Course Topics

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Course Topics
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Topic Objectives

• By the end of this topic, you should be able to
  define 4 key components of effective systems
  design
• Organizational support
• Effective organizational processes
• Key relationship management
• Collaborative systems design

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1 - Organizational Support

• Set and maintain clear goals
• Clarify/limit ambiguity
• Articulate and address changes
• Focus on customers
• Customer awareness vacuum
• Instill data vs. assumptions
• Facilitate communication
• Teach how to gather useful information
• Foster designer/end user interaction

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Desired Outcomes

• Keep children safe promote healthy families
• Support program goals and performance measures
• State-specific program measures
• Federal outcome measures
• CWIS project is delivered on time, within budget
• Users are satisfied with their CWIS system

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2 - Effective Organizational Processes

• Characteristics
• Processes are defined and documented
• Staff is trained
• Processes are actually used
• Processes are repeatable, with consistent results
  vs. heroic actions of individuals
• Processes are measured and improved

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Organizational Process Examples

• Project-wide processes
• Project management
• Change management
• Risks/issues management
• Project approvals
• System deployments
• Service Request
• Systems Design Management

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3 - Key Relationships in Systems Design
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Possible State and Vendor Scenarios
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Key Stakeholders of State Child Welfare Programs

• Children and families served
• CWIS users
• Stakeholders external to Human Services agency
• Federal (Administration for Children and
  Families, Childrens Bureau)
• State legislature and governor
• State IT Departments
• Other State or privatized agencies
• Courts
• Tribes
• Citizens (advocacy groups)
• CWIS development/implementation partners
  (vendors, systems integrators)

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Key Stakeholders of State Child Welfare Programs,
cont.

• Stakeholders internal to Human Services agency
• Child Protective Services program
• CWIS project functional/program team
• Other Human Services programs (Child Support,
  Medicaid, Food Stamps, Mental Health, etc.)
• Human Services IT Department
• CWIS project technical team
• Budget and finance departments
• Staff augmentation contractors

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Exercise Key Relationships That Work Well

• In your cross-functional teams, review the
  slides on key relationships.
• Select an area either within or outside your
  State CWIS projects span of control.
• Give 1-2 examples of relationships that have
  worked well during CWIS systems design.
• What made these relationships successful? What
  can other States learn from your teams examples?
• Spokespersons report results to class.
• Time 20 minutes

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4 - Collaborative Systems Design

• Collaborative design is a cross-functional
  approach involving key stakeholders or their
  representatives
• Relies on negotiated agreements for resources at
  appropriate times
• Is aided by specific techniques and tools to
  promote collaboration and win-win agreement
• Collaborative design techniques
• Requirements elicitation
• Facilitation

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Requirements Elicitation Techniques

• Traditional
• Introspection
• Reading existing documents
• Analyzing data
• Interviews
• Surveys/questionnaires
• Face-to-face meetings

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Requirements Elicitation Techniques, cont.

• Collaborative
• Focus groups
• Brainstorming
• Joint Application Design/Development (JAD)
  workshops1
• Prototyping2

• Sources
• Joint Application Design/Development. Mei. C.
  Yatko. http//www.umsl.edu/sauterv/analysis/JAD.h
  tml
• Managing User Expectations. Michael Leicht and
  Dr.Vicki Sauter. University of Missouri at St.
  Louis. November 29, 1999. http//www.umsl.edu/sa
  uterv/analysis/user_expectations.html

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Basics of Facilitation

• Facilitation is the art of making easier
• A facilitator
• Is a neutral party without a stake in the outcome
• Is someone who uses knowledge of group processes
  to design an effective meeting structure for a
  group to accomplish its meeting goals
• A facilitator focuses on meeting processes and
  group dynamics so participants can focus on the
  content of their collaborative work

• Source Merriam-Websters Online Dictiionary.
• http//www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/facilita
  ting

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Key Facilitator Activities

• Communicate with meeting sponsor to learn
• Groups purpose
• Specific meeting goals, products, and due dates
• Group decision-making process consensus is
  typical
• Plan appropriate group processes for each meeting
• Agenda
• Start time/end time
• Meeting space, either physical or virtual
• Participants special needs. Examples include
• Sign language interpreters
• Text in alternate formats
• Physical access to meeting

Source Basic Facilitation Skills
Primer. American Society for Quality and the
International Association of Facilitators. May
2002. http//www.iaf-world.org/files/public/Facili
tatorMnl.pdf
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Key Facilitator Activities, cont.

• Facilitate meeting
• Publish agenda ahead of meeting
• Announce and enforce meeting ground rules
• Everyone participates and everyone listens
• Keep it brief (2-minute rule)
• Keep it professional. Avoid personal comments.
• Cell phones/ PDAs off
• On topic vs. off-topic (Parking Lot)
• Manage time and environment (temperature, lights,
  virtual meeting tools)
• Keep the meeting on track and moving forward
  toward goals
• Create a safe environment for expressing
  differing professional opinions

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Key Facilitator Activities, cont.

• Manage meeting data
• Request meeting evaluations and share results
  with sponsor
• Continuously improve meeting processes

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Elicitation/Facilitation Opportunities

• Requirements validation
• Development and review of
• Product specifications
• High level design
• Detailed design
• Design documents

In Section 4, you will attend Mikes
facilitated Code Walk Through. Stay tuned!
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Sample Elicitation Technique Context-Free
Questions

• Context-free questions are
• High-level questions about the customers needs
• Appropriate for any product to be designed
• Independent of the specific design task

• Source Exploring Requirements. Quality
  Before Design. Gause, Donald C and Weinberg,
  Gerald M.
• New York Dorset House Publishing. 1989.

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Exercise Elicitation

• Customers We need a structure for protecting a
  small group of human beings from the hostile
  elements of their environment.
• Choose a role
• Customer
• Business analyst
• Systems designer
• Analysts and designers Ask your customers at
  least 5 context-free questions to elicit
  additional high-level information and
  assumptions. Your goal is to clarify the
  customers needs so that you all have the same
  mental picture of the desired structure.
• Spokespersons report results to class.
• Time 20 minutes

Source Exploring Requirements. Quality
Before Design. Gause, Donald C and Weinberg,
Gerald M. New York Dorset House Publishing.
1989.
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Which Structure Do You Now Think the Customer
Needs?
1
2
3
4
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Topic Summary

• 4 key components of effective systems design are
• Organizational support
• Effective organizational processes
• Key relationship management
• Collaborative systems design
• Organizational support leads to desired outcomes
  for children and families and for all key
  stakeholders
• Effective organizational processes are both
  project-wide and systems design-specific

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Topic Summary, cont.

• Key relationships need to be nurtured
• Inside the CWIS projects span of control
• Outside the CWIS projects span of control
• Collaborative systems design is a
  cross-functional approach involving key
  stakeholders or their representatives
• Two useful collaborative design techniques are
• Requirements elicitation
• Facilitation