Chapter 11 Systems Analysis PDF

Chapter 11 Systems Analysis INF112 Principles  Effective systems development requires a team effort from stakeholders, users, managers, systems development specialists, and various support personnel, and it starts with careful planning  Systems development often...

Chapter 11 Systems Analysis INF112 Principles  Effective systems development requires a team effort from stakeholders, users, managers, systems development specialists, and various support personnel, and it starts with careful planning  Systems development often uses tools to select, implement, and monitor projects, including, prototyping, rapid application development, CASE tools, and object-oriented development  Systems development starts with investigation and analysis of existing systems Class discussion [15 minutes]  Look at the given scenario and answer the questions to follow.  Mr. Peggy approached you. He runs a tiny little shoe repair business. He has a shoe technician and admin clerk working with him. He heard you have the ability to analyze any business and therefore wanted you to develop a system that will work as follows:  A client will bring in a shoe to be repaired. The clerk will capture the clients' details. Once the client and the shoe is captured in the system for repairs, the shoe technician should receive an SMS to inform him about the repair waiting.  Once the shoe is repaired, the technician will capture the status on the system as complete, after which the client will receive an SMS, and the admin clerk will see on her screen that there is a shoe ready for pickup.  Clients have to pay in full before they are allowed to pick up their repaired shoe. Mr. Peggy, however, has no idea what is going on with his business, how many shoes are repaired per day, or how many repairs have not yet been paid for.  You quickly realize that you will need a developing team to program this solution for the client Questions 1. Who are all the stakeholders? 2. List the main processes in the business? 3. What problems can you identify from the case study? 4. What opportunities do you see in the case study improving the system? 5. How can systems make this business better? 6. What other processes will you recommend for this business? An overview of systems development  Systems development involves: analysing problems and designing and building information systems to solve those problems  In today’s businesses, managers and employees in all functional areas work together and use business information systems in their development  Calculating the cost of an IT project is difficult. Users of information systems are involved, and a number of high-profile mistakes have been made. Most of these are from the public sector (as any mistakes from the private sector are quickly covered up!)  Participants in systems development Development team Determines objectives of the information system Delivers system that meets objectives Stakeholders People who ultimately benefit from project Users Managers Systems development specialists Systems analysts Programmers Support personnel Typical reasons to initiate a systems development project Reason Example Problems with existing system Not processing orders fast enough Desire to exploit new opportunities M-commerce Increasing competition New competitor enters industry Desire to make more effective use of Wanting to set up a customer relationship information management system to expand and exploit information stored on customers Organizational growth Expanding customer base Merger or acquisition Buying out a competitor Change in the environment New regulations imposed by government Chapter 11 – Systems Analysis 7 Chaos report 2020 Overview 8 Why is the success rate of IT projects so low? Chaos report: 2020 50 % of projects are challenged 19% of projects failed Only 31% for software projects are completed on time and on budget Why do you think this is the case?  Information systems planning and aligning corporate and IS goals  Information systems planning: translating strategic and organisational goals into systems development initiatives  Aligning organisational goals and IS goals is critical for any successful systems development effort  One of the primary benefits of IS planning and alignment of business goals is a long-range view of information systems use in the organisation  The IS plan should guide the development of the IS infrastructure over time  IS planning should ensure better use of IS resources including funds, personnel, and time for scheduling specific projects Establishing objectives for systems development  Overall objective of systems development: achieve business goals, not technical goals  Right information to the right person at the right time  Mission-critical systems: play pivotal role in organization’s continued operations and goal attainment  Goals defined for an organization also define objectives  Critical success factors (CSFs): factors essential to success of a functional area of an organization  Factors to consider System Investigation System Analysis Data Collection Data Analysis Requirements Analysis Establishing objectives for systems development Performance objectives Output quality or usefulness of the output Output accuracy Output format quality or usefulness Speed at which output is generated Scalability of resulting system Risk of the system Cost objectives Development costs Costs of uniqueness of system application Fixed investments in hardware and related equipment Ongoing operating costs  THE SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT LIFE CYCLE Software that is built correctly can transform as the organisation and its business transforms Software that effectively meets employee needs will help an organisation become more productive and enhance decision making Software that does not meet employee needs may have a damaging effect on productivity and can even cause a business to fail Common systems development life cycles: Traditional Prototyping Rapid application development (RAD) XP methodology SCRUM methodology We will look more into these in the next lecture Traditional Systems Development Life Cycle The steps of traditional systems development might vary from one company to the next, but most approaches have five common phases: investigation, analysis, design, implementation, and maintenance and review Traditional SDLC 1.Planning phase – Establishes a high-level plan of the intended project and determines project goals 2.Analysis phase – Involves analyzing end-user business requirements and refining project goals into defined functions and operations of the intended system 3.Design phase – Establishes descriptions of the desired features and operations of the system including screen layouts, business rules, process diagrams, pseudo code, and other documentation 4.Development phase – Involves taking all of the detailed design documents from the design phase and transforming them into the actual system Chapter 11 – Systems Analysis 15 Traditional SDLC 5.Testing phase – Involves bringing all the project pieces together into a special testing environment to eliminate errors and bugs, and verify that the system meets all of the business requirements defined in the analysis phase 6.Implementation phase – Involves placing the system into production so users can begin to perform actual business operations with it 7.Maintenance phase – Involves performing changes, corrections, additions, and upgrades to ensure the system continues to meet its business goals Chapter 11 – Systems Analysis 16 Prototyping  An iterative approach  Operational prototype: functioning prototype Accesses real data files, edits input data, makes necessary computations and comparisons, and produces real output  Nonoperational prototype: a mock-up, or model Includes output and input specifications and formats Rapid Application Development Methodology (RAD)  Rapid application development methodology– Emphasizes extensive user involvement in the rapid and evolutionary construction of working prototypes of a system to accelerate the systems development process  The prototype is an essential part of the analysis phase when using a RAD methodology Prototype – A smaller-scale representation or working model of the users’ requirements or a proposed design for an information system Chapter 11 – Systems Analysis 18 Extreme Programming (XP) Methodologies Breaks a project into tiny phases, and developers cannot continue on to the next phase until the first phase is complete SCRUM Methodologies SCRUM – Uses small teams to produce small pieces of deliverable software using sprints, or 30-day intervals, to achieve an appointed goal Under this methodology, each day ends or begins with a stand-up meeting to monitor and control the development effort Chapter 11 – Systems Analysis 20 Where do system development projects come from?  Problems are undesirable situations that prevent the organization from fully achieving its purpose, goals, and/or objectives.  Opportunities are chances to improve the organization even in the absence of specific problems.  Directives are new requirements that are imposed by management, government, or some external influence.  Information systems planning: translation of strategic and organizational goals into systems development initiatives  Aligning organizational goals and IS goals is critical for any successful systems development effort  Common systems development life cycles: traditional, prototyping, rapid application development (RAD), XP methodologies and SCRUM methodologies.  Phases of traditional systems development life cycle: systems investigation, systems analysis, systems design, systems implementation, and systems maintenance and review  Systems investigation: problems and opportunities are identified and considered in light of goals of the business  Systems analysis: study of existing systems and work processes to identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement