Paper – 204 : System Analysis & Design

Unit 1. System Concepts

- What is System ?
- Characteristics & Elements of system.
- Major System concepts.
- Types of System.
- What is System Analysis ?
- System Analyst.
- Information & Information System.
- Role of Business Information System in Organization.

Unit 2. Sytem Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

- What is SDLC ?
- Stages of System Analysis.
- Problem Identification.
- Feasibility study and cost benefit analysis
- System requirement analysis.
- Stages of System Design
- System design specification & programming.
- Testing & Implementation
- Follow-up maintenance
- Evaluation of the system.

Unit 3: Structured System Analysis and Design Method

- Need of Structured Analysis and Design
- What is SSADM?
- SSSADM Methodology.
- System survey.
- Structured analysis.
- Structured design.
- Advantage of SSADM.

Unit 4 : Input / Output Design & Fact Gathering Techniques

- Input
- Data capture objectives.
- Data verification and validation.
- Interactive screen design.
- Output
- Design principles of output.
- Output objectives.
- Fact Gathering Techniques.
- Interviewing.
- Questionnaires.
- Record inspection
- Observations.

Unit 5: DFDs & other tools

- What is DFDs ?
- Symbols used in DFDs.
- Construction a DFD with illustration.
- Physical & Logical DFDs.
- Decision tables
- HIPO chart
- Structured English
Main Reference Book:
1 James A. Senn : Analysis & Design of Information System 2nd Edition McGraw-Hill International Edition..
2 S. Parthasarthy & B. W. Khalkar : System Analysis & Design 1st Edition, Master Ed. Cons.
3 Yourdon E. and Constantine L. L : Structured Analysis & Design Yourdon press NY.
SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN

UNIT – I
Q – 1 What is a System?

A System is simply a set of components that interact to accomplish some purpose.

e.g. You experience physical sensation by means of complex nervous system, a set of parts,
including your brain, spinal cord, nerves and special sensitive cells under your skin, that work
together to make you feel hot, cold, itchy and so on. You communicate by means of language, a
highly developed system of words and symbols that conveys meanings to your and to other.

System Characteristics:
Types of systems

1) Systems interact with their environments, which are any entities outside the boundaries of
the systems. Systems that interact with their environments (receive input and produce
output), are open systems.
2) In contrast Systems that do not interact with their surrounding are closed systems.
3) All ongoing systems are open. Thus, closed systems exist only as concept.
4) The element of control is related to whether systems are open or closed. Systems work
best – are “in control” – when they operate within tolerable performance levels.
5) All systems have acceptable levels of performance, called standards, against which actual
performances are compared.
6) The components that make up systems may actually be other smaller systems; that is ,
systems may be made up of levels of systems, or subsystems. The human body, for
example, contains such subsystems as the respiratory and circulatory systems. An
automobile has ignition, electrical, and emission-control systems.
Business Systems:
A business is also a system. Its components ( or subsystems) are :
1) Marketing
2) Manufacturing
3) Sales
4) Research
5) Accounting and so on

All work together to fulfill business objectives that benefits the employees and stake holders of the
firm. Each of these components is itself a system. The accounting departments consists of accounts
payable, accounts receivables, billing, auditing etc.

An information system consists of sub systems including hardware, software and data storage for
files and data basses. The particular set of subsystems used the specific equipment, program files and
procedures constitute information systems application. Thus information systems can have
purchasing, accounting or sales application.
Overview of SAD
SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES
Different situations are represented by three distinct approaches to the development of computer
information systems:
1) System Development Life Cycle Method
2) Structured Analysis Development Method
3) System Prototype Method

Classical System Development Life Cycle

System development, a process consisting of the major steps of system analysis and design, stats
when management of sometimes systems development personnel realize that a particular business
system needs improvement.

The systems development life cycle (SDLC) method in the following figure is classically thought of
as the set of activities that analysts, designers, and users carry out to develop and implement and
information system.

The systems development life cycle method consists of the following activities:

1. Preliminary investigation
2. Determination of system requirements
3. Design of system
4. Development of software
5. System testing
6. Implementation and evaluation
Preliminary investigation
A request to receive assistance from information systems can be made for many reasons, but in each
case someone – a manager, an employee, or a systems specialist – initiates the request.

When that request is made, the first systems activity, the preliminary investigation, begins. This
activity has three parts: request clarification, feasibility study, and request approval.

Request Clarification Many requests from employees and users in organizations are not clearly
stated. Therefore, before any stems investigation can be considered, the project request must be
examined to determine precisely what the originator wants. A telephone call may suffice if the
requester has a clear idea of what is needed but is not sure how to state it. On the other hand, if the
requester is asking for help without knowing what is wrong or why there is a problem, problem
clarification is much more difficult. In either case, before any further steps can be taken, the project
request must be clearly stated.

