Conducting a Needs Assessment

In order for IT organizations to be successful, we must align ourselves with our business partners. Business and customer requirements must drive service and process continual improvement activities. As a service provider, we must ask ourselves if we really understand our customer’s needs and expectations. When was the last time we checked with our business to determime if we are delivering value? When was the last time you asked the business, “How are we doing”?

One of the gathering techniques we learn in the Certified Process Design Engineering (CPDE) course is how to conduct a needs assessment. Here are the steps for conducting a successful assessment:

2 to 4 weeks prior to the assessment:

Establish a high-level interview schedule
Identify interview participants
Develop a detailed interview schedule
Contact each participant to determine availability
Develop a list of interview questions/solicit feedback
Refine your list of interview questions

1 to 2 weeks prior to the assessment:

Send an email to each participant outlining:

The purpose of the interview
The agreed upon date and time of the interview
The list of interview questions

During the weeks of the assessment:

Verify participants availability
Conduct the interviews/gather data
Prepare requirements definition report
Publish report/solicit feedback
Revise report as needed
Publish final report
Develop an improvement plan

Needs assessments ask about customer expectations, use direct interviewing and include documentation reviews and analysis and physical reviews of the business process. Encourage participants to solicit the perspective of employees and co-workers. Conduct your assessment at least annually and align the assessment to the budget cycle.

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