Systems Analysis

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Unit 6                                                                          Sam McCullough

Systems Analysis and Design

Systems Analysis

(P1) Task 1

Systems Life Cycle

I will now discuss the various processes that make up the systems life cycle.

Feasibility Study – Performing a feasibility study to judge whether a new computer system is feasible

Analysis – Investigating and analysing the existing system to establish how things work currently

Design – Designing the new system, specifying programs, hardware, and procedures to be followed

  • The hardware and software platform
  • The inputs & outputs
  • The user interface
  • The modular design of each program in the application
  • The test plan and test data
  • Conversion plan
  • Documentation including systems and operations documentation. Later, a user manual will be produced.

Programming (development) – Programming, installation and maintenance

  • Programs written, tested and documented
  • Data loaded from old system to new system
  • May be parallel running of both systems for a while
  • Testing

Installation (implementation) – Testing again and overseeing the installation of the new system

  • Staff trained on new system

Maintenance (reviewing) – Making sure that all user and technical documentation is complete and system maintained by keeping it up-to-date, solving any problems and writing new programs when required

The final stage in the systems life cycle is evaluating the performance of the new system to make sure it fulfils the requirements. Should this not be the case then the process is repeated if there are problems or further systems that have to be implemented to meet the requirements

There are many reasons as to why the introduction of a systems analyst such as my self to be asked to analyse the current system

  • The current system may no longer be suitable for its purpose.
  • Technological developments may have made the current system redundant or outdated.
  • The current system may be too inflexible or expensive to maintain, or may reduce the organisation’s ability to respond quickly enough to customer’s demands.
  • Better management information is required for decision-making.
  • The provision of better customer service

Methodologies

There are a number of ways in which systems analysis is identified, the actual analysis of the data found can be manipulated to provide different styles of results and breakdowns of the existing system, examples of these are;

  • DFD’s
  • Data driven design – This perspective allows the developer to build a system from a view of all the data available from external sources, which looks at the data flow and stores of data.
  • Rapid application development (RAD) – This style of analysis has resulted from constant over-budgeting and shrinking deadlines, which allows the developer to set easy targets and better predictions. This includes what MUST be included, features that should be included and optional features too
  • Joint Resource Planning (JRP) – Follows on from RAD but is a method that manages jobs between workers and software analysts
  • Top Down – Allows the developer to break a system to show it how it deals with data processing through a level 0 to level 2, where level 2 and system is analysed through a data prospective, going in depth.
  • Event driven design – This style of analysis looks at the system in a linear sequence of events. JSP diagrams can be expressed like this.
  • Dynamic system design method – This process in which a system is built in stages similar to a life cycle. Firstly there’s analysis of the requirement, design the solution and then build it. After testing they fix the possible problems.
  • Joint application development – In this process, management staff give their requirements in what they need from the system and gives out a report.

Various methods are used when finding out about a current system, which can include;

  • Interviews (with management and users that will be using the new system)
  • Studying documentation
  • Questionnaires
  • Observation

This is all part of the Investigating stage of the systems life cycle, which concentrates on the current system that is in place

  • Interviewing staff
  • Examining current business and systems documents and output.
  • Sending out questionnaires and analysing responses
  • Observation of current procedures, by spending time in various departments.

(P2, P3, P4) Task 2

(P2) Problem definition of my library network system

An existing library system would be hard-pressed to run without any sort of network at all, considering the various databases and systems, which need to have a flow of information back and forth to operate.

A Library would have to keep record of each transaction as well as there own stock and library users records. The library would need to have their own library user’s database to keep track of which library user has borrowed which book, as well as their loan history. Because this library system is both physically and data-wise mostly integrated to the actual network, some processes such as the basic library user data could be accessed by the library databases, automatically adding and deleting user’s profiles as the library users start and leave the library. Without this network function a new user would have to gain membership to the library before loaning a book, or using the library, user’s data would have to be manually entered into a new database profile, leaving room for error.

Such an organisation although structured very thin, with only two main levels, users and personnel would require a separate profile for each user. But each user would have the same restricted authorisation, only being able to view his or her own loan history. Because of only two distinct end-user types, only two permission levels will need to be implemented, security wise the network can be designed to be extremely secure if kept stand-alone from the internet. Even though there may be user workstations within the library grounds for research, they would be connected to the network, gaining Internet access through the network.

This topic has potentially different solutions for this situation, one with the library system stand-alone from the Internet and one solution providing the library with their own Internet connection. In the first solution the system will need its own Internet connection.

(P3) Questionnaire

The questions should be directed at determining whether different segments who use the library view the problem differently.

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Questionnaire for Library users and Library personnel

  1. Do you use the existing Library?

        Yes No

  1. What relation are you to the library?

        Library staff    User

  1. Do you use the existing PCs for work?

Yes No

  1. Do you use the existing PCs to find/order books within the library?  

Yes No

  1. Do you feel more PCs are needed in the library?         

Yes No

  1. Do you believe the Library PCs need an internet connection?         

Yes No

  1. Please add any views you ...

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