Joint application design (JAD)

Joint application design (JAD)

14.1 Purpose

IBM coined the term joint application design (JAD) in 1970, but some experts prefer joint application development. The key idea to organize a team consisting of major users, managers, and systems analysts (or information consultants) and to charge that team with quickly determining, in an intensive session, the requirements for a proposed new or replacement information system.

14.2 Strengths, weaknesses, and limitations

The cost and time associated with data collection, analysis, and requirements definition can be significantly reduced by using the JAD technique. The input from numerous people provides different perspectives on the desired system and often generates creative ideas. Because all interested parties are represented on the JAD team, conflicts and discrepancies can be identified and resolved during the problem definition stage. Because they are involved in system planning, the participants feel a sense of system ownership. JAD is particularly suited to projects that face tight time and scheduling constraints, and it is an excellent choice for developing a system from scratch.

Sometimes, so many ideas are generated that additional sessions and meetings are needed to resolve the conflicts. Strong or influential users can easily dominate a session, leading to a skewed sense of the users’ needs. JAD is not a good technique for systems with relatively few inputs and outputs or for highly computational, process-oriented systems.

14.3 Inputs and related ideas

JAD is used to determine the system requirements during the problem definition (or information gathering) phase of the system development life cycle. Often, a preliminary problem definition (Chapter 12 and other Part II tools) precedes the JAD session. JAD can also be used to perform feasibility analysis (Chapter 13), cost/benefit analysis (Chapter 38), and risk analysis. Often, such design specifications as data flow diagrams (Chapter 24), entity relationship diagrams (Chapter 26), and system flow diagrams (Chapter 37) are generated during the JAD session.

14.4 Concepts

Joint application design (JAD), also know as joint application development, is a technique for quickly determining system requirements by obtaining input from a representative cross section of interested parties. An ad hoc team composed of major users, managers, and systems analysts (or information consultants) is assembled. The team then meets in an intensive session to gather data, brainstorm, discuss ideas, reconcile differences, identify and prioritize requirements, and generate desirable alternative solutions. The primary steps in a JAD session are summarized in Figure 14.1.

Figure 14.1  The primary steps in a JAD session.

14.4.1 Organize the JAD team

The members of a JAD team consist of end users from the relevant business functional areas, managers from those same functional areas, systems analysts or information consultants, and appropriate systems specialists. The moderator or session leader is usually the senior systems analyst or information consultant. A scribe takes notes, records all discussions, and organizes and compiles the necessary documents.

14.4.2 Develop the JAD workbook

The JAD workbook consists of a management definition guide, information relevant to the project, any special criteria or constraints, any assumptions, an overview of existing technology and standards, a statement of the system’s scope and objectives (Chapter 12), and information about the existing system and/or relevant new technology. The purpose of the workbook is to help the team members understand the proposed project. The design of the workbook should facilitate note taking.

14.4.3 Locate the JAD facilities

As a minimum, a conference room large enough to accommodate all the team members and equipped with whiteboards or chalkboards, an overhead projector, and a slide projector must be available. With the emergence of the electronic meeting systems (EMS), group decision support systems (GDSS), and computer aided software engineering (CASE) tools, additional requirements might include computers for conducting an electronic meeting, teleconferencing facilities, and a master station equipped with CASE software.

14.4.4 Conduct the JAD session

A JAD session is an intensive (typically) two- or three-day meeting of the complete JAD team. Team members are expected to give the JAD session their complete attention, scheduling no other conflicting activities.

14.4.4.1 Preparation

Before the JAD session begins, the responsible systems analysts or information consultants must:

•  Define the system scope.

•  Identify the problems, limitations, and constraints.

•  Estimate the resource needs (time, budget, personnel) for developing the system.

•  Identify preliminary costs, benefits, risks, and impacts of the project.

•  Identify the nature and major attributes of the project, the project dependencies, and the project interrelationships.

•  Identify appropriate sub-projects. (The project is sometimes, decomposed into several sub-projects owing to the timing and/or budgetary constraints.)

•  Perform the background analysis necessary to define such key parameters as the number of users, the size of the database, the required throughput, and the minimum acceptable response times.

•  Plan the JAD session.

In performing these tasks, the responsible analysts utilize many of the tools and techniques described in Part II.