Feasibility Study An important outcome of the preliminary investigation is determination that the
system requested is feasible. There are three aspects in the feasibility study portion of the preliminary
investigation:

1. Technical Feasibility. Can the work for the project be done with current equipment,
existing software technology, and available personnel? If new technology is required,
what is the likelihood that I can be developed?
2. Economic Feasibility. Are there sufficient benefits in creating the system to make the
costs acceptable? Or, are the costs or not creating the system so great that the project must
be undertaken?
3. Operational Feasibility. Will the system be used if it is developed and implemented? Will
there be resistance from users that will undermine the possible application benefits?

The feasibility study is carried out by a small group of people (sometimes even or two)
who are familiar with information systems techniques; understand the part of the business
or organization.

Request Approval Not all requested projects are desirable or feasible. Some organizations
receive so many project requests from employees that only a few of them can be pursued.
However, those projects that are both feasible and desirable should be put into a schedule. In
some cases, development can start immediately, although usually systems staff members are busy
on other ongoing projects. When this happens, management decides which projects are most
important and schedules them accordingly. Many business organizations develop new
manufacturing programs, or plant expansion. After a project request is approved, its cost,
priority, completion time, and personnel requirements are estimated and used to determine where
to add it to any existing project list.
Later on, when the other projects have been completed, the proposed application
development can be launched.

Determination of System Requirements

At the heart of systems analysis is a detailed understanding of all important facets of the business
area under investigation. (for this reason, the process of acquiring this information is often termed
the detailed investigation.) Analysts, working closely with employees and managers, must study the
business process to answer these key questions:

1. What is being done?

2. How is it being done?
3. How frequently does it occur?
4. How great is the volume of transactions or decisions?
5. How well is the task being performed?
6. Does a problem exist?
7. If a problem exists, how serious is it?
8. If a problem exists, what is the underlying cause?

To answer these questions, systems analysts talk to a variety of persons to gather details about
the business process and their opinions of why thing happen as they do and their ideas for changing
the process. Questionnaires are used to collect this information from large groups of people who
cannot be interviewed individually. Detailed investigations also require the study of manuals and
reports, actual observation of work activities, and, sometimes, collection of samples of forms and
documents to fully understand the process.

As the details are gathered, the analysts study the requirements data to identify features the
new system should have, including both the information the system should produce and operational
features such as processing controls, response times, and input and output methods.

Design of System

The design of an information system produces the details that stat how a system will meet the
requirements identified during systems analysis. Systems specialists’ often refer to this stage as
logical design, in contrast tot the process of developing program software, which is referred to as
physical design.

Systems analysts begin the design process by identifying reports and other outputs the system
will produce. Then the specific data on each are pinpointed. Usually, designers sketch the form or
display as they expect it to appear when the system is complete. This may be done on paper or on a
computer display, suing one of the automated system design tools available.

The systems design also describes the data to be input, calculated, or stored. Individual data
items and calculation procedures are written in detail. Designers select file structures and storage
device, such as magnetic disk, magnetic tape, or even paper files. The procedures they write tell how
to process the data and produce the output.

The documents containing the design specifications portray the design in many different
ways – charts, tables, and special symbols. The detailed design information is passed on to the
programming staff so that software development can begin.

Designers are responsible for providing programmers with complete and clearly outlined
software specifications. As programming starts, designers are available to answer questions, clarify
fuzzy areas, and handle problems that confront the programmers when using the design
specifications.

Development of Software

Software developers may install (or modify and then install) purchased software of they may write
new, custom-designed programs. The choice depends on the cost of each option, the time available to
write software, and the availability of programmers. Typically, in larger organizations computer
programmers (or combination analyst – programmers) are part of the permanent professional staff, as
we learned in the vignette at the beginning of the chapter. In smaller firms, without programmers,
outside programming services may be retained on a contractual basis.

Programmers are also responsible for documenting the program, providing an explanation of
how and why certain procedures are coded in specific ways. Documentation is essential to test the
program and carry on maintenance once the application has been installed.

Systems Testing
During systems testing, the system is used experimentally to ensure that the software does not fail,
i.e., that will run according to its specifications and in the way users expect. Special test data are
input for processing, and the results examined. A limited number of users may be allowed to use the
system so analysts can see whether they try to use it in unforeseen (unexpected) ways. It is preferable
to discover any surprises before the organization implements the system and depends on it.

In many organizations, testing is performed by persons other than those who write the
original programs to ensure more compete and unbiased testing and more reliable software.

Implementation and Evaluation

Implementation is the process of having systems personnel check out and put new equipment into
use, train users, install the new application, and construct any files of data needed to use it.

Depending on the size of the organization that will be involved