Functional Requirement Study

Abstract

This presentation looks at Functional Requirement Studies (FRS) for GIS. A FRS consists of five steps: 1)Identify Decisions, 2)Determine Information Products Needed, 3)Determine Frequencies, 4)Identify Data Sets Required, and 5)Determine GIS Operations Required. A full FRS allows a company to take a look at its own internal structure. A FRS lets the organization know what its strengths and weaknesses are specific to GIS and data needs. Personnel needed for an FRS are decision makers and managers. An FRS is more interested in WHAT the decisions are rather than the data or procedures. The entire organization, from management on down, must be willing to commit the time needed to accomplish a thorough and effective FRS. Once started, anything which could stop the FRS from proceeding must be eliminated.