Requirements Analysis for a State
Legislature’s
Bill History and Tracking System
InfoSENTRY conducted a needs assessment and requirements
analysis for a legislative bill history and tracking system in 2001. The State
Legislature was interested in determining if it could replace its existing
mainframe system in a financially responsible manner, while at the same time
gaining functional benefits from new capabilities and integration with other
applications. The Legislature was interested in determining the level of effort
required for a potential upgrade.
InfoSENTRY’s software requirements analysis (prepared to
standards based on Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers [IEEE]
guidelines) indicated that the existing application was significantly larger,
more comprehensive, and more complex than had been previously believed.
InfoSENTRY undertook a detailed effort to collect and document the hundreds of
COBOL routines and data files.
In addition to documenting the existing system, InfoSENTRY
conducted documentation reviews, interviews, and process walkthroughs of the
existing steps to produce existing bill status tracking reports, committee
agendas, Legislative Calendars, and Legislative Journals. InfoSENTRY examined
recent projects to implement new legislative automation systems in other state
legislatures. InfoSENTRY arranged for leading vendors of legislative
information systems to come to the State Capitol to spend a day demonstrating
and explaining their systems.
InfoSENTRY’s final requirements analysis contained four options
for modifying the existing system. For each option, InfoSENTRY provided a
detailed implementation plan, an order-of-magnitude cost estimate, pros and
cons, and a detailed risk analysis matrix. The Legislature incorporated
InfoSENTRY’s findings into its strategic plan for information technology.
E-mail
InfoSENTRY Services, Inc.
Return to the
InfoSENTRY Home Page