"Three days of programming can save you hours of planning."
The planning and design stage of a program are the most important parts. If you plan well, the development process will proceed faster. Poor planning or a lack of planning, can cause a lot of re-writes and re-coding. The Needs Analysis is the first part of the planning process. It includes a clear and concise statement of the problem, audience identification, technical specifications, available resources, targeted platforms, scope, and timeline. This information is collected and and specified through interviews, team meetings and surveys.
A Needs Analysis helps a develop team analyze the problem and possible solutions. When entering the needs analysis phase, the team should be open minded to a variety of solutions. Analyzing the problem in depth should point the team to the logical solution.
Parts of a Needs Analysis
- Problem Statement: The first part of a needs analysis is identifying the problem. Teams should work together to write a clear problem statement that identifes the current problem, its long term implications and a proposed solution.
- Stakeholders: Teams need to identify those who are affected by the problem. Often there are un-seen groups who have a stake in the problem or solution. When identifying stakeholder, the extent to which each group is involved should be looked at in detail.
- Assessment: In the assessment phase, the team uses a variety of instruments (surveys, interviews, research, etc) to assess the extent of the problem and factors that may influence the solution. This may include things like stakeholder technology skills, company restrictions, etc. Assessment takes place in 4 parts: developing the instruments, administering the instruments, organizing the results, interpreting the results.
- Other Considerations:As this document is one of the early documents, it is a good time to assess other items that will assist in the development of the project. These items include:
- Environment: do the technical restrictions on the environment affect the solution (internet connection, speed, etc)? Is there a preferred or required browser?
- Resources: what resources are available to assist with the designing/developing/testing of this product
- Scope: provide a general view of what this project will entail with regard to content, media interactivity and anticipated limitations
- Timeline: provide a list of sub tasks and due dates to complete the project on time