Interviews, questionnaires, surveys, and observation are means of gathering data for an
ABC system. Interviews with managers or other knowledgeable representatives of functional
departments are perhaps the most common approach for gathering the needed
information. Interview questions can be used to identify activities and activity attributes
needed for costing or other managerial purposes. The information derived from interview
questions serves as the basis for constructing an activity dictionary and provides
data helpful for assigning resource costs to individual activities. In structuring an interview,
the questions should reveal certain key attributes. Interview questions should
be structured to provide answers that allow the desired attributes to be identified and measured. An example is perhaps the best way to show how an interview can be used
to collect the data for an activity dictionary