What is systems ?

It is a set of components that interact to accomplish some purpose. e.g. human body, business.

•What is system analysis and design?

It refers to the process of examining a business situation with the intent of improving it through better procedure and method.

Overview of system analysis and design

• System development has two major components :- system analysis and design

• System design is the process of planning a new business system or one to replace an existing system.

• System analysis is the process of gathering and interpreting facts, diagnosing problems and using information to recommend improvements to the system. This is job of system analysts.

• Who are users?

The mangers and employees in an organization who interact with information system. The degree of their involvement may vary.

Types of systems

Types of systems

• Transaction processing systems

computerized information system that were developed to process large amount of data for routine business transaction such as payroll etc.

• Office automation systems and knowledge work systems:-

office automation system supports data workers who usually do not create a new knowledge but rather analyze information so as to transform data or manipulate it

knowledge work system :- support professional workers such as scientists , engineers , and doctors etc.

• Decision support systems It is similar to the traditional management

information systemIt is aimed at assisting managers who are faced with nonrecurring (unique) decision problems.

• Unstructured or semi-structured decision • Unstructured decision:- no clear procedure

for making decision and not all the factors to be considered in decision can be readily identified in advance.

• Expert system and Artificial Intelligence :- The expert system is a major application

of AI today. Also known as knowledge-based systems, expert systems act as intelligent assistants to human experts or serve as a resource to people who may not have access to an expert.

• Group Decision Support System and Computer- Supported collaborative work system

Group Decision Support System are intended to bring a group together to solve a problem with the help of various supports such as polling , questionnaries , and scenario creation.

• Computer- Supported collaborative work system

which might includes software support called groupware for team collaboration via networked computers.

Role of systems analyst

• The system analyst systematically assess how user interact with technology and businesses function by examining the inputting and processing of data and the outputting of information with the intent of improving organizational processes.

• The system analyst must be able to work with people of all descriptions and be experienced in working with computer

System analyst’s work

• Systems analyst as consultant

• Systems analyst as supporting expert

• Systems analyst as agent of change

System Development Life cycle

System Development Life cycle

• Identifying problems opportunities and objective:-

in this stage the analyst look honestly at what is occurring in a business. opportunities are the situations that the analyst believes can be improved through the use of computerized information system. Activities present in this stage consists of interviewing user management, summarizing the knowledge obtained , estimating the scope of the project etc.

• Determining human information requirement:-

analyst will use interactive methods such as interviewing , sampling , and investigating hard data

• Analyzing system needs :-

• Designing the recommended system:-in this phase the analyst uses the information collected earlier to accomplish the logical design the information system.

• Developing and documenting software:-the analyst work with programmers to develop original software that is needed in this phase it will develop effective documentation for software procedure manual , FAQs

• Testing and maintaining the system:-

Before the software is used it must be tested . Testing is completed by the programmer alone or it is tested by the analyst person or some software such as WINRUNNER are used to test the system

• Implementing and evaluating the system

This is the last phase in the system development

in this phase

Traditional Vs CASE Tools

CASE Tools

• Since from the 1990s , analyst have begun to benefit from the productivity tools called computer-Aided Software Engineering CASE) tools , that have been created explicitly to improve their routine work through the use of automated tools.

Reasons for Using CASE Tools

• Increase Analyst ProductivityVisible Analyst(VA) is case tool which allow the analyst to do graphical planning , analysis and design in order to build complex application and database.VA allows its users to draw and modify diagrams easily.

• Improve Analyst –User CommunicationExcellent communication should be present throughot the system development life cycle is essential

Reasons for Using CASE Tools

• Integrating life cycle Activities:-

Integrating various activities and providing continuity from one phase to another throughout the life cycle

• Accurately Assessing Maintenance ChangesEnable users to analyze and assess the impact

of maintenance changes

UPPER CASE TOOLS

• Upper CASE tool allows the analyst to create and modify the system design.

• The information stored in an encyclopedia called the CASE repository.

• Upper CASE tools can also help support the modeling of an organizations functional requirements

LOWER CASE TOOLS

• Lower CASE Tools are use to generate computer source code.

• The system can be produced more quicky than by writing computer programs.

• The amount of time spent on maintenance decreases with code generation , there is no need to modify , test and debug computer program.

• Code can be generated in more than one language.

• Generated code is free of computer program errors.

Interviewing

• Before you take interview someone else, you must in effect interview yourself.

• An information gathering interview is a directed conversation with a specific question and answer format.

Five Steps in Interview Preparation

• Read Background Material:-

Read and understand as much background information about the interviewees and their organization as possible

• Establish Interviewing Objectives:-

Establish an objective with the help of the details / information gathered earlier

• Decide Whom to Interview

• Prepare the Interviewee

• Decide on Question Types and Structure. – What are the questions to be asked?– What should be the sequence?– On which questions stress/emphasis is to be

laid more, etc.

Question types

• Three Types– Open ended questions– Close ended questions– Probes

Open ended questions

• These are generally long and descriptive• They involve the view and opinion of the

individual.• The answers to the same question are of

varied type– Eg. What are the critical objectives of your

department?– What are some of the common data entry

errors made in this dept.

Benefits & Drawbacks

• Benefits– Providing richness of details– Allowing the individual to think and explore the system– Putting the interviewee at ease– Allowing more spontaneity

• Drawback– The answers may provide to much irrelevant details– The interview may lose its line and aim

Probes

• Probe: means follow up the facts or investigate• They help to get more detailed responses• Hey may be open ended or close ended• In open ended when the opinion is not

appealing, then it may me probed.• In close ended if you answer is something

different from the one expected by the analyst or for the benefit of the system, you may be probed.

Joint Application Design

• It was develop by IBM • The motivatio for using JAD is to cut the

time required by the personal interviews • To improve the quality of the results of

information system.• JAD includes a verity of participants such

as analyst , users, executives and so on - who will contribute differing backgrounds and the slikks to the sessions.

• JAD Sessions are conducted offsite away from the organization.– BenefitsTime saving over traditional one – on one

interviewTo improve the ownershi of the information

systemJAD session give the creative development of

the designs

• Drawbacks– JAD requires the commitment of a large

blocks of thim from all the participants.– If preparation for the JAD session is

inadequate in any regards then the resulting

designs will be less satisfactory.

Questionnaires

• The use of Questionnaires is an information gathering technique that allows systems analysts to study attitudes , beliefs behaviuor and characteristics of several keys.

• It seem to be a quick way to gather massive amounts of data about how users assess the current system

Questionnaires

• Writing a question – For the analyst question must be

transparently clear– The flow of the questionnaire cogent

• Types of Questions– Open Ended Question– Closed Ended Question– Choice of the word

Open Ended Question

• What are the most frequently problems you experience with computer output?

• Of the problems you listed abouve , what is the single most troublesome ?

Closed Ended Question

• How long have you work for this company ?

• In what other industries have you worked?

• Answer question by checking the appropriate box

• Answer question by circling the appropriate number.