Existing DocumentationStudy and Surveys

What is it?

An existing Documentation Study is an inspection of existing document sources to uncover requirements information.

Also known as:• Market Analysis• Requirement’s Reuse

Why do it?

• Save money by reducing redundant research.

Don’t reinvent the wheel!• Size up the competition and

adjust requirements• Learn requirements

information from the existing system.

What does it do?

• Uses information from existing products as a baseline for functionalities

What does it do?

• Reuses existing documents for efficient engineering of new requirements

What does it do?

• Adapts requirements to research of market and competitors

What does it do?

• Identifies operations, definitions and constraints to which the software must conform

Existing Doc Study

Existing Documentation Study and Surveys

How do you do it?

Identify the appropriate documentation sources to use.

-Ask system and support staff what documentation exist and if it is accurate.

-Locate all physical and soft documentation-Search for information on competing products.

• Backup documentation• Recovery documentation• Help screens• Job descriptions• Operation manuals and guidelines• Strategic and business plan• Regulations, industry standards and company policies• Published reviews of COTS software in technical journals• Standard operating procedures.• Systems documentation• Prior user requirements • User specification documents• Support documentations • User problem reports, complaint logs and enhancement requests• Training materials, user manuals and tutorials• Web sites and marketing literature of competing products• Online user and discussion groups

Examples of documentation that should be studied:

Review and analyze the documentation

• Look for patterns• Search for information about nonfunctional requirements• Share and review finding with customers and users• Use the information to identify areas for further exploration and to uncover

missing requirements from a set of already drafted requirements

Prioritize!

Create draft analysis models

-Use the information from the study to draft analysis models such as context diagram, a list of use cases, and a data model

SURVEYS

1. How user-friendly is our software’s interface?

2. How successful is our software in performing its intended task?

Extremely user-friendly Very user-friendly

Slightly user-friendly Not at all user-friendly

Extremely successful Very successful

Slightly successful Not at all successful

Surveys: What is it? & Why?

Surveys: What is it? & Why?

3. How can we improve our software?

iType answer here …

SurveysWhat is it ?

Surveys: What is it? & Why?

• Gathers information anonymously

• Open-format or Closed-format

WHY ??

Surveys: What is it? & Why?

Quick &

Inexpensive

Unobtrusive

Provides Subjective

& Statistical Data

What to do Before Survey

- Qichang Zheng

3 questions and 5 steps before your survey

1. What you want to learn from the survey

2. Who is your respondent

3. How you want to do this survey

Steps to be followed before survey (Step 1)

Establish DISCRETE goals of the survey(What)

Example:● The usability of the program ● User satisfaction and dissatisfaction with a current

product● Bugs to fix● Somewhere to improve or some functionalities

needed

Steps to be followed before survey (Step 2)

Determine the sample group(Who)

● Group categoryo Group with 150 or fewer participants

▪ Consider surveying everyoneo Group with thousands participants

▪ Sample a subset of the user community● Segment the customers

o User base sizeo Frequency of usageo Components used

Steps to be followed before survey (Step 3)

Choose methodology(How)

o Online (Web-based)o E-mailo Telephoneo On-site survey (administered at the customer’s

location)o Mailed (Paper) survey

Steps to be followed before survey (Step 4)

Design the survey questions(How cont.)

o Decide if you will use subjective survey questions, objective survey questions, or both

o Construct unbiased questionso Ask short, unambiguous questionso Be sure that each question addresses a single issue

▪ Start with easy questions that arouse the interest of respondents

▪ Group similar questions▪ Use transitional statements▪ Limit the number of questions

Steps to be followed before survey (Step 4)

Design the survey questions(How cont.)

o Include a few real respondents in your testo Review the validity and understandability of the

questionso Record how long it takes testers to complete the

surveyo Use the feedback to modify the questions,

instructions, or cover letter

Steps to be followed before survey (Step 5)

Test the survey before you distribute it(How cont.)

• Include a few real respondents in your test.• Review the validity and understandability of the questions with a sampling of people. • Record how long it takes testers to complete the survey. • Use the feedback to modify the questions, instruc-tions, or cover letter.

During and After the Survey

During Survey :•Send a pre-notification or cover letter that

explains:

Why the survey is being done?

Who is sponsoring the survey?

How the results will be used?

An incentive (results or gift)

The need for prompt response

Policy of confidentiality of responses•Include instructions and cover letter or

paragraph that provides a name and contact information in case there are any questions • Make convenient for respondents to return

survey

After Survey :• Quantify the responses and have

survey design experts test the reliability and repeatability of the

results• Use data to confirm requirements

choices or where to focus for further requirements.

• Present data to the requirement team in a chart (bar/pie chart or

matrix)