Chapter 9
User Needs Analysis and
Assessment
Learning Objectives
• Basic strategies to perform user needs analysis
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and assessment
Major steps an analyst undertakes to analyze and
assess a user’s needs
Common tools that aid a support specialist in a
user needs analysis project
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Overview of User Needs Analysis
and Assessment
• Purpose: determine which computer products or services
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best meet end-user needs
Strategy:
• understand a user’s environment and work situation
• clarify the problem or objectives
• investigate alternative solutions
• decide on a solution to meet the user’s needs
• decide whether to purchase or build
• Process can be formal or informal
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Examples of Typical Needs
Assessment Projects
• Select components
• Choose a computer system
• Choose a peripheral to add to an existing system
• Choose an application software package
• Choose an office network
• Select services
• Choose a training program
• Choose an Internet service provider (ISP)
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Three Phases in
Needs Analysis Process
Preparation Phase
• Goal is to understand the problem, goals, decision criteria,
stakeholders and information needed for a project
Investigation Phase
• Goal is to understand the present situation and alternatives to
it
Decision Phase
• Goal is to develop a model of a proposed system and decide
whether to build it or buy it
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User Needs Analysis
Steps and Tasks
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Step One: Understand the
Personal or Organizational Goals
• What is the environment into which the future system
will fit?
• Purposes of the organization
• For-profit or not-for-profit
• Plans for growth or expansion
• Attitude about technology (organizational culture)
• Budget for computer systems and services
• Staff expertise
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Step Two: Understand the
Decision Criteria and Constraints
• What criteria will impact the decision?
• Is this project feasible?
• Feasibility investigates the constraints that will impact
this project
• Economic feasibility
• Budget constraints
• Operational feasibility
• Impact on other systems and personnel
• Technological feasibility
• State of technology
• Timeline feasibility
• Time constraints
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Step Three: Define the
Problem Clearly
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What is the real problem that needs to be solved by this project?
Ask probing questions
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Not all problems are technical
Some problems are organizational
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Personnel
Workflow
Training
Politics
Management
Resources
Do not assume that a user has correctly analyzed the problem
Observe the user in his or her environment
Consider solutions other than obvious ones
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Step Four: Identify the
Roles of Stakeholders
• Who will be impacted by this project?
• A stakeholder is a participant in a needs analysis
•
project who has a substantial interest in the successful
outcome of the project
Four kinds of stakeholders
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Users
Managers
Support analysts
Information Technology or Technical Support Staff
Can vendors be stakeholders in a project? What is their role?
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Step Five: Identify
Sources of Information
• What sources of information are needed to analyze user
needs?
• Interviews with end users and managers
• Surveys or questionnaires sent to end users
• Procedure manuals that describe the current system
• Direct observation of the existing situation
• Forms used for input into the existing system
• Reports output from the existing system
• Problem reports or help desk logs
• Reports and recommendations from consultants or auditors
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continued
Step Six: Develop an Understanding
of the Existing System
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How does the existing system work?
A model is a narrative and/or graphic diagram that describes the
current system or situation
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A model can aid an analyst’s understanding
A model can be shared with stakeholders to verify understanding
Three key questions in Step Six:
1. Do I understand the existing system well enough to explain its
operation to others?
2. Do I understand which features of the existing system users like?
3. Do I under what users think is wrong with existing system?
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Step Seven: Investigate Alternatives
to the Existing System
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How can the existing system or situation be fixed?
• Add resources
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Technical: additional equipment
Organizational: additional personnel, budget, time, priority
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Reinstall or reconfigure software
Provide different user training
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Improve processing speed, storage capacity, compatibility
Offer new features that address identified problems
• Change resources
• Upgrades
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continued
Step Seven: Investigate Alternatives
to the Existing System (continued)
• New hardware
• Resolve capacity constraints
• Run software efficiently
• Operate new software
• New software
• Packaged, off-the-shelf software
• Custom-developed software
• New software that can be modified
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Step Seven: Where to Find Alternatives
to the Existing System (continued)
• Sources of products and solutions that address specific
organizational needs
• Trade publications
• Options other organizations use successfully in similar
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•
situations
Advertisements in trade periodicals
Internet searches
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Step Eight: Develop a Model of the
Proposed System
• What features would a new system or solution offer?
