the client. What should be looking for?

You should be looking for anything relevant to the client. Things like articles about the client, government reports related to the client, who they are associated with.

How can I solve the problem of my client is having, if I don't know exactly what the client wants?

You can't and more importantly shouldn't be looking at a definite solution to the problem in the background assignment. By doing so you narrow your scope too early in the process of analysis.

How can I avoid narrowing my scope too much in the background assignment?

By gathering as much information about your client, without taking into consideration what the client feels it needs to fix the problem. In the background assignment you're looking at the client and its history, not their problem.

Should the questions I ask be directly related to what the client feels is their problem?

Yes, many of your questions should be about what the client feels is the problem, to get an understanding as to why they feel that way. However questions should not be limited to what they see as the problem, as often times what the client thinks is the problem my be the result of something else, or may not be the problem at all.

If it’s obvious the client’s problem is one particular thing, should I focus on that?

Yes to the point that it’s an obvious problem, however you still need to examine other things. As the perceived problem may actually be the result of something else or many other things.

What are the requirements of a system to work well?

For the system to work it's intended work, we have to consider five components of system analysis. A. We have to understand/ know what the client stands for and who are targeted system users? B. What kind of data the client has in their systems and looking for? C. What kind of technology or network operation the client is using? D. Who are stakeholders in this system? E. What kind of decisions the client is making on it's system?

Beside the five components understanding the environment in which all these requirements are operating is important. Because it help us to draw clear boundary between the environment in which Operation Liftoff operating and the system.

What should I expect?

You need to be focused and willing to put lots of time into research because what you know about the client is what will get through the project.

Where should I look for information?

The client’s website, any related websites, google search for related links, and try different search engines.

Should the client be asked personal questions?

Personal questions for the client should be run by the Professor first to avoid upsetting the client.

Should the group divide the work?

The group has to make that call because busy individuals may have a hectic schedule and need to have a specific aspect of the client to research on their own time. If that is the case other group member should still be on the lookout for information pertaining to the client. A group that can meet frequently may find it easier to look up one area of interest at time together. That’s why communication is key for the group.

What does the project entail?

The assignment is about getting to know the client before actually meeting them. What you need to do is go out and gather as much information as possible on them.

How do I do this?

Look around. Some suggestions are Google, the attorney general, and various other places that deal in non-profit agencies.

How long will this take?

This will vary. Depending on how well your client documents their information. It could take an hour or it could take many days

What all needs to be included in the “summary” of the client in the background exercise? What is needed beyond the justification of the questions in the summary?

The summary should include all relevant information pertaining to the client, above and beyond just providing information relating to your specific questions for the client.

What should be included in the Background Exercise?

Anything that you can find out about the organization without talking to them. Expand your horizons, things from the library and online searches work well for this. Don't hold anything back because if you do not include everything you have found you probably will not get the highest grade possible. All of this information should be written in paper format also justification for the questions you are going to ask should be written in the body of the paper. Attached to this paper should be a list of questions that the group wants to ask the client. There is no limit to the number or type.

How many times should my group meet for this assignment?

This depends on the group dynamic and how many responsibilities each group member has in their own lives and how much they can commit to the project.

How strict should our questions be? I don't want to offend the client.

This is a judgement call really. Normally if your question is valid and applies to the problem of the client, then it doesn't necessarily have to be vicious. If you wouldn't ask your grandma the question, then it's probably not good for your client.

I've talked with other groups, and we seem to have the same questions to the client. Is that bad?

No, that's not bad. If other groups are coming up with the same questions as you, then more than likely they're pertinent to the problem and need to be addressed in order to help progress the completion of the project.

The client is just going to give us information about their organization anyway, why is this assignment important?

This assignment is important because it makes the client at ease with asking for your help. If you were a client, you would want to work with people who cared enough about your organization to look up information before you actually told them about your work. This assignment is for the client's benefit.

I'm not a detective, how can I dig up information about an organization I've never heard of when I'm not allowed to ask them questions yet?

Be inventive. With the vast amounts of data the internet has to provide today, there is a likely chance you can find something about the organization. If you are completely at a loss, ask other groups for ideas. Lastly, the teacher is a good place to get some guidance. She won't do the assignment for you, but she might direct you in ways of finding info about the client.

What is this assignment about?

When preparing for the Background questions, wait for the client stakeholder to express their view of the problem, or problems. Until then it is fultile to rack your brain about the problems they are having, unless you are a psychic. You can however do research on the type of business, the buisiness process, and financial information via the regular channels without contacting the client stakeholder.

How do you know what the problem is before you meet with the client.

You don't until you start putting together the current system.

What is the most important questions to find out.

You need to find the most relevant information about your client including finances, affiliates...etc.

How far back should the research be.

As far back as you can find. Compare old ways with new ways, old data to new data.

What is the best way to find the information?

Internet sources, government pages, etc.

What should you concentrate on?

Finding the most relevant questions, and the ones that will lead you to find the clients problem.