Stakeholders- the Source of System Requirements

Ø The primary source of information for functional system requirements is from the various stakeholders of the new system. 

Ø Stakeholders are all the people who have an interest in the successful implementation of the system. 

Ø Generally, stakeholders are categorized into three groups:  users, clients and technical staff.

User stakeholders

Ø  User stakeholders are those who actually use the system in a daily basis.  User roles – that is, types of system users – should be identified in two dimensions: horizontally and vertically.

Horizontal user roles. The analyst must look for the information flow across departments or functions (i.e.  Inventory system may affect different department like receiving, warehousing, sales and manufacturing).

Vertical user roles. The analyst must look for the information needs of clerical staff, middle management and of senior executives.  Generally, vertical user roles include:

1.   business operations users.  These are the people who use the system to perform the day-to-day operations of an organization.  These operations are called transactions – a piece of work done in an organization such as “enter an order”.

2.   query users.  A person who needs current information from the system.  This person may be the same person as to the business operations user or someone else.  A query is a request for information.

3.   management users.  These are people who are responsible for seeing that the company is performing its daily procedures efficiently and effectively.  They need statistics and summary information from a system.

4.   executive users.  A person interested in strategic issues, as well as the daily issues.  They typically want information from the system so that they can compare overall improvements in resource utilization.

Client stakeholders

Ø  A client stakeholder is a person or group who is providing the funding for the project. 

Ø  In many cases, the client is the same group as the executive users.  However, the clients may also be a separate group or people, such as a board of trustees or executives in a parent company. 

Ø  The client or a direct representative on a steering or oversight committee also usually maintains ongoing approval and release of funds.

Technical stakeholders

Ø  The technical staffs are the people who ensure that the system operates in the computing environment of the organization.

Ø  It is the source of technical requirements. 

Ø  These people provide guidance in such areas as programming language, computer platforms, and other equipment.