This course has been developed to address a very specific need in the marketplace. There is no shortage of methodologies, gurus, approaches and techniques that espouse new paradigms, the latest thinking, and a new revolution to the systems development arena. This course is not just another methodology. It is not an expensive proprietary method, and it is not a bleeding-edge unproven, untested theory. The marketplace needs no more of those. The message we receive from our clients and industry peers is; "Give me something that I can use - today - with my clients - on this project. We want something that works - that has worked - and will work."

Some of you will have been exposed to different methods, notations, and techniques. Maybe you're familiar with some of the conventional Structured Analysis and Design concepts. Maybe you use them. Some of you may have read about or have taken courses on some of the current and new systems development topics like Object Oriented Analysis, Data Warehousing, and Use-Case Scenario Modeling. And many of you either haven't felt the need or don't have the time to investigate yet another new way of doing things.

Whatever the differences in our backgrounds or experience, we are all practitioners in the Information Technology service business. We want to know how we can practice our trade better and faster - and why not more easily too.

You will find this course has a strong emphasis on the client. We focus on the users of the system, the management and employees in the business area being analyzed - the customers of our service. Since our mission, as IT professionals is to deliver the best to our customers, we'd better know who they are, and what they need. Crosby said Quality was "conformance to requirements;" other consultant-speak tells us we need to "get it right the first time," "meet and exceed our customer's expectations," "know your client," "be close to your customer." You can't dispute the validity of these formulas - yet many of you have also recognized that it's not that simple, or say "that's nice but how do you actually do it?".

That leads me to the other key principle of this course - how to do this stuff. Many of today's best development thinking, tools, and methodologies focus on either the theory, the deliverable, the tool, the technology, or how to sell it. This is particularly true of "new" concepts like Object Oriented Analysis. While OO has certainly progressed past an uncertain future, it lacks the acceptance of the general market. The theory and principles can't be blamed, for there are many undisputed benefits of this new paradigm. The main reason it has not been enthusiastically embraced by the average IT organization is that there is no simple answer to the question, "How do I make it work - today - with my clients". quotes, This is not an OOA course (although it does espouse many OOA concepts). However, OOA is simply an example that stands for the many sound theories and practices that need a simple, quick and understandable implementation that is going to work in the 'real world'.

At The Information Architecture Group, we recognize that there are many, many ways to do requirements analysis, design and development. There are many techniques, notations, models and terms. It is not our objective to explain every approach - or even all of those we know to be effective. Our mission is to provide IT professionals with a practical process for applying some of the industry's proven best practices. We make Best Practices work.

Our guiding principles in the on-going development of Best Business Practices™ have been to ensure the process is simple, easy to understand, and easily applied by IT practitioners whether they perform these activities every day or only occasionally. The process needs to be meaningful and understandable to the business community-who are the end clients. The process must not only be effective but it must make efficient use of resources-specifically our client's time (and our own). And finally, the results of these activities (the deliverables) must be precise, concise, clear and accurate.

We hope you enjoy this course and that you find it meets your requirements and expectations.