• Build a model of the proposed system or solution
• Includes pros and cons of each alternative considered
• Answer the questions:
–Why is proposed solution an improvement to the existing
one?
–Why is this the best available alternative?
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Step Eight: Develop a Model of the
Proposed System (continued)
• Kinds of solutions
• An optimal solution is the best one
• A satisficing solution is one that solves the problem, but is not
necessarily the best solution
• A cost-benefit analysis is a comparison between
a solution’s expenses and its payoffs to an
organization
• Useful tool to
• Analyze a solution
• Compare solutions
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Step 8 Tips
• A cost-benefit analysis is not an exact science with right
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•
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or wrong answers
For a small project, even an informal cost-benefit
analysis is useful
Users’ needs should drive the specifications for a new
system
Software specifications are usually more important than
hardware specifications, and should be developed first
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Step Nine: Make a
Build-versus-Buy Decision
• Should the new system or solution be built or
purchased?
• Build-versus-buy decision
• a decision to build a new system internally or purchase one off
•
the shelf
applies primarily to software (but can also apply to hardware,
software, or complete systems)
• Turnkey system is an integrated packaged solution that
provides hardware, software, and support from a single
vendor
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Step Nine: Advantages of
Build versus Buy (continued)
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Needs Analysis
and Assessment Tools
• Project charter
• Cost-benefit analysis
• Data collection instruments
• Charts and diagrams
• Prototyping software
• Other tools
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Project Charter
• A project charter is a short narrative statement that
describes the objectives, scope, methods, participants,
deliverables, and timeline
• A deliverable is the end result of a needs analysis project
• Analysis of alternatives
• Feasibility report
• Recommendation
• Build versus buy decision
• High level overview of a project
• Promotes a common understanding among all
stakeholders
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Example of a Project Charter
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Cost-benefit Analysis
• Weighs the benefits of each alternative solution
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against the costs of each alternative
Kinds of benefits
• Tangible: benefits that are relatively easy to quantify
• Example: increased worker productivity (output divide by
input)
• Intangible benefit is an expected result from a
computer acquisition that is difficult to quantify
• Example: increased worker morale
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Cost-Benefit Analysis Factors
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continued
Data Collection Instruments
• Input forms
• Output forms
• Procedure documentation
• Operating or problem logs
• Interviews with users
• User questionnaires
• Direct observation
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Input Forms
• Input form is a paper document or display screen image
used to collect information about a business transaction
• Also called a source document
• Examples
• Payroll timecards
• Problem log
• Membership application
• Expense account record
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Example of an Input Form
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Output Forms
• Output forms are documents that contain the results of
•
a business process
Examples
• Grocery store sales receipt
• Paycheck stub
• Grade report
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Procedure Documentation
• Procedure documentation is written instructions about
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how to perform a business transaction or handle a
routine business process
Often used to train a new worker or answer frequently
asked questions about transaction processing problems
Examples
• Manual on how to process orders in a copy shop
• Operations manual in a bank or credit union
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Operating or Problem Logs
• A log is a list of events or activities recorded in
the sequence the events occur
• Routine, periodic event information
• Unusual events, errors, problems, complaints
• Examples
• Log of inventory shortages in Shipping and Receiving
• Log of problems encountered with a new software package
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Interviews and Questionnaires
• Used to collect relevant information from users
• About the work they do
• How an existing or proposed computer system might affect
their work
• Require care to design so that they:
• Extract information that is clear and unambiguous
• Elicit information needed by an analyst
• Example
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Survey on user satisfaction with computer support services
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Interviews versus Questionnaires
• Interview Advantage
–Interviewer can probe to learn details of issues that are of
special interest
• Interview Disadvantage
–Takes more time than a questionnaire
• Questionnaire Advantage
–Ability to survey a larger group at a lower cost
• Questionnaire Disadvantage
–Difficult to phrase unambiguous questions
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Open-ended Questions
