[OT] Business Requirements Analysis... Sort Of

So... yesterday I get an e-mail of a forward to a response to a forward of 
a reply to a forward of an FYI to a forward of... etc, going back about 
two months... with the question of 'Can you do something about this?'

My response is 'I'm not sure what is wanted.  If someone can tell me, 
clearly and unambiguously:

1) Selection criteria - out of (n) employees we need to look at the ones 
which have (condition or (combination of conditions))

2) Output requirements - for the employees whose data satisfy 1) above we 
need to see (fields)

3) Date span - we need this information for (start period - end period)

.... then I should be able to tell you if this is something I can put 
together quickly or if it will take a while longer.'

The response was surprisingly to-the-point, given the organisation... 
along the lines of 'For all the employees of the Midwestern Division 
who qualify for Unsupported Dementia Leave that left the organisation and 
received Miscellaneous Graft and Corruption payouts from October 2006 to 
the present we want to see name, separation date, amounts paid out and 
(some other stuff)'.

And so... I've sent off my response.  What follows are some almost 
verbatim quotes:

(note - this is a shop that runs on files, not on a database)

1) Employees of the Midwestern Division - what value(s) in which field(s) 
in what file(s) indicate an employee of the Midwestern Division?

2) Employes of the Midwestern Division who qualify for Unsupported 
Dementia Leave - given 1) above, what value(s) in which field(s) etc.?

3) Employes of the Midwestern Division who qualify for Unsupported 
Dementia Leave that left the organisation - given 1) and 2) above, what 
value(s) in which field(s) etc... you might begin to sense a pattern here.

.... and the final sentences were:

If all the data you request can be found in a single file (e.g., the 
Paymaster) then this will be a moderately cumbersome task.

If multiple files need to be matched and merged for only single pay 
periods this will be a cumbersome and time-consuming task.

If multiple files need to be matched and merged for multiple pay periods 
then this will be a cumbersome, time-consuming and unwieldy task.

.... and the response will not be, I believe... a pleasant thing to see.

DD