Technology @ Your Fingertips, Chapter 2

Chapter 1: Knowing What to Do

Chapter 2: Knowing What You Need

What is a Needs Assesment?

Who Should Do Your Needs Assessment?

Who Should Participate in the Needs Assessment Process?

What are the Steps in the Needs Assessment Process?

Functional Needs

Technical Requirements

Security and Ethical Standards

Writing Your Statement of Needs

What Should Be Included in a Set of Functional Specifications?

Chapter 3: Knowing What You Have

Chapter 4: Knowing What to Get

Chapter 5: Knowing How to Implement Your Solution

Chapter 6: Knowing How to Train Users

Chapter 7: Knowing How to Support and Maintain Your Technology Solution

Chapter 2: Knowing What You Need

Effective security measures and standards for appropriate use are essential to protect the functioning and contents of your technology from internal and external threats.

Technical Requirements
The technical requirements included in the Needs Statement are not heavily technical or complex. They are simply statements of parameters for your technology solution addressing topics such as the following:

Technical standards and specifications (e.g., state, county, city or district) that must be met.
Federal requirements associated with an E-rate application.
Number of people who would need to connect to the technology solution for each of the functional needs stated above.
Potential users, where they are located, and how often they will need to get access.
Numbers and types of transactions information system users will need to process, and how much information they need to store and retrieve.
Types of technology components that you will want to have interact (e.g., teachers from their classrooms should have access through their computers to the central school data base of resources, as well as the Internet).

This statement of parameters will be useful when the technology design work is being done. These parameters are also useful for prioritizing the functional needs that have been established.

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