Assignment 2

Assignment 2

1. Cab Wheeler is a newly hired business analyst with your group. Cab has always felt that questionnaires are a waste and interviews are the best way to elicit requirements. Now that you will be doing a systems project for MegaTrucks, Inc., a national trucking firm with branches and over 2500 employees (at multiple levels of the organizational structure) in 130 cities, you want to use a questionnaire to elicit opinions about the performance of the current and proposed systems.

a. Based on what you know about Cab and MegaTrucks, give two persuasive reasons why Cab should use a survey for this study.

b. Given your careful arguments, Cab has agreed to use a questionnaire but strongly urges that all questions be open-ended so as not to constrain the respondents. In a paragraph, persuade Cab that closed questions are useful as well. Be sure to point out tradeoffs involved with each question type.

c. Under what conditions would it be appropriate to supplement the survey with some interviews? (Identify at least 2 such conditions)

2. A sample question from the draft of the Pohattan Power Company questionnaire reads:

I have been with the company:

20 years or upward

10 to 15 years upward

5 to 10 years upward

Less than a year

Check one that most applies.

a. What kind of a scale is the question’s author using?

b. What errors have been made in the construction of the question? (Identify at least 3)

c. Rewrite the question to achieve clearer results.

3. Ever since you entered the door, your interviewee, Max Hugo, has been shuffling papers, looking at his watch, and drumming on his desk with his fingers...

a. Based on what you knowledge about interviews, assess Max’s attitude/mental state toward the interview session. (You can have multiple potential assessments of Max’s attitude)

b. In a paragraph or a bulleted list, describe how you would deal with this situation so that the interview can be accomplished with Max’s full attention. (Max cannot reschedule the interview for a different day.)

4. “I see that you have quite a few papers there. What all do you have in there?” asks Betty Kant, head of the task force that is the liaison group between your business analysis group and Sawder’s Furniture Company. You are shuffling a large bundle of papers as you prepare to leave the building. “Well, I’ve got some financial statements, production reports from the last six months, and some performance reports that Sharon gave me that cover goals and work performance over the last six months,” you reply as some of the papers fall to the floor. “Why do you ask?” Betty takes the papers from you and puts them on the nearest desk. She answers, “Because you don’t need all this junk. You’re here to do one thing, and that’s talk to us, the users. Bet you can’t read one thing in there that’ll make a difference.”

a. The only way to convince Betty of the importance of each document is to tell her what you are looking for in each one. Use a paragraph to explain what each kind of document contributes to the business analyst’s understanding of the business.

b. While you are speaking with Betty, you realize you actually need other quantitative documents as well. List any 2 that you are missing.

5. Prepare a 10 slide PowerPoint that summarizes the “Requirements Management and Communication” knowledge area.