1. When Rick Williams met with Meredith Rider in the human resources department, he asked for copies of actual reports and forms that contained confidential information, but Meredith declined to provide them. Rick has asked you to suggest a reasonable compromise between confidentiality requirements and the need for analysts to review actual records, instead of fictitious data. Think about this, and write a message to Rick with your views.

2. Assume that you were with Rick at the meeting with Linda DeMarco. Review the fact statement, then write an interview summary that documents the main topics that Rick and Linda discussed.

3. Rick asked you to design a questionnaire that would measure employee satisfaction with the current payroll deduction system. Review the sample questionnaire in the chapter, and prepare a draft for Rick. Rick also wants you to suggest various sampling methods so he can make a choice. Include a brief description of various methods, and be sure to include your recommendation and reasons.

In Chapter 2, you learned that SWL’s vice president of finance, Michael Jeremy, requested an investigation into problems with the company’s payroll system. Jane Rossman, applications manager, assigned systems analyst Rick Williams to conduct a preliminary investigation. Rick found several problems, including input errors and a need for manual preparation of reports. The payroll department often required overtime to correct those errors and produce the reports. The IT department recommended an in-depth analysis of the problem areas and Mr. Jeremy approved the study. Now, as the systems analysis phase begins, the next step is requirements modeling.