Determining System Requirements - Essay Example

Several techniques for collecting data on the system requirements have been identified and applied. Among those techniques, the interview method has proven the most effective. The advantage of the interview method over the other methods is that it offers the system analyst a hence to get inclusive responses from the departmental heads. This ensures that all the aspects of the various departments in the firm are integrated into the system. This document outlines some of the steps to be followed in the interview process.

The steps taken depend entirely on the interviewer; however, there are five basic steps that any interview must address. The steps are explained below:

The first step in an interview is to select the interviewees. To ensure that helpful information is obtained, different stakeholders should be involved in the interview. Some of the stakeholders would include managers, company employees, and the general end user of the system. Selecting interviewees from different departments/niches reduces the chances of biases in the information obtained.

Once the interviewees are selected, the next step would be the development of the interview questions (YouTube, 2015). The questions should be developed such that they are free from ambiguity, and they use a language that can easily be understood by the interviewees. The questions can be either structured or unstructured. The structured type of questions attracts specific and straight-to-the-point answers, whereas the unstructured questions remain open to the respondent to give any answer/ or view. For efficiency in data analysis, a bigger percentage of the questions should be structured. The structured questions are appropriate when the expected data from the interview requires analysis to identify some patterns. On the other hand, the unstructured questions are relevant to a scenario where the opinion of the respondent is required. This offers the interviewee a chance to use any words to respond to the question asked. This analyzes the unstructured questions as difficult as compared to their counterpart.

After the interview questions are formulated, the preparation for the interview follows. The essential ingredients of this step would be the formulation of the steps to be followed during the interview. This includes; the order of questions to be asked, and the prioritized questions, just to mention a few. The interviewees should also be informed of the scheduled interview day. They should also be informed of the reason for the interview.

Once the preparations for the interview are adequately done, the next step would be to conduct the interview. This is a very crucial step in the interview process, and professionalism should be maintained. Clark (2008) outlined that, for the effectiveness of the interview session, the interviewer should be professional, and unbiased. He further added, the interviewer should avoid asking leading questions, as they would affect the responses obtained. The interviewee should be allowed time to conceptualize and ask questions relating to the questions asked. The interviewer should keep a record of all the responses from the individual interviewee. The responses should not be altered, and hence the interviewer should record them as the interviewee gives them.

The last step after the interviews are conducted is the post-interview follow-ups (Clark, 2008). The interviewer should prepare the interview notes, as well as the report. From the report, the interviewer should also identify any gaps in the interview questions.

In conclusion, the success of the system depends on the intensity of analysis done at the early design stages of the system. For this reason, interviews as ways of collecting data on the system requirements should handle with care. An exhaustive interview session should follow the five steps identified by this document.