SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

A SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT LIFE CYCLE IS ESSENTIALLY A PROJECT MANAGEMNT

MODEL. IT IS PART OF THE MANY STRUCTURED SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT
METHODOLOGIES.

(YOURDON, JACKSON, SOFT SYSTEM METHOD).

System

A system is a set of things working together as part of a mechanism or an interconnecting

network (a complex whole). It can also be a set of organized components which interact
in a given environment and within a specified boundary to achieve collective goals and
objectives.

When we talk about a ‘system’ we are referring to the complex relationships of the
following: Business: lawmaking, controlling requirements, policy, guidelines etc.
Process: how the business is carried out.

Information system

It refers to the tools that organizations use to collect, manage and analyze data. This
data guides decision making to improve efficiency and probability.

It also refers to a structured organization of people, data, processes, information

presentation and information technology working together in supporting decision
making, improving operations and solve problems in the organization. It is an integrated
set of components for collecting, storing and processing data for providing knowledge
and digital products.

Purposes of developing information system

- Improving data collection, processing and communication.

- On-line analytical processing.
- For sharing information.
- Increasing productivity.
Motivation for developing new information systems
- New opportunities.
- Problems.
- Directives
- Need to improve PIECES
P = performance I = information E = economics C = control security E= efficiency
S= services
Methods or Approaches to System Development
1. Waterfall
2. Iterative

1|P
age
 3. Spiral
4. Rapid Application Development
5. Structured system development

Waterfall

This method is used in system development life circle to create a system with linear and
sequential approach. It is a sequential step by step approach with 7 stages.

1. Requirements
2. Analysis
3. Design
4. Coding
5. Testing
6. Implementation
7. Maintenance

Advantages
1. Each stage must be completed before you go to the next stage.
2. It is suited for smaller projects where requirements are well defined.
3. Any changes in software is made during the process of development.

Disadvantages

1. Errors can only be fixed during a particular stage.

2. It is not good for complex project.
3. It is slow

2|P
age
 Spiral model

It was designed to overcome the weaknesses of waterfall. It has more emphasis on risk
analysis. Spiral method creates risk driven approach with the aim of reducing failure
through iterative use of prototypes (examples or types). It has four stages;

1. Planning
2. Design
3. Construct
4. Evaluation

Phases

1. Planning: it starts with gathering of requirements.

2. Design: it starts with the design in the baseline spiral and involves architectural,
logical design, physical product and final design in the successive spirals.
3. Construct: refers to development of final software product at every spiral.
4. Evaluation and risk analysis: this includes identifying, estimating and observing
technical feasibility.
After testing the build at the end of first iteration, user evaluates the software and
provides feedback.
The process of iteration along the spiral caries on throughout the life of the
software.

Advantages

3|P
age
 - Software is produced early in the software lifecycle.
- Risk handling.
- Flexible requirements.
- It is good for large and complex projects.

Disadvantages

- It is not suitable for small projects.

- It may go indefinitely.
- It is expensive.
- Difficult in time management.

Rapid Application Development

RAD is a collection of approaches whose aim is to quickly develop and deploy information
systems. This method is also known as Rapid Application Building (RAB). RAD put less
emphasis on planning and more emphasis on an adaptive process. Prototype are often
used in addition to or sometimes even instead of design specifications.

RAD is especially well suited for (although not limited to) developing software that is
driven by user interface requirements. Graphical user interface builders are often called
rapid application development tools.

Examples of RAD

Prototyping (A prototype is a process in which design teams ideate, experiment with, and
bring concepts to life, ranging from paper ideas to digital designs): It involves creating a
simplified working model of the proposed system then showing it to the users for views
and comments. It can be improved to come up with the final system.

Joint Application Development: All the stakeholders are involved. Such as owners,
programmers, analysts and users.

By the end of the meeting working prototypes would have been developed which is very
close to the final solution.

Structured system Analysis and Development

It defines a set of stages that should be followed when developing a system. Each stage
is well documented and specifies the activities to be carried out by the system analyst
and the team while developing a system.

At the end of each stage, deliverable is produced which forms the basis for contracting
next stage.

It is a conceptual model which includes policies (rules, strategies) and procedures for
developing a system. It is the application of analytical processes to the planning, design
and implementation of new and improved information system.
4|P
age
It is a complete set of stages through which a system is developed, deployed and
maintained.
It divides the life of an information system into two;

1. Development stage
2. Operation and support stage

Stakeholders in system development

1. System owners: these are the information sponsors and main advocates, the owner
of the system.
2. Users: these are the day to day users of the system concerned with the business
requirements of the system.
3. System designers: they translate the user requirement specifications into technical
designs consisting of relevant files, databases, inputs outputs, user interfaces and
how they interact with one another.
4. System builders: these converts the design specifications into program code with the
end result being functioning software system.
5. System analyst: this is an ICT professional who facilitates the management of
information systems development throughout the development process.

