What Do Your Customers Need?

What your customers want and what your customers require is not always the same thing. Customers might say they want a particular type of application, because that is what they are familiar with, or because they have seen the technology and think it is cool. As the developer, you must figure out what application will best fit your customers' requirements and offer persuasive evidence to your customers. That said, keep in mind that in the end, the application your customers want takes priority over the application that you want to build. If you cannot understand why your customers want a particular application, it is possible you do not understand their requirements well enough.

To figure out what your customers require, look at your customers' existing applications, if there are any, and their business process. For example, if your customers want to create a database to track accounting information that to date has been managed on paper, review the paper system carefully, so you can model the application on the existing system. Of course, in the process of modeling the existing system, you might find ways to enhance the system within the application and make your customers' business process more efficient.

Next, find out who will be using the application and how they will use it. Interview as many people as you can who have used the existing system or who will use your application when it has been created. If you are dealing with only one person to create an application that will be used by several people, it is possible you are getting a narrow perspective on what the application must do.

Who will use the application and how they will use it can make a big difference in your design. For example, a database in which multiple users might be entering data simultaneously across a network requires a different design than a database that is managed by one or two people who enter data and then generate reports for other users. The first application might require record-locking management, full-fledged security, and a means of distributing the front end across a corporate network. The second application probably can get by with no locking management, minimal security, and a common network share for those using it.

See Also

The Design Process | What Do Your Customers Want? | At the Drawing Table | Building a Prototype