Posted: May 22nd, 2023

Observing users can be enhanced by examining system and organizational documentation

Observing users can be enhanced by examining system and organizational documentation to realize more details about current information systems and the organization these systems support. [1] When analyzing a company’s documentation it is important to think about the nature of such documentation, for example, whether the information is in date or out of date, and the integrity of the rules that developed the documentation. It is also important to know that documentation is mainly an indication of what should be happening and not necessarily what is happening in a company.

The types of documents that can be observed include organizational mission statements, business plans, organization charts, business policy manuals, and job descriptions. [2]

The information that can be obtained from these documents includes problems with the existing system, opportunities to new needs if certain procedures were available, the reason why current systems are designed as they are, and the rules for processing data. In this view, the advantages that can be realized through document analysis are:

1. This technique provides wide exposure to all aspects of the current system.
2. More accurate information involving the current system is obtained in relation to the procedures used to build the system.
3. It takes much less time to obtain and examine the documents as compared to questionnaires.
4. The expenses incurred are minimal as compared to interviews and questionnaires.

However, the drawbacks of this technique are:

1. The information richness is quite low since most of the company’s documents are old. The current requirements can be compromised.
2. This method is potentially biased by which documents were kept or because documents were not created for the purpose at hand