Stages

1 Problem recognition and definition 2. Feasibility study 3. Fact finding 4.

Analysis 5. Design 6. System construction Testing 8. Implementation 9.
Evaluation and Maintenance.

Case Study: Point of Sale System

A software company wants to develop a point of sale system to service a wide
variety of retail stores. The proposed system is supposed to record sales and
handle payment. Each product will have a barcode to identify it. Upon
identification during checkout, the information about the product including
its price is referenced and the customer required to pay. At the same time, the
quantity of the products bought is deducted from the inventory. When the
quantity of items reduces to a given level in the inventory, an automatic re-
order email is sent to the suppliers, the solution should be able to give credit
points for returning customer. New product lines can be introduced into the
system.
1. Problem recognition and definition (failing to plan is planning to fail – British
Prime Minister Churchill)
It is done during preliminary investigation and seeks to answer two questions. The
developers will plan for the upcoming project.
(1) Is the proposed project worth pursuing?

5|P
age
 (2) Is the project worth looking at?

Looking at the case of POS system, the problem at hand is to replace the inefficient
manual operations such as inventory management and sales tracking with an efficient
computerized information system. The system analyst tries to answer the following
questions.

1. What are the short comings of the current system?

2. What types of records are kept after a sale?
3. What procedure is followed to complete a transaction?
4. How is new stock re-ordered?
5. How are customers rewarded?

How to plan for system development project: System development is very complex
in nature, that’s why it requires comprehensive planning before spending. One of the
most important plans is that of time management or project schedule. This is done in
order to avoid extra cost. For instance, if the company is paying the team on a pay
day basis, an extra day means the company will incur the extra cost.

One method of managing project schedule time is to use a special tool called Gantt
Chart. A Gantt Chart is a diagrammatic representation of different activities of a
project showing clearly their order of precedence and how long each task will take.
One can tell from the Gantt chart how long the project will take.

2. Feasibility Study its aim is to establish the costs and benefits of the new system.
A new system will only be developed if its benefits are more than its costs. At
the end of this stage a feasibility report is produced and presented to the
management. The stage is assessed in four ways 1. Operational feasibility: 2.
Schedule feasibility 3. Technical feasibility 4. Economic feasibility
(i) Operational feasibility: establishes the extent to which the users are
comfortable or happy with the proposed system.
(ii) Schedule feasibility: establishes whether the development of the proposed
system will be accomplished within the available time.
(iii) Technical feasibility: establishes whether the technology available is
sufficient or should be upgraded for the new system. It also seeks to find
out whether the staff have relevant technical skills to develop and use the
new system.
(iv) Economic feasibility: establishes whether developing the new system is
cost effective by analyzing all the costs and benefits of the proposed
system.

So, based on the above four factors, the development team comes up with the feasibility
report that is used to determine whether the system is worth pursuing or not.

6|P
age
 3. Fact finding/Information Gathering
After feasibility study and report has been approved by management, the system
analyst can then proceed to the next stage referred to as information gathering or
fact finding.
Methods of collecting data are as follows;
1. Document review (receipts, reports, backup files etc.)
2. interviews
3. questionnaires
4. observations
5. automated methods

Automated data capture refers to the use of technological tools like Artificial
Intelligence and image recognition software to convert information into a computer-
usable format. It is faster than manual data capture and prone to errors.

Fact finding report: at the end of information gathering stage, the analyst must
prepare and write a fact-finding report that has some of the following details;

i. Cover letter addressed to the management and the IT task force written by
the person who gathered data.
ii. Executive summary which provides a snapshot of how the new system is to
be implemented.
iii. Detailed outline which provides information about all the methods used the
study.
iv. Summary section that shows the contents of the report and it also touch the
importance of the system.

The report is then submitted to the management for evaluation and further guidance.
After the facts have been consolidated into a fact-finding report, a requirement
specification document is prepared describing the following components in details:

1. Output specification
2. Input specification
3. File/data stores
4. Hardware and software requirements.

4. System Analysis

This stage is the process of breaking down a complex system into small manageable
parts that can easily be modelled to understand the processes and data needs. This
is done through the system analysis tools. Examples of analysis tools include data
flow diagrams, entity relationship models, data dictionaries (a data dictionary is a
collection of names, definitions, and attributes about data elements that are being
used or captured in database, information system, or part of a project)
7|P
age
System Flowcharts

A system flowchart breaks down the entire system development events or activities
and displays their relationship and logic flow in graphical form. A system flowchart
clearly shows sequential, decision and looping operations that a system handles at a
high level. System flowchart symbols are as follows;

Designing a system flowchart

System Flowchart design illustrates a sequence of operations that a system goes

through in or to process information. Steps to follow

1. Write a title: e.g. Point of Sale and inventory Management System.

2. Identify the trigger event like customer buying an item or a new stock item being
input in the system. This will mark the starting point of the flowchart.
3. Document the logical flow of data from the trigger event to the end and represent
it with system flowchart symbols.
4. When there are many alternatives at the decision stage, follow the most
important and continue with it.