14.4.4.2 The session

A JAD session begins with an overview of the material collected during the preparation stage. Once the participants understand the problem, the process of identifying the problem’s dimensions, possible causes, requirements, and alternative solutions begins.

During a JAD session, it is the moderator’s responsibility to effectively manage session time, to ensure that the team stays focused on the agenda items, to encourage all team members to participate, and to resolve any conflicts generated during the session. Because the team is composed largely of non-technical personnel, it is important that the systems analysts or information consultants minimize the use of technical terms.

14.4.4.3 Brainstorming

The process of soliciting ideas often involves brainstorming. A specific question is raised; for example, the moderator might ask the JAD team to suggest possible causes of a specific problem or sub-problem. The participants are then invited to suggest ideas, and as suggestions are made they are posted for all to see. Ideally, at some point in the brainstorming session, a synergy begins to emerge, with one participant’s contribution eliciting new and creative suggestions from other participants.

The time allocated to a brainstorming session is limited to (perhaps) half an hour, and the time limit is announced to all participants before the session begins. The focus is on soliciting and listing ideas, not on attacking, defending, or investigating those ideas. Often, targets are set; for example, a brainstorming group might be challenged to list 25 possible (direct or contributing) causes of the problem under study. Sometimes, the JAD team is divided into several brainstorming sub-teams, and a friendly competition is launched to see which sub-team can list the most ideas.

14.4.4.4 Investigation, consolidation, resolution, and tabulation

Following a brainstorming session, the JAD team divides into sub-groups to investigate the ideas on the various lists. Vague or unclear ideas are refined and rephrased. Similar or redundant ideas are categorized and consolidated, and the resulting meta-ideas are reconciled.

Meanwhile, other sub-groups might conduct additional brainstorming and/or discussion sessions to consider other sub-problems or identify and resolve conflicts within and between the meta-ideas until, eventually, a consensus is reached. The consensus ideas are then tabulated and distributed to the JAD team members for feedback. The session ends with a presentation of the final results.

14.4.5 Finalize the JAD report

After the JAD session is concluded the responsible systems analysts or information consultants update the necessary documents and prepare a final report that summarizes all discussions, facts, findings, and conclusions. They then construct a plan for action and a schedule for developing the system. If follow-up sessions are required, they collect the required additional information.

There is no standard format for a JAD report, although the feasibility study report outline (Table 13.1) suggested in Chapter 13 is a good model.

14.5 Key terms

Brainstorming —

A small-group technique for soliciting and consolidating ideas and thoughts about a problem, a problem’s possible causes, system requirements, alternative solutions, and similar issues.

JAD workbook —

A workbook designed to provide JAD team members with necessary information about the project and to facilitate note taking.

Joint Application Design (JAD) —

A technique for quickly determining system requirements in an intensive session attended by a team consisting of major users, managers, and systems analysts.

Management definition guide —

A portion of the JAD workbook that lists and defines technical terms related to computing platforms, computer technology, and other elements relevant to the problem under study.

Moderator —

The person responsible for conducting a JAD session.

Project dependency ––

A dependency relationship between two or more sub-projects. For example, the input(s) to one sub-project are typically output from another sub-project.

Project interrelationship —

A link or relationship between two or more sub-projects. For example, the successful completion of one sub-project might be a prerequisite for several other sub-projects.

Scope —

A sense of a problem’s magnitude; often, a preliminary estimate of the problem’s resource implications or cost.

Scribe —

During a JAD session, the person responsible for taking notes, recording all discussions, and organizing and compiling the necessary documents.

14.6 Software

There is no software specifically designed to support a JAD session. However, certain groupware, such as Lotus Notes, supports limited computer mediated conferencing.

14.7 References

1.  Hoffer, J. A., George, J. F., and Valacich, J. S., Modern Systems Analysis and Design, Benjamin/Cummings, Redwood City, CA, 1996.

2.  Whitten, J. L., Bentley, L. D., and Dittman, K. C., Systems Analysis and Design Methods, Richard D. Irwin (McGraw-Hill), New York, 1997.

3.  Wood, J. and Silver, D., Joint Application Development, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1995.

4.  Yen, D. C., Case study: Armco Steel Company, L.P., General Electric Foundation Case Study, Miami University, Oxford, OH, 1989.