Web Analysis

1
Web Analysis

• CIS 376
• Bruce R. Maxim
• UM-Dearborn

2
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

3
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?

4
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

5
Defining User Categories

• What is the users overall objective when using
  the WebAPP?
• What is the users background and sophistication
  relative to the content and functionality of the
  WebApp?
• What generic WebApp characteristics does the user
  like or dislike?

6
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)

7
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

8
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

9
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

10
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

11
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

12
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)

13
WebE Process ModelPlanning

• Estimate project cost
• Evaluate risks
• Define finely granulated schedule for first
  increment
• Define coarser schedule for subsequent increments

14
WebE Team Members

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

15
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

16
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

17
Project Management GuidelinesInitiating 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

18
Project Management GuidelinesOutsourcing 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

19
Project Management GuidelinesAssessing 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?

20
Project Management GuidelinesAssessing the
Development Schedule

• Short development times suggest the use of fine
  granularity in the schedule
• Link minor milestones scheduled on a daily
  timeline

21
Project Management GuidelinesManaging 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

22
WebE Worst Practices

• We have a great idea so lets being building the
  WebApp now.
• Stuff changes constantly, so theres no point in
  trying to understand WebApp requirements.
• Its OK to staff a WebE team with developers
  whose primary experience has been with
  traditional software development.

23
WebE Worst Practices

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