PrintThis lesson taught the tools and techniques of systems analysis and provided a look at the requirements gathering and analysis activities. Reading both Whitten and Tomlinson provided a broad perspective of spatial and nonspatial aspects. The lesson built on the introduction to system development in the previous lesson and provided a more detailed look at the phases that are collectively called systems analysis. This systems analysis process reinforces the information system building blocks that were developed in the previous lesson. Whitten’s “The Framework for the Application of System Techniques” is included to illustrate the implementation of a systems analysis process with a current paradigm which might include structured analysis, information engineering, object-oriented analysis, and accelerated development. The second part of this lesson introduced concepts, tools, and methods, which are used by today’s systems analysts to discover requirements. A requirement was defined and common fact-finding methods (Sampling, Research, Observation, Questionnaires, Interviews, Prototyping, Joint Requirements Planning) were introduced as a means to discover requirements. Each method has advantages and disadvantages, and some guidelines were provided for their use.