A Holistic Approach to Information Requirements Determination

This book explores how soft systems methodology (SSM) and object-oriented analysis (OOA) can be used together through a wider framework to increase the effectiveness of organizational requirements analysis for information systems development. To understand information systems, we need to understand organizations, what they are, and how they work. The determination of organizational information requirements should be a two-stage process: 1) a business analysis, to make sense of the human activities performed in organizations; followed by 2) a technology-oriented analysis to define what technological facilities might support the organizational activities. SSM, being perception-driven, helps users understand what information they need and how to use the information. OOA, on the other hand, provides the base for building a data structure capable of satisfying the identified information needs. A wider framework is thus developed for complementary application of both methods in IS requirements analysis.

Autorentext

Dr. Linda Lai works as a university professor in Hong Kong and Macao SARs of China. She holds two research degrees from Lancaster University, UK - one in the area of information technology applications and the other focusing on wider management issues. Her research interests include decision science, information management and electronic commerce.