Requirements, Needs, and Priorities: A Structured Approach for Determining MIS Project Definition

Abstract

Critical Success Factors (CSF), Application Transfer Team (ATT), Business Systems Planning (BS), and Executive Application Survey (EAS) are some of the more highly publicized methods used to perform requirements definition for information systems. A key element in these techniques, and often the most difficult to secure, is the total manpower commitment required to perform them correctly. These analysis methods are attractive to management, but we have not always been successful in selling those approaches to senior executives due to the time commitments they require. Requirements, Needs, and Priorities (RNP) combines the more effective concepts of CSF, BSP, and ATT with the traditional requirements analysis while minimizing the time and effort required to reach project definition. The objective is to bring executive recognition of MIS need from a maybe perspective to one of definite yes or no. This article will describe the RNP procedure and explain the components for successfully executing a study.