System

Integration
and
Architecture 2

Prepared by:

RAOUL REY G. FLORES

Faculty, Institute of Information and Computer Studies
 Raoul Rey G. Flores
Elective 4: System Integration and Architecture 2 Professor
NIPSC-IICS-BSInfoTech
Second Semester 2020-2021

Course Title System Integration and Architecture 2

The course introduces modern approaches to enterprise system integration.

Course Its objective is to survey principles and methods of software architecture in
Description an enterprise environment. In addition to technical aspects, the course
covers organizational aspects of enterprise system integration, including
architecture governance and Business-IT alignment.

Credit Hours 3hrs/wk

Pre-requisites
Program
Objectives

Learning Outcomes
 Summarize and analyze the data from a usability test and recommend appropriate actions.
 Construct an architectural model of complex system using an architectural framework,
 Develop a component and demonstrate its integration into an existing environment

Module One
THE SYSTEMS ANALYST AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS
DEVELOPMENT
Introduction
 In this module, you shall be introduces the role of the systems analyst in information systems
development projects. First, the fundamental four-stage systems development life cycle (planning,
analysis, design, and implementation) is established as the basic framework for the IS development
process. Next, ways in which organizations identify and initiate potential projects are discussed. The first
steps in the process are to identify a project that will deliver value to the business and to create a system
request that provides the basic information about the proposed system. Next, the analysts perform a
feasibility analysis to determine the technical, economic, and organizational feasibility of the system.

Read the Discussion and answer the questions that follow.

Learning Objectives:
 Explain the role played in information systems development by the systems analyst.
 Describe the fundamental systems development life cycle and its four phases.
 Explain how organizations identify IS development projects.
 Explain the importance of linking the information system to business needs.
 Be able to create a system request.
 Describe technical, economic, and organizational feasibility assessment.
 Be able to perform a feasibility analysis.

Lesson 1: The Systems Analyst & Systems Development Life Cycle

Introduction
The systems development life cycle (SDLC) is the process of determining how an information
system (IS) can support business needs, designing the system, building it, and delivering it to users. If you
have taken a programming class or have programmed on your own, this probably sounds pretty simple. In
the real world, however, it is not so easy.
In 2010, an estimated $2.4 trillion was spent by organizations and governments on IT hardware,
software, and services worldwide. This spending level was projected to increase by 3.5% in 2011.1
Unfortunately, a study conducted in 2008 found success is “improbable” in 68% of technology projects.2
Many of the systems that aren’t totally abandoned are delivered to the users significantly late, cost far
more than expected, and have fewer features than originally planned.
A 2009 study attempting to quantify the costs of this failure rate estimated a toll on the global
economy of $6.2 trillion. While this specific outcome has been questioned by some, the point remains that
the cost of IT project failures is staggering both in terms of the proportion of projects that fail and the
costs of those failures.
Today, both businesses and governments experience embarrassing and costly errors in their
information systems.
The key person in the SDLC is the systems analyst, who analyzes the business situation,
identifies opportunities for improvements, and designs an information system to implement the
improvements. Many systems analysts view their profession as one of the most interesting, exciting, and
challenging jobs around. As a systems analyst, you will work as a team with a variety of people, including
business and technical experts. You will feel the satisfaction of seeing systems that you designed and
developed make a significant positive business impact, while knowing that your unique skills helped
make that happen.
In this lesson, we first introduce the role of the systems analyst in information systems
development projects. We discuss the wide range of skills needed to be successful in this role, and we
explain various specialties that systems analysts may develop. We then introduce the basic SDLC that
information systems projects follow. This life cycle is common to all projects and serves as a framework
for understanding how information systems projects are accomplished.

Discussion

Anyone knows what is programming? How about Programmer? Can you differentiate between a
Programmer and a system analyst?

