Document archaeology entails determining the underlying processes and requirements by inspecting the documents and files that the organization uses. It should not be used on its own as a requirements-gathering technique, but as a prelude to more intensive interviews and as the basis of modeling efforts. In document archeology, you begin by collecting samples of all documents, reports, forms, filesin fact, anything that is used to record or send information. Regular telephone calls should not be excluded. Inspect the document (for simplicity's sake, the term "document" here means all of the above) looking for nouns, or "things." These can be column headings, named boxes on forms, or simply the name of a piece of data on the document. For each noun, ask these questions:
These questions will not in themselves reveal all the requirements for the system. They will, however, give you plenty of material and direction for further investigation. We also suggest that you use document archeology as part of your data modeling approach. |