• An open-ended question is one where the respondents
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answer using their own words instead of predetermined
responses
Advantage
• Responses are not forced into predefined categories
• Challenges
• Require care to design questions
• Take longer to complete
• More difficult to tabulate results
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Forced-choice Questions
• In a forced-choice question, respondents must choose
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from predetermined response categories
Advantage
• Faster to administer (check boxes)
• Easier to tabulate results
• Challenges
• Difficult to frame questions to match each user’s personal
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experiences and frame-of-reference
Also called closed-choice or fixed-choice
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Strategies for Question Design
• Use a team to design questions
• Field test on small sample of users
• A focus group is a small representative group of
selected users
• An alternative to surveying a large number of users
• Interaction among users may generate ideas that would not
occur in one-on-one interviews or questionnaires
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Direct Observation
• Direct observation involves watching users work
• Powerful method of data collection
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• when other forms of data collection aren’t possible
• to supplement other forms of data collection
Plan sufficient time
Take notes on:
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What users do
Sequence of tasks
Tools and strategies they use
With whom they interact
Where they store information
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Charts and Diagrams
• Used to show:
• Flow of information in an organization
• Relationships between workers
• Parts of an information system
• Workflow among employees
• Often easier to read and understand than lengthy,
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technical narrative
Common types of charts used in needs analysis
• Flowcharts
• I-P-O charts
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Flowchart
• A flowchart is a schematic diagram that use symbols to
represent the parts of a system or the steps in a
procedure
• Rectangular boxes:
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Departments in a company, nodes on a
network, processing steps a worker performs
Diamonds: Decision points or questions
Lines: Relationship of parts or a sequence of processing steps
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Example of Flowchart
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I-P-O Chart
• An I-P-O Chart is a diagram that represents Input,
•
Processing, and Output steps required to perform a task
Answers three fundamental questions about a procedure
• Input: Where do I get the information with which to work?
• Processing: What do I do to transform the information?
• Output: What do I do with the information when processing is
completed?
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Example of I-P-O Chart
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Prototyping Software
• Prototype is a working model a support analyst builds
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to let users evaluate how the finished product of an
analysis project will actually work
Advantage
• Easy, quick, cost-effective compared with finished product
• Easy to make changes
Limitation
• Usually operates slowly or has limited capacity for data
storage
Example
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Use of Microsoft Access to design a data entry form for help desk
problem incidents
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Other Needs Assessment Tools
• Benchmarks (see Chapter 8)
• Weighted point comparisons (see Chapter 8)
• Project management software helps project leaders
organize the tasks in a large project, set priorities,
establish project costs, and schedule resources.
• Appropriate for large-scale needs assessment and development
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projects that will involve a number of users, analysts, and
steps
(see Chapter 7)
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Chapter Summary
• A needs assessment project is a sequence of steps
designed to obtain relevant information from end
users and help them make an informed decision
about computer purchases or processing
procedures
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Chapter Summary (continued)
Major steps in needs analysis and assessment process
• Preparation phase
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•
1: Understand the user’s goals
2: Understand the decision criteria and constraints
3: Define the problem clearly
4: Identify the roles of stakeholders
5: Identify sources of information
Investigation phase
6: Develop an understanding of the existing situation
7: Investigate alternatives to the existing situation
Decision phase
8: Develop a model of the proposed solution
9: Make a build-versus-buy decision
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Chapter Summary (continued)
• User support analysts use a variety of tools as
information acquisition and decision aids in a needs
analysis project
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Input forms
Output forms
Procedure documentation
Operating or problem logs
Interviews with users
User questionnaires
Focus groups
Direct observation
Benchmarks
Weighted Point Evaluations
Project Management Software
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