A User Perspective of Information Requirements Determination Quality

Abstract

A study was performed to identify factors that affect the process quality of the information requirements determination (IRD) process from a user perspective. A nominal group process was used with three groups of users that have had experience with the IRD process. The results indicate there is a set of factors that users agree impact the quality of the IRD process. A total of 33 factors were identified as critical to IRD process quality. These factors are then classified into five logical categories: management, organization, process, technical, and human resource. The users consider management commitment the most important individual factor for IRD quality. However, the groups ranked the process category of factors highest. By using this set of factors as a checklist during the project planning stage, a manager may identify potentially problematic projects or projects with a higher likelihood of success. This study should benefit information technology (IT) users, IT professionals, project managers, and IT researchers. The identification of factors that impact IRD process quality may give managers guidance in assessing the risk associated withspecific development projects. By determining the value of these factors prior to the commitment of resources, managers may increase the likelihood of recognizing problematic projects or projects with potentially high returns, allowing them to take prescriptive action. By identifying the concerns of users, it may be possible to control and manage the antecedents to the IRD process that have the most effect on users’ perceptions and expectations. Lastly, the factors identified may be used to develop metrics to monitor the IRD process or measure its success or quality. For IT researchers, this study offers two primary contributions: (1) identification of the critical factors suggests that there are many variables that have not received attention, and (2) an example of an approach to generate potential variables for further study.