Develop Quick Fixes

Seminars and Services We Offer to Perform this Process
Other Steps (Activities) We Can Help You With

Develop Quick Fixes

We can:

		teach you how to do this activity
	with our in-house or public seminars and e-learning

		show you how to do this activity
	with E-Coaching

lead your experts
through this
activity in a Facilitated JRP/JAD Session

A quick fix is something you do to alleviate the symptoms of an existing problem without causing undesirable side effects AND in an acceptable time frame and budget AND while working toward a final solution to the problem. If any of these conditions is violated, you don’t have a quick fix, you have a mess. There are, however, techniques that will help you avert disaster.

Quick fixes
		provide immediate gratification for those affected by the business problems

		can save the organization megabucks

		minimize the time pressure on the project team to meet impossible deadlines

		allow for testing of potential final solutions with minimal effort

		promote good-will between developers and end-users

		focus on a single aspect of the problem domain

		deliver measurable benefits early in the project to maintain project momentum

When should you develop quick fixes?

The less you analyze a situation, the higher the risk associated with any quick fix. When you have a firm understanding of the business processes, data, rules and the system components that support them, you are ready to suggest quick fixes.

Who should develop quick fixes?

To be effective, business experts, business analysts, system analysts, and, if needed, the developers have to work together on quick fixes. It is risky if the person(s) recommending a quick fix does not know enough about the system or the business area to recognize all of the consequences.

Foundation Training for Business Systems Analysts

CIL610 : How to Model, Analyze, and Improve Business Processes

VIL611 : How to Build Business Process Models

Overview Presentations for Management

WEB510 : Business System Analysis in the 21st Century

Other Products and Services

Tailored Training

The Small Project Guide



	Under Time Pressure?

	Learn how to run an efficient, effective JAD session that does this activity faster. How to Prepare and Facilitate Productive JRP-JAD Sessions

	Our e-Coaching offer is a cost-effective alternative for small groups to learn these and other business systems analysis techniques at their own workplace or for follow-up after a training seminar

Requirements Solutions Group offers training as well as web-based and on-site consulting services to support a wide range of activities within the system development life cycle all targeted exclusively to the Business Analyst, Requirements Engineer and the Subject Matter Expert.

You can also visit our bookstore for the newest publications in the business systems analysis field.

Short Term Improvement Criteria

Short term improvements are modifications to an existing process or system that must meet 5 criteria:

1.	Solve an Existing Problem	The improvement will fix at a minimum some aspect of an identified problem
2.	No New Training	The implementation of the improvement does not require retraining of users
3.	Short Development Time	The benefits of implementing the improvement will be experienced within a very short period of time (typically, 1 day - 1 month depending on the length of the business cycle experiencing the problem)
4.	No Side-effects	Sufficient analysis of the problem and the proposed improvement virtually eliminate the potential for undesirable side effects
5.	Rescindable	If the improvement causes any undesirable side effects, it can be removed and the original process reinstated

Requirement Statements/Data Flow Diagram Overlay

Overlaying the numbers of identified requirements on a data flow diagram of an existing process will help you identify potential quick fixes.

To start the process, you need to find or create the DFD and have a set of defined, prioritized requirements.

Data Flow Diagram (DFD)

Step 1: For each requirement, look at the diagram and decide which processes, data flows or data stores might have to be modified to meet the requirement. If you need:

to change a process, write the number of the requirement inside the process bubble.

to change the content of a data flow, write the number beside the arrow.

to change a data store, write the number inside the data store.

Note that a single requirement may require a number of changes to all three components of the diagram.

Indicate the priority of requirements by color-coding or circling the number.

Requirements List


		LEGEND: = Low Priority = Medium Priority = High Priority

DFD with Requirements Overlay

Step 2: Evaluate the diagram to attempt to isolate requirements or sets of requirements that are localized to a single area on the diagram.

Draw a scope circle around all processes, data flows and data stores that need to be changed to meet your requirement (or set).

Impacted Area

Step 3: Try to think of at least 3 different solutions you could apply to meet the defined requirement (or set).

Write down the solution in sufficient detail to be able to discuss it in the context of the diagram.

List of Potential Solutions to R3

Step 4: Pick the solution that requires the least amount of effort and evaluate it using the short-term improvement criteria defined above. If it passes all tests, recommend implementing it.

To be effective, the recommendation should define the proposed solution, contain a rough estimate of the costs, identify the problem being addressed and the benefits of solving that problem.

Short Term Improvement Criteria