How do you define the scope of a system design evaluation?

1 Understand the purpose

The first step is to understand the purpose of your system design evaluation. Why are you conducting it? What are you trying to achieve? Who are the stakeholders and users of your system? How will you measure the success of your system? Answering these questions will help you clarify the objectives and scope of your evaluation.

2 Define the criteria

The next step is to define the criteria that you will use to evaluate your system. These are the standards or benchmarks that you will compare your system against. They can be based on functional, non-functional, or quality attributes of your system, such as performance, reliability, security, usability, scalability, etc. You should also prioritize the criteria according to their importance and relevance to your system goals.

3 Select the methods

The third step is to select the methods that you will use to collect and analyze data for your system design evaluation. These are the tools or techniques that you will apply to measure, test, or validate your system criteria. They can be quantitative or qualitative, such as surveys, interviews, observations, experiments, simulations, prototypes, etc. You should also consider the feasibility, validity, and reliability of your methods.

4 Plan the resources

The fourth step is to plan the resources that you will need for your system design evaluation. These are the people, time, money, and materials that you will allocate to your evaluation. You should also consider the roles and responsibilities of your evaluation team, the schedule and milestones of your evaluation activities, the budget and costs of your evaluation resources, and the risks and contingencies of your evaluation plan.

5 Communicate the scope

The final step is to communicate the scope of your system design evaluation to your stakeholders and users. This is important to ensure that everyone is on the same page and understands the expectations and deliverables of your evaluation. You should also solicit feedback and input from your stakeholders and users to refine and improve your scope. You can use various formats and channels to communicate your scope, such as documents, presentations, meetings, etc.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?