Lecture 1

Introduction to information systems development System Analyst, System Analysis & Design

System
The term system refers to the organized relationship among functioning units or components. Characteristics of a system:1. Organization 2. Interaction 3. Interdependence 4. Integration 5. Central Objective

System development is divided into two parts:

System Analysis:a). Gathering of information b). Interpreting the facts c). Evaluation

System Design:a). Planning the system.

System Analysis & Design

System Analysis is the process in which the analyst gathers the information, interpreting the facts, diagnosing the problem and uses the information to recommended improvements to the system. System Design is a process of planning a new business system or one to replace or complete the existing system.

Role of System Analyst:

System analyst study the business system to learn current methods and its effectiveness. System analyst decides whether the improvement is feasible or not instead of telling that whether it should be done by computerized or non-computerized methods. It will not determine how changes should be done. It is to study a business process and evaluate it. It is not used to determine how best to solve an information system. It check whether it will harm or improve the existing system.

What System Analysis is NOT

It is not to Study a business to see which existing process should be handled by computer and which should be done by non-computerized method. It is not to determining what changes should be made. It is not to determine how to solve an information systems problem.

System Analyst can work in three different ways:

1. System Analyst Only:- It emphasis on gathering of information and determining requirements. They are not responsible for system design. 2. System Analyst & designer:- Analyst carry out complete study of system but also added responsibilities of designing the system. 3. System Analyst, designer & programmer:- Analyst conduct the system investigation, develop design specifications and develop program software to implement the design.

Users:
All

the managers, employees and customers of an organization who interact with information systems are termed as users. degree of their involvement may vary, depending on the type of the user.

The

User is of four types:1. Hand on user: Who actually interacts with the system. 2. Indirect user: Who depends on the reports or information but does not operates on system or equipments. 3. User Manager: Who have the organizational responsibilities for controlling the system activities.(monitoring the system) 4. Senior Manager: It evaluates organizations exposure to risk for information system.

LECTURE 2
Categories of Information Systems, System Development Strategies.

System:A system is simply a set of various components that interact with each other to accomplish some purpose

Types of system:1. Transaction Processing System. 2. Management Support System. 3. Decision Support System.

Transaction processing system:

Transaction processing systems are used to improve the routine business activities on which all organization depends. It is a set of procedures for handling the transaction which includes the activities such as calculation, classification, sorting , storage, retrieval and summarizing . [ Transaction is an event or activity that effects the organization.] Example:- Calculators, ATM, Online shopping etc.

Management support system:

It assist managers in decision-making and problem solving. They draw on data store as a result of transaction procedure but they may use other processing information.

Example:- UMS, HMS etc

Decision support system:

It assist managers who must make decisions that are not highly structured. They are unstructured or semistructured decisions. ** The key factor in the use of DSS is to determining what system information needed. Example:- search engines.

Relation of information system to levels of organization

Strategic planning

Management control

Operational control
Transaction processing system

Operations

System development strategies

1.
2. 3.

Systems Development Life Cycle Method.(SDLC) Structured Analysis Development Method. Systems Prototype Method.

SDLC consists of seven phases:1. Investigation :- Gathering the requirements or finding the problem. 2. Feasibility:- To find the various solutions for the problem. a) Technical Feasibility b) Economic Feasibility c) Operational Feasibility d) Behavioral Feasibility

Cont
3. Analysis:- To find the best optimal solution or Determine the system

requirement.

What is being done ? How is it being done? How frequently does it occur? How great is the volume of transaction or decision? If a problem exist, how serious is it? What are the causes of the problem?

4. Design:- a). Physical design( Formatting the various components of the system) b). Logical design(How these components interact with each other) 5. Implementation:- Coding 6. Testing:- It is done twice: a). After implementation b). After maintenance. 7. Maintenance

2. Structured Analysis Development Method

1. 2.

This method is aimed to overcome the difficulties faced in case of understanding the large and complex systems by: Partitioning the system into components. Constructing the model of the system. This method consists of elements of both analysis and design.

Structured Analysis

Structured analysis is to organize the task associated with requirements to provide an accurate and complete understanding of the current system. It focuses on specifying What the system or application is required to do?. It does not focus on How the requirements should be accomplished or How the application should be implemented It focuses on the behavior of elements(what the system should do) rather than the physical elements(Computers, terminals, storage system etc.)

Benefits of Structured Analysis:

It provides effective methods of requirement determination process. Process is organized in such a way that it can includes all relevant details. It is easy to verify when the relevant details have to be omitted. Identification of requirement will be similar among individual analyst and will include best strategy for development. Proposed systems are effective in communication.

Various Elements of structured Analysis:

Graphic Symbols: In structured analysis various symbols or icons to create a graphic model of the system. 2. Data Flow Diagrams: DFD is the graphical tool used to describe the movement of data through a system manually or automatically including the processes, data stores and delay in the system. DFDs are of two types: Physical DFD: What tasks are carried and how they are performed.(H/W , S/W used etc) Logical DFD: Describes the logical flow of data.
1.

Cont
3. Data Dictionary: Data dictionary is a catalog of various elements in a system. It tells where the data is to be used and where immediate access to information is required. Data dictionary is used: To manage the details in a large system. To communicate a common meaning for all system elements To document the features of the system.. To facilitate analysis of the details in order to evaluate characteristics and determine where system changes should be made. To locate errors and omission in the system.

Cont..
Data dictionary contains two types of descriptions for data flowing through the system: 1). Data Elements (Smallest unit of data) 2). Data Structure (Group of data elements which together form a unit)

Structured Design:

This element focuses on the development of software specifications and utilizes the graphic description. The goal of structured design is to create programs consisting of functionally independent modules that perform relatively independently to one another. This in return will facilitate program maintenance when the need arises.

Cont..

Tool for structured design is the STRUCTURED CHART. Structured charts are graphic and avoid specification of hardware or physical details. They describe the interaction between different independent modules and the data passing between modules that interact with one another, but do not deals with program logic. All these specifications can than be passed to programmers before coding.

3. System Prototype Method

Prototype??? A prototype is a working system that is developed to test ideas and assumption about the new system. It contains the working software that accepts input, performs the calculations and give the results. The information and the results produced by the system are evaluated by the users. Prototyping is very effective under the correct circumstances and is useful only if it is employed at the right time and in an appropriate manner.

Steps involved in Prototyping:

Identify the users known requirements and features needed in the system. 2. Develop a working Prototype. 3. Use the prototype. 4. Review prototype 5. Report as needed
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Thank You!!