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138 Part 2 • InformatIon requIrements analysIs

2. Are there forms that are never used? Why? (Check the design and appropriateness of each
form for its purported function.)
3. Are all copies of forms circulated to the proper people or filed appropriately? If not, why
not? Can people who must access online forms do so?
4. If there is a paper form that is offered as an alternative to a Web-based form, compare the
completion rates for both.
5. Are “unofficial” forms being used on a regular basis? (Their use might indicate a problem
in standard procedures or may indicate political battles in the organization.)

Analyzing Qualitative Documents
Qualitative documents include email messages, memos, signs on bulletin boards and in work
areas, web pages, procedure manuals, and policy handbooks. Many of these documents are rich
in details that reveal the expectations for behavior of others that their writers hold and the ways
in which users expect to interact with information technologies.
Although many systems analysts are apprehensive about analyzing qualitative documents,
they need not be. Several guidelines can help analysts take a systematic approach to this sort of
analysis. Many of these relate to the affective, emotional, and motivational aspects of HCI, as
well as interpersonal relationships in the organization:
1. Examine documents for key or guiding metaphors.
2. Look for insiders versus outsiders or an “us against them” mentality.
3. List terms that characterize good or evil and appear repeatedly in documents.
4. Look for the use of meaningful messages and graphics posted on common areas or on web
pages.
5. Recognize a sense of humor, if present.
It is important to examine documents for key or guiding metaphors because language shapes
behavior; thus, the metaphors we employ are critical. For example, an organization that discusses
employees as “part of a great machine” or “cogs in a wheel” might be taking a mechanistic view
of the organization. Notice that the guiding metaphor in the memo in Figure 5.6 is “We’re one
big happy family.” An analyst can use this information to predict the kinds of metaphors that

Figure 5.6
Analysis of memos provides
insight into the metaphors that
guide the organization’s thinking.

MEMO
To:
From: All Night Call Desk Staff
Date: 2/15/2013
S. Leep, Night Manager
Re: Get Acquainted Party Tonight

It’s a pleasure to welcome two new 11-7 Call Desk staff members,
Twyla Tine and Al Knight. I’m sure they’ll enjoy working
here. Being together in the wee hours makes us feel like
one big happy family. Remember for your breaks tonight
that some of the crew has brought in food. Help yourself
the clan, Twyla and Al.
to the spread you find in the break room, and welcome to