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SYSTEMS ANALYSIS AND DESIGN 1 – Introduction to information System development

DIT 210/BIT 125: SYSTEMS AND DESIGN

1.0 INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT
A system and the main Functions of a system
A system is asset of interrelated components that work together to accomplish a purpose.
Basically, there are three major components in every system, namely input, processing and
output.
In a system the different components are connected with each other and they are
interdependent. For example, Human body represents a complete natural system. We are also
bound by many national systems political system, economic system, educational system and so
forth. The objective of the system demand that some output is produced as a result of processing
the suitable inputs.
The following simple diagram may be used to explain the conceptual components of a system.

Environment (suppliers, customers, competitors etc)

Input PROCESS (develop, procedure, Output

course, course of action)

Figure 1. Components of a system

Classification of systems
Systems can be classified either as open or closed systems. This classification is based on how a
system interacts with its environment. A system`s environment includes all factors surrounding
the system. The description of open and closed systems are given below.
Closed and Open Systems
In systems theory, a distinction is made between open systems and closed systems. A closed
system is a system, which is isolated from its environment and independent of it. That is, a closed
system does not interact with its environment. An open system is a system connected to and
interacting with its environment. An open system is a system connected to and interacting with
its environment. It can also adapt to changing conditions. It can receive inputs from, and delivers
output to the outside of system. An information system is an example of this category. Closed
systems exist in concept only.
The diagram in figure 2. Illustrate the idea of open and closed systems. As it can be seen from the
diagram, an open systems receives different kinds of inputs and gives different output depending
on the input.

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SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN 1 – Introduction to information System development

SHUT OFF FROM ITS

ENVIRONMENT

Controlled Inputs Relating to its

environment in both
Uncontrolled inputs
prescribed and
Predictable outputs uncontrolled ways.
Unexpected inputs
Unpredictable outputs

Figure 2. Closed and Open Systems

INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Information in organizations is considered as a strategic resource.
In the past, information used to be considered a bureau tic nuisance (of little use) and a
limited toll for management decision making. Today, information systems can so
drastically boost a firm`s productivity and efficiency that businesses view information as
a weapon against competition and a strategic resource. For example
The Basic Systems Components of an Information System
An information system is a set of information technologies that enables people in
organisation to accomplish tasks effectively by the avoiding access to information.

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People: All members of an organisation need to use information to perform their jobs. As a
group, these people are referred to as information system users or end users. The structure
and design of an information system is defined by another group of people- the system
designers. Another group of people in the organisation – managers – decides how money,
time, and other resources should be categorised into four areas: tasks related to
communication among people in the organisation, and tasks related to the strategic
management of the organisation. Information: As a commodity, information refers to facts,
statistics or other data that are valuable or useful to a person for accomplishing a task.
Organisation: A business or other organisation can be defined by its purpose, the tasks or
activities that performs, and its structure. Environment: The global, competitive business
environment presents problems and opportunities that a business organisation must cope
with to thrive.
Types of Information Systems
In this section, we will explore three most important information systems namely,
transaction processing system, management systems and decision support system.
Transaction Processing Systems
TPS processes business transactions of the organisation. Transaction can be any activity of
the organisation. Transactions differ from organisation to organisation. For example, take a
railway reservation system. Booking, cancelling, etc are all transactions. Any query made to
it is a transaction. However, there are some transactions, which are common to almost all
organizations. Like employee new employee, maintain their leave status, maintain
employees accounts, etc.
TPS provides high speed and accurate processing of record keeping of basic operational
processes. These include calculation, storage and retrieval. They can be programmed to
follow routines functions of the organisations.
Management Information system
These systems assist lower management in problem solving and making decisions. They use
the results of transaction processing and some other information also. It is a set of
information processing functions. It should handle queries as quickly as they arrive. An
important element of MIS is database. A database is a non-redundant collection of
interrelated data items that can be processed through application programs and available to
many users.
Decision Support System
These systems assist higher management to make long term decisions.
These types of systems handle unstructured or semi structured decisions. A decision is
considered unstructured if there are no clear procedures for making the decisions and if not
all the factors to be considered in the decision can be readily identified in advance. These
are not recurring nature. Some recur infrequently or occur once. A decision supply system
must be very flexible. The user should be able to produce customised reports by giving
particular data and format specific to particular situations.