The systems analyst plays a key role in information systems development projects. The systems
analyst works closely with all project team members so that the team develops the right system in an
effective way. Systems analysts must understand how to apply technology to solve business problems. In
addition, systems analysts may serve as change agents who identify the organizational improvements
needed, design systems to implement those changes, and train and motivate others to use the systems.
Systems Analyst Skills
New information systems introduce change to the organization and its people.
Leading a successful organizational change effort is one of the most difficult jobs that someone can do.
Understanding what to change, knowing how to change it, and convincing others of the need for change
require a wide range of skills. These skills can be broken down into six major categories: technical,
business, analytical, interpersonal, management, and ethical.
Analysts must have the technical skills to understand the organization’s existing technical
environment, the new system’s technology foundation, and the way in which both can be fit into an
integrated technical solution. Business skills are required to understand how IT can be applied to business
situations and to ensure that the IT delivers real business value. Analysts are continuous problem solvers
at both the project and the organizational level, and they put their analytical skills to the test regularly.
Often, analysts need to communicate effectively, one-on-one with users and business managers
(who often have little experience with technology) and with programmers (who often have more technical
expertise than the analyst does). They manage people with whom they work, and they must manage the
pressure and risks associated with unclear situations.
Finally, analysts must deal fairly, honestly, and ethically with other project team members,
managers, and system users. Analysts often deal with confidential information or information that, if
shared with others, could cause harm (e.g., dissent among employees); it is important for analysts to
maintain confidence and trust with all people.

Systems Analyst Roles

As organizations and technology have become more complex, most large organizations now build
project teams that incorporate several analysts with different, but complementary, roles. In smaller
organizations, one person may play several of these roles. Here we briefly describe these roles and how
they contribute to a systems development project.
The systems analyst role focuses on the IS issues surrounding the system.
This person develops ideas and suggestions for ways that IT can support and improve business processes,
helps design new business processes supported by IT, designs the new information system, and ensures
that all IS standards are maintained. The systems analyst will have significant training and experience in
analysis and design and in programming.
The business analyst role focuses on the business issues surrounding the system.
This person helps to identify the business value that the system will create, develops ideas for improving
the business processes, and helps design new business processes and policies. The business analyst will
have business training and experience, plus knowledge of analysis and design.
The requirements analyst role focuses on eliciting the requirements from the stakeholders
associated with the new system. As more organizations recognize the critical role that complete and
accurate requirements play in the ultimate success of the system, this specialty has gradually evolved.
Requirements analysts understand the business well, are excellent communicators, and are highly skilled
in an array of requirements elicitation techniques.
The infrastructure analyst role focuses on technical issues surrounding the ways the system will
interact with the organization’s technical infrastructure (hardware, software, networks, and databases).
This person ensures that the new information system conforms to organizational standards and helps to
identify infrastructure changes that will be needed to support the system. The infrastructure analyst will
have significant training and experience in networking, database administration, and various hardware
and software products. Over time, an experienced infrastructure analyst may assume the role of software
architect, who takes a holistic view of the organization’s entire IT environment and guides application
design decisions within that context.
The change management analyst role focuses on the people and management issues surrounding
the system installation. This person ensures that adequate documentation and support are available to
users, provides user training on the new system, and develops strategies to overcome resistance to change.
The change management analyst will have significant training and experience in organizational behavior
and specific expertise in change management.
The project manager role ensures that the project is completed on time and within budget and that
the system delivers the expected value to the organization.
The project manager is often a seasoned systems analyst who, through training and experience, has
acquired specialized project management knowledge and skills.
More will be said about the project manager in the next module.
The roles and the names used
to describe them may vary from
organization to organization. In
addition, there is no single typical
career path through these professional
roles. Some people may enter the
field as a more technically-oriented
programmer/analyst. Others may
enter as a business-oriented
functional specialist with an interest
in applying IT to solve business
problems. As shown in Figure 1.1,
those who are interested in the broad
field of information systems
development may follow a variety of
Figure 1.1 Career Paths for
paths during their career.
System Developers
SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT LIFE CYCLE
In many ways, building an information system is similar to building a house. First, the owner
describes the vision for the house to the developer. Second, this idea is transformed into sketches and
drawings that are shown to the owner and refined (often, through several drawings, each improving on the
other) until the owner agrees that the pictures depict what he or she wants. Third, a set of detailed
blueprints is developed that presents much more specific information about the house (e.g., the layout of
rooms, placement of plumbing fixtures and electrical outlets, and so on). Finally, the house is built
following the blueprints—and often with some changes and decisions made by the owner as the house is
erected.
Building an information system using the SDLC follows a similar set of four fundamental phases:
planning, analysis, design, and implementation (Figure 1