DETERMINING CUSTOMER REQUIREMENTS

DETERMINE CUSTOMER REQUIREMENTS FOR ICT SYSTEMS AND SUPPORT SERVICES
AIM OF THE LESSON
 To determine who a customer is
 To determine customer requirements
 To determine steps to determining customer requirements
 To determine reasons for determining customer requirements
 To document customer requirement

DEFINITION OF CUSTOMER
A customer is anybody who has the right to demand for goods or services either internal or external

DETERMINING CUSTOMER REQUIREMENT
This is a systematic approach in deciding what a customer wants with the aim of meeting or surpassing the requirements
Methods of obtaining customer requirements include:
1) Oral Communication e.g.
Face-to face,
Telephone
2) written Communication e.g.
E-mail,
Questionnaire
Feedback form
Customer Request Form
In determining customer requirements, there are important questions to ask e.g.
I. What is the function of the product required
II. How does the product function
III. How the requirement is to be met
IV. The quantity of the product required
V. The quality required

STEPS TO DETERMINNIG CUSTOMER REQUIREMENT
1. Identify business constraints
2. Identify security concerns like access to site, number of user etc.
3. Identify manageability concerns (how the product is to be managed)
4. Identify application requirements depending on what customer intend to use the system for e.g. preparing of invoice, package label etc.
5. Identify performance requirements (response time, accuracy, availability, efficiency and throughput)
6. Produce customer specification document

DETERMINE REASONS FOR DETERMINING CUSTOMER REQUIREMENTS
1. To avoid misunderstanding down the road
2. To identify business constraints
3. To identify manageability requirements
4. To save time that would have been wasted on rework
5. To set expectations on what would be or would not be accomplished in the current development.
6. To identify performance requirements
7. To schedule time and resources