Abstract:
Systems development has been a topic of discussion for many years, with the growth of the Information Technology (IT) industry. Many organisations use systems to allow them to have more control over the processes that are carried out on a daily basis. The Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) has had a major impact on the way that systems are developed. It provides a structure that begins with identifying the feasibility of the project to be completed, and guides the project through implementation and maintenance of the system. It has been suggested that the lack of user involvement during this development process is a major cause of this failure in the systems that are developed. This research addresses this problem by reviewing the most popular methods and examining the concept of user involvement. An industrial perspective also assists in generating key issues in systems development. These, together with the lessons learned during the literature review form the basis of the development of a new approach.
The new approach proposed in this thesis (URCAM, User requirements Capturing Method) comprises a set of stages and phases that a developer can use to carry out the process of capturing user requirements. While learning from the weaknesses of the existing methods, the proposed method considers their strengths.
URCAM was evaluated during a systems development project at BICC General Cables. The results of the evaluation suggested that the method would produce higher quality information than verbal communication. However, the major strengths of the method are that it offers the developer a guide that they could follow from identifying the types of users who would be involved, to the sign-off, of the final specification. URCAM forms are also presented, which offer the user an opportunity to write down information. The results suggest that this method helps the user to feel more involved and increases their willingness to use the implemented system.
