Investigation techniques

Investigation techniques

1. Interviews - Interviews with managers will normally reveal how their particular department works and any problems they are having with the existing system. They will be able to offer information about how they would like the new system to provide.

2. Observation - If you wanted to take someone else's job over then the best way to learn what you have to do is to either sit for a few days with the person whose job you are taking over or sit with someone else who does a similar job. Observation involves sitting with a person and observing what they do in order to understand the information flows and processes they perform.

3. Inspection of records - many organisations still use and generate paper-based documents which are used in their business. By examining these documents you can understand what information is held and the way it is communicated between different departments or between the organisations and suppliers and customers.

4. Questionnaires - at first sight, questionnaires seem an ideal way of collecting information about a company. You do not have to spend time interviewing people and a questionnaire sticks to the important points without digressing, which can occur in an interview.