Observation is where the analyst will shadow a employee for a period of time making notes on how they do their job. They will observe the employee in their natural environment and hopefully see exactly how the business works. One of the biggest advantages of this method is that the analyst will see parts of the system that the employee will not realise. Sometimes some things that we do are so natural that we fail to notice them. An outsider will notice this and be able to include it in the new system.

Advantages

• Pick up parts of the system that are not immediately obvious to the customer.
• Confirm information gathered through different fact finding methods

Disadvantages

• Some people may feel threatened while being watched.
• No guarantee that some of the more subtle parts of the system will happen during observation.