Chapter 9 User Needs Analysis and Assessment. Guide to Computer User Support, 3e 2 Basic strategies...

Chapter 9

User Needs Analysis and Assessment

Guide to Computer User Support, 3e 2

• Basic strategies to perform user needs analysis 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

Learning Objectives

• Purpose: determine which computer products or services 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

Overview of User Needs Analysis and Assessment

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)

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

• Decision Phase• Goal is to develop a model of a proposed system and decide

whether to build it or buy it

User Needs Analysis Steps and Tasks

• 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

Step One: Understand the Personal or Organizational Goals

• 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

Step Two: Understand theDecision Criteria and Constraints

• What is the real problem that needs to be solved by this project?

• Ask probing questions• Not all problems are technical

• Some problems are organizational• 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

Step Three: Define the Problem Clearly

• 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• Users

• Managers

• Support analysts

• Information Technology or Technical Support Staff

• Can vendors be stakeholders in a project? What is their role?

Step Four: Identify the Roles of Stakeholders

• 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

continued

Step Five: Identify Sources of Information

• How does the existing system work?

• A model is a narrative and/or graphic diagram that describes the current system or situation

• 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?

Step Six: Develop an Understanding of the Existing System

• How can the existing system or situation be fixed?

• Add resources• Technical: additional equipment

• Organizational: additional personnel, budget, time, priority

• Change resources• Reinstall or reconfigure software

• Provide different user training

• Upgrades• Improve processing speed, storage capacity, compatibility

• Offer new features that address identified problems

continued

Step Seven: Investigate Alternatives to the Existing System

• 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

Step Seven: Investigate 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 situations

• Advertisements in trade periodicals

• Internet searches

Step Seven: Where to Find Alternatives to the Existing System (continued)

• 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?

Step Eight: Develop a Model of the Proposed System

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

• A cost-benefit analysis is not an exact science with right 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

Step 8 Tips

• 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

• 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

Step Nine: Make a Build-versus-Buy Decision

Step Nine: Advantages of Build versus Buy (continued)

• Project charter

• Cost-benefit analysis

• Data collection instruments

• Charts and diagrams

• Prototyping software

• Other tools

Needs Analysis and Assessment Tools

• 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

Project Charter

Example of a Project Charter

• Weighs the benefits of each alternative solution 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

Cost-benefit Analysis

Guide to Computer User Support, 3e 25continued

Cost-Benefit Analysis Factors

Data Collection Instruments

• Input forms

• Output forms

• Procedure documentation

• Operating or problem logs

• Interviews with users

• User questionnaires

• Direct observation

• 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

Input Forms

Example of an Input Form

• Output forms are documents that contain the results of a business process

• Examples• Grocery store sales receipt

• Paycheck stub

• Grade report

Output Forms

Procedure Documentation

• Procedure documentation is written instructions about 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

• 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

Operating or Problem Logs

• 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• Survey on user satisfaction with computer support services

Interviews and 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

Interviews versus Questionnaires

• An open-ended question is one where the respondents 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

Open-ended Questions

• In a forced-choice question, respondents must choose 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

experiences and frame-of-reference• Also called closed-choice or fixed-choice

Forced-choice Questions

• 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

Strategies for Question Design

• Direct observation involves watching users work• Powerful method of data collection

• when other forms of data collection aren’t possible

• to supplement other forms of data collection

• Plan sufficient time

• Take notes on:

• What users do

• Sequence of tasks

• Tools and strategies they use

• With whom they interact

• Where they store information

Direct Observation

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, technical narrative

• Common types of charts used in needs analysis• Flowcharts

• I-P-O charts

• A flowchart is a schematic diagram that use symbols to represent the parts of a system or the steps in a procedure• Rectangular boxes: 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

Flowchart

Example of Flowchart

• 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?

I-P-O Chart

Example of I-P-O Chart

• Prototype is a working model a support analyst builds 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• Use of Microsoft Access to design a data entry form for help desk problem

incidents

Prototyping Software

• 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

projects that will involve a number of users, analysts, and steps

• (see Chapter 7)

Other Needs Assessment Tools

• 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

Chapter Summary

Chapter Summary (continued)Major steps in needs analysis and assessment process

• Preparation phase1: Understand the user’s goals2: Understand the decision criteria and constraints3: Define the problem clearly4: Identify the roles of stakeholders5: Identify sources of information

• Investigation phase6: Develop an understanding of the existing situation7: Investigate alternatives to the existing situation

• Decision phase8: Develop a model of the proposed solution9: Make a build-versus-buy decision

Chapter Summary (continued)• User support analysts use a variety of tools as

information acquisition and decision aids in a needs analysis project

• 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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