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Summary of Information Systems Categories of InformationCharacteristics System

Transaction Processing System Substitutes computer-based processing for
manual procedures. Deals with well-
structured processes. Includes record keeping
applications.
Management Information System Provides input to be used in the managerial
decision process. Deals with supporting well-
structured decision situations. Typical
information requirements can be anticipated.
Decision support system Provides information to managers
who must make judgments about particular
situations. Supports decision-makers in
situations that are not well structured.

Roles of System Analyst

The system analyst is the person (or persons) who guides through the development of an
information system. In performing these tasks, the analyst must always match the
information system objectives with the goals of the of the organization.
Role of System analyst differs from organization or organization. Most common
responsibilities of System Analyst are the following.
1) System analysis
It includes system`s study in order to get facts about business activity. It is about getting
information and determining requirements. Here the responsibility includes only
requirements. Here the responsibility includes only requirement determination, not the
design of the system.
2) System analysis and design:
Here apart from the analysis work, Analyst is also responsible for the designing of the
new system/application.
3) Systems analysis, design, and programming:
Here Analyst is also required to perform as programmer, where he actually writes the
code to implement the design of the proposed application.
Due to the various responsibilities that a system analyst requires to handle, he has to be
multifaceted with varied skills required at various stages of the life cycle. In addition to
the technical know-how of the information system development a system analyst should
also have the following knowledge.
• Business Knowledge: As the analyst might have to develop any kind of a
business, he should be familiar with the general functioning of all kind of
businesses.

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• Interpersonal skills: Such skills are required at various stages of development

process for interacting with the users and extracting the requirements out of
them.
• Problem solving skills: A system analyst should have enough problem occurring
at the various stages of the development process.
The Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
Why Organisations Development Information Systems
The systems development process begins when someone recognizes that a problem needs
to be solved or an opportunity exists that can be taken advantage of system development is
a problem-solving process of investigating a situation, designing a system solution to
improve the situation, acquiring the human, financial, and technological resources to
implement the solution, and finally evaluating the success of the solution. An organisation
may face several problems and opportunities, each of which may require the company to
develop new IT applications. Each project requires people, money and other organisational
resources, so aa steering committee is formed.

System Development Life Cycle

The System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a conceptual model used in project
management that describes the stages involved in an information system development
project from an initial feasibility study through maintenance of the completed application.
Various SDLC methodologies have been developed to guide the processes involved including
the waterfall model (the original SDLC method), and application development (RAD), joint
application development (JAD), the fountain model and the spiral model. Mostly, several
models are combined into some sort of hybrid methodology. Documentation is crucial
regardless of the type of model chosen are devised for any application, and is usually done
in parallel with the development process. Some methods work better for specific types of
projects, but in the final analysis, the most important factor for the success of a project may
be how closely a particular plan was followed.

Figure 3 below is the classic waterfall model methodology, which is the first SDLC method
and it describes the various phases involved in the development of an Information System.

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Problem
identification

Feasibility
Study

Requirements
Analysis

Design

Development

Testing

Implementation

Maintenance

Figure. 3. Traditional (Waterfall) system Development Life Cycle.

Stages of the typical system development life cycle
I. Feasibility study (Investigation)
The purpose of the investigation phase is to study the existing business problem or
opportunity and determine whether it is feasible to develop a new system or design the
existing system if one exists. During this stage the following activities are performed;
• The project team conduct a feasibility study to identify the nature of the problem
• The team also examines the current system to determine how well it needs of the users
and the organisation.
• Assess whether a new or improved information system is a feasible solution.
In carrying out the above activities the project team tries to answer the feasibility questions
related to the following.
 Technical Feasibility
In technical feasibility the following issues are taken into consideration.
 Whether the required technology is available or not
 Whether the required resources are available – the resources include Manpower (that is
Programmers, testers, debuggers, etc) and the software and hardware.
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Once the technical feasibility is established, it is important to consider to consider the

monetary factors also. Since it might happen that developing a particular system may be
technically possible but it may require huge investments and benefits may be less. For
evaluating this economic feasibility of the proposed system is carried out.
 Economic and Financial feasibility
For nay system if the expected benefits equal or exceed the expected costs, the system can
be judged to be economically feasible. In economic feasibility, cost benefit analysis id done
in which expected costs and benefits are evaluated. Economic analysis is used for evaluating
the effectiveness of the proposal system.
In economic feasibility, the most effective is cost-benefit analysis. As the name suggests, it is
an analysis of the costs to be incurred in the system and benefits derivable out of the
system.
Note: The good student has been requested to look at the following methods of conducting
the cost-benefit analysis: Break-even analysis, Payback Analysis, Present – Value analysis
and cash flow analysis.
 Operational feasibility
Operational feasibility is mainly concerned with issues like whether the system will be used
if it is developed and implemented. Whether there will be resistance from users that will
affect the possible application benefits? The essential questions that help in testing the
operational feasibility of a system are the following.
 Does management support the project?

 Are the users not happy with current business practices? Will it reduce the time
(operation) considerably? If yes, then will welcome the change and the new system.

 Have the users been involved in the planning and development of the project? Early
involvement reduces the probability of resistance towards the new system.

 Will the proposed system really benefits the organisation? Does the overall response
increase? Will accessibility of information be lost? Will the system affect the customers
in considerable ways?
Based on its investigation, the project team can make three possible recommendations. The
three possible recommendations that the project team can make are:
a) To leave the system the way as it is;
b) To improve or enhance the current system; or
c) To develop an entirely new system
Note: Systems can also look at organizational feasibility and legal feasibility but the major
areas considered are the ones mentioned above.

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II. Analysis
During the analysis phase, the systems analyst gathers documents, interviews users of the
current system (if one exists), observes the system in action, and gathers and analyses data
to understand the current system and identify new requirements – features or capabilities
that must be included in the system to meet the needs of the users. The system analyst
identifies the requirements related to each subsystem of the following in a proposed
system:
(i) Input/output requirements: The characteristics of the user interface, including the
content, format, and timing requirements for data-entry screens and managerial
reports
(ii) Storage requirements: the content of records and databases and the procedures for
data retrieval
(iii) Control requirements: the desired accuracy, validity, and security of the system; for
example, tom prevent data entry errors and guarantee an easy-to-use, user-friendly
system
The systems analyst documents the work done in the analysis phase in a written functional
requirements report. The following are the main issues that the functional requirements
report should outline;
 Explains the current business procedures
 How the current system works  Identifies problems with the current procedures
and system  Describes the requirements for the new or modified system
Note: A system requirement is a feature that must be included in the new system. And
may include a way of capturing or processing data, producing information, controlling a
business activity or supporting management.
III. Design
The investigation phase focuses on why, the analysis phase focuses on what and the design
phase focuses on how. In the design phase, the system analyst develops the system
specifications that describe how exactly the system requirements, identified in the analysis
phase, will be met. The three main categories of the how-to questions that the systems
analyst considers in design phase are;
• User interface design: How will the various outputs of the system be designed?
Where will input data come from, and how will it be entered into system? How will
the various windows, menus and other user-computer dialogue characteristics be
designed?
• Database design: how will the data elements and structure of the files that oppose
the database be designed?

IV. Development
After the design phase is complicated, the actual system development can begin. The
development phase is a process of turning the design specifications into a real working
system. The fundamental activities of the development phase include;
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• Hardware, software and communications purchasing;

• Documentation; and
• Programming, that is writing the code to solve the tasks involved.
V. Testing
In this phase the system is tested. Normally programs are written as a series of individual
modules, these are subjected to separate and detailed test. The system is the tested as a
whole. The separate modules are brought together and tested as a complete system. The
system is tested to ensure that interfaces between modules work (integration testing), the
system works on the intended platform and with the expected volume of data (volume
testing) and that system does wait the user requires (acceptance/beta testing).
Note: The good student has been asked to differentiate between Alpha and Beta testing.
VI. Implementation
The implementation phase occurs when the testing phase is completed and the new system
is ready to replace the old one. For commercial software packages, this phase typically
involves extensive training and technical user support to supplement sales and marketing
efforts. For large customs systems, implementation includes end-user education and
training, equipment replacement, file conversion, and careful monitoring of the new system
of problems.
The approaches for converting the new system that the system analyst one can choose from
are:
The direct changeover approach simply replaces the old system with the new system. The
organization relies fully on the new system with the risk that parts of the new system might
work correctly.
The parallel system approach operates the old system along with the new system for a
period of time. The old system is gradually phased out as users gain skills and confidence
that the new system is stable and reliable.
The pilot approach implements the new system in one in one department or work in an
organisation. The new system is used and modified at this test site until the systems analyst
believes the system can be successfully implemented throughout the organization.
End user training is critical to implementing an information system successfully. During
training, clerical and managerial end users learn to use the features of the new system
effectively. They learn how to handle problems that may arise when they use the system.
VII. Maintenance
The maintenance phase involves monitoring, evaluating, repairing and enhancing the system
throughout the lifetime of the system. Some software problems don’t surface until the
system has been operational for a while or the organization needs change. System ned to
adjusted to keep up to update with new products, services, customers, industry standards,
and government regulations.
The following are the main reasons for evaluation during system maintenance;

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• The system is evaluated periodically to determine whether it is providing the

anticipated benefits and meeting organisational needs.
• Also, evaluation provides the feedback necessary for management to assess
whether the system was developed on schedule and within budget and
• To identify what adjustments to make in the system development process in
future.
Summary of SDLC Stages
The stages involved in a systems development, starting with the original identification of the
problem by management and ending with a report back on successful (or otherwise)
implementation are the following:
• Preliminary investigation – review of problem through project proposals
• Detailed investigation – feasibility study (technical, economical, social, and
operational feasibility tests)
• Analysis – questionnaire, interviews, records review, observation.
• Design – logical system representation (DFDS), decision tables, Decision trees,
Structured English)
• Development – coding and testing (unit testing, system testing, integration testing,
user acceptance testing, bottom up testing, top down testing, black box testing,
white box testing, valid data and invalid data testing etc).
• Implementation – site preparation, hardware installation, software installation, live
testing, training (onsite training and offsite training), changeover (direct changeover,
parallel, phase change and pilot change).
• Post implementation review and evaluation – report on system`s impact on workers,
management and business in general.
Advantages and limitations of the Waterfall Model a) Advantages of Waterfall Life
Model

1. Easy to explain to the user

2. Stages and activities are well defined
3. Helps to plan and schedule and project
4. Verification at each stage ensures early detection of errors/ misunderstanding

b) Limitations of the Waterfall Life Cycle Model The traditional

model has the following limitations:
• The model implies that you should attempt to complete a given stage before
moving on to the next stage
 Does not account for the fact that requirements constantly change.
 It also means that customers cannot use anything until the entire system
is complete.

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• The model makes that once the product is finished, everything else is
maintenance.
Due to the limitations of the waterfall model, a number or models have been proposed to
present the System development lifecycle. These include the Spiral Model, Prototyping
System Development Life Cycle Model and Object-Oriented methodology among other
users.

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