In Phase 1, preliminary investigation, a proposed project is presented by an end user or a manager and investigated to determine if a new information system is needed.

In this phase, a systems analyst must perform three tasks:

1. Define the problem
   1. Examine current information system - find problem areas.
   2. Determine needed information - who needs it, when, why.
   3. Interview people - do surveys, make observations.
   4. Example:
      Manual time-and-billing system used by an advertising agency:
      • The agency employs both regular staff and on-call freelancers.
      • Time spent on projects are currently recorded manually by the employees on their desk calendar.
      • Problems:
        1. Written calendar look unprofessional to present to clients.
        2. Creating a bill for a large project can become difficult since their are it require checking the calendar notations for many employees.
        3. Recorded time on some tasks may "slip through the cracks" and not get charged at all.
              
2. Suggest alternatives
   1. Recommend alternatives to the present system.
   2. More than one alternative should be suggested.
   3. Alternatives should solve the problem.
   4. Examples:
      1. Hire more secretaries to collect information from employees calendars.
      2. Install off-the-shelf billing software that would use existing networked computers and require employees to use to record their times.
            
3. Write preliminary investigation report
   1. Presented to higher management.
   2. Summarizes the results of preliminary investigation.
   3. Should also include schedules for development of project.
   4. Should also include recommendation to continue or discontinue project.
   5. Example:
      • Analyst might suggest that the project will pay for itself by eliminating billing delays and not reported time.

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