Web Analysis

CIS 376

Bruce R. Maxim

UM-Dearborn

Web Formulation Activities

• Identify business need for WebApp• Work with stakeholders to describe WebApp

objectives• Develop user profile(s)• Define major features and functions• Develop an integrated statement of scope• Establish requirements gathering activity that

leads to development of analysis model

Formulation Questions

• What is the business need for the WebApp?• What are the objectives that the WebApp

must fulfill?• Who will use the WebApp?• What are user's intentions for using the

content?• What are the applicative goals (ability to

perform tasks) for the WebApp?

Requirements Gathering

• Ask stakeholders to define user categories and develop descriptions for each

• Communicate with stakeholders to define basic WebApp requirements

• Analyaze information gathered and use information to follow-up with stakeholders

• Define use-cases that describe interaction scenarios for each user class

Defining User Categories

• What is the user’s overall objective when using the WebAPP?

• What is the user’s background and sophistication relative to the content and functionality of the WebApp?

• What generic WebApp characteristics does the user like or dislike?

Communications Options

• Traditional focus groups– trained moderator meets with group of

representative end-users

• Electronic focus groups– on-line version of traditional focus group

• Iterative surveys– series of focused surveys sent to representative

end-users (often web-based or e-mail)

Communications Options

• Exploratory surveys– web-based survey tied to WebApps having

user similar to the expected users of the proposed WebApp

• Scenario-building– selected end-users asked to create

informal use-cases that describe specific WebApp interactions

Analyzing Information

• Create a stack of cards for the identified content objects, operation applied to objects, WebApp functions, and non-functional requirements

• Shuffle the cards to randomize their order• Give the shuffled cards to representative users and

ask them to arrange cards into groupings that represent how they would like content and functionality organized in the WebApp

Analyzing Information

• WebE team examines the arrangements from several users and seeks to identify common groupings from the various arrangements

• Labels are assigned to these groupings by the WebE team

• Users are asked to sort cards again using these labels (the intent is to see is the labels are communicating the location of information and functionality)

• Process of labeling and sorting continues until consensus is obtained

Developing Use Cases

• Use-cases provide detail necessary to create an effective analysis model

• Use-cases help the developer understand how users perceive their interaction with the WebApp

• Use-cases help to compartmentalize WebE work

• Use-cases provide important guidance to those testing the WebApp

WebE Analysis

• Content analysis– content provided by WebApp is identified

(data modeling techniques may be helpful)

• Interaction analysis– use-cases can be developed to describe

user interaction with WebApp

WebE Analysis

• Functional analysis– usage scenarios used to define operations

and functions applied to the WebApp content

• Configuration analysis– WebApp environmental infrastructure is

described in detail)

WebE Process Model:Planning

• Estimate project cost• Evaluate risks• Define finely granulated schedule for first

increment• Define coarser schedule for subsequent increments

WebE Team Members

• Content developers and providers • Web publisher • Web engineer• Support specialist• Administrator or webmaster

Building WebE teams

• Establish a set of team guidelines

• Strong team leader must be identified

• Individual team member talents must be respected

• Team member commitment is essential

• Team members must be able to sustain momentum when faced with adversity

Project Management Concerns Unique to WebE

• Many WebApps are out sourced to vendors specializing in the development of web-based systems and application

• WebApp development is relatively new and there is little historical data to use for estimation

• The continuously evolving nature of WebApps make estimation, risk analysis, and scheduling more complicated since project scope is less clearly defined

Project Management Guidelines:Initiating Project

• Many of the analysis activities should be performed internally

• Rough design for the WebApp should be developed internally

• Rough delivery schedule including milestone dates and final delivery dates should be developed

• Degree of oversight and interaction by the contractor with the vendor should be identified

Project Management Guidelines:Outsourcing Vendor Selection

• Interview past clients to determine vendor's past performance

• Be certain the vendor's chief web engineer(s) from past successful projects will involved with yours

• Carefully examine samples of the vendor's work on projects similar to yours

Project Management Guidelines:Assessing the Validity of Price Quotes

• Does the quoted cost of the WebApp provide a direct or indirect return-on-investment that justifies the project?

• Does the vendor exhibit the required level of professionalism and experience?

Project Management Guidelines:Assessing the Development Schedule

• Short development times suggest the use of fine granularity in the schedule

• Link minor milestones scheduled on a daily timeline

Project Management Guidelines:Managing Project Scope

• Use an incremental process model• Allows the development team to freeze the scope

for one increment • This allows an operational WebApp release to be

created

WebE Worst Practices

• We have a great idea so let’s being building the WebApp now.

• Stuff changes constantly, so there’s no point in trying to understand WebApp requirements.

• It’s OK to staff a WebE team with developers whose primary experience has been with traditional software development.

WebE Worst Practices

• Be bureaucratic (lots of process models, timesheets, unnecessary project meetings, team leaders with no WebApp management experience)

• Testing, why bother?