8|P
age
Explanation
1. A product is an item in the inventory ready for sale.
2. Using the barcodes, the system checks for products product details including
price in the stock file.
3. The system creates the sales invoice and computes loyalty points.
4. After receiving payment and computing change, the system prints the sales
receipt.
5. The system updates the inventory automatically and writes loyalty points to the
client’s card.

Data flow diagrams (DFD)

A data flow diagram is a graphical model used to represent an information system
processes and data storage.
- It depicts what a system ought to do not how it will do it
- Four standard Symbol

Process represents a transformation, something that the system does. Such as

processing data through some calculation, receiving data, updating records etc.

9|P
age
Data Store Represents a file or database that stores data from a process for the system.
When developing the system, a data store becomes a database or a flat file.
External Entity this is a physical object that interacts with the system by inputting or
receiving something from the system.
Data flow represents the flow of data to and from processes
When creating data flow diagram observe the following
1. Identify processes, inputs and outputs.
2. Identify data stores
3. Identify data flows and how they flow from on process to the next.
4. Data cannot flow between two data stores without a process in between them.
5. An external entity cannot write directly into data store but has to go through a
process.
Example
Using a data flow diagram create a point of Sale System. Components

POS DFD Context Diagram

10 |
Pag
e
POS Data flow diagram Level 1

5. System Design
This is the process of synthesizing or putting together components that will address all
the system requirements. It reassembles a properly analyzed system into logical model
of structures that represent the solution.
Structured chart is a top and down hierarchical diagram that enables a system
developer to design a system by organizing it into a hierarchy of modules and sub-
modules of a system.
Components of a structured chart

11 |
Pag
e
 Execution Control Sequence

A is the root module while A1, A2 and A3 are sub-modules.

Create the process of sales Module with the following sub-modules.
a) Scan bar codes
b) Read reference file
c) compute total bill and change
d) print receipt
e) Update stock file

6. System Construction
It refers to coding, installation and testing of the program module and their
components. The purpose of construction phase is to develop and test functional
system that fulfils business and design requirements.
Environments
- High level structured languages. Such as Pascal, COBOL
- Fourth generation languages. Such Visual Basic, Visual COBOL, Delphi Pascal
- Object Oriented Programming languages. Such as Java, C++, C#
- Customizing off the shelf applications. Such as Microsoft Access and Oracle.
Testing the system
It is done in order to validate whether:
1. The specified requirements have been met.
2. The users are satisfied with the system.
7. System implementation
It is a process of delivering the system to the users in the day to day operating
environment.
File conversion

12 |
Pag
e
This is when the new system is implemented and the format changes from manual to
computerized. Factors to consider: whether
1. A new operating system is required
2. New hardware is required
3. New application software is required
4. New database is required
System change over strategies
System changeover means how to stop using old system and start using the new one.
1. Straight changeover
2. Parallel changeover
3. Phased changeover
4. Pilot changeover
Straight changeover: The old system is stopped and discarded and the new system
starts immediately.

Advantages
 Cheaper to implement
 Easier to implement
Disadvantages
 In case of a failure there is no fallback strategy since the system is discarded
 The risk to business continuity is very high
Parallel changeover: Both the old and new systems are run concurrently for sometime
until the users have confidence in the new system.

Advantages
 In case the new system fails, a fallback strategy is available
 Better testing of a new system is done in a real environment
Disadvantages
 More expensive
 A lot of time is wasted
Phased changeover: A new system is implemented in phases or stages.

13 |
Pag
e
 Advantages
 The risk of failure is low
 Slow but sure
Disadvantages
 Takes a lot of time to finalize.
 Risk of incompatibility between elements
Pilot changeover: This is the combination of parallel operation and straight changeover.
It involves implementing a new system at a selected sites while the old system continues
to operate.
Advantages
 Reduced risk of system failure.
 Less expensive
 All features of the new system can be fully tested
Disadvantages
 No backup system if things go wrong
8. System Evaluation and Maintenance
System evaluation or (review or audit) is a formal process of going through the
specifications and testing the system after implementation to find out whether it meets
the user requirements. It assess an information system whether functional requirements
and non-functional requirements are met.
Functional requirements are those that can be measured or observed directly. E.g. user
input, report generated and Database.
Non-functional requirements are those that are difficult to measure. E.g. user
satisfaction, availability, interoperability, security, integrity etc.
System maintenance is the adjustment and enhancement of requirements or correction
of errors after a system has been implemented.
System documentation
This is a lifelong process in the system development life cycle. It consists of the following:
1. Report on fact finding
2. Requirements specifications
3. System and module flowcharts
4. Database tables/files structure/description
5. Sample test data and expected output
6. Report generated from the system.

14 |
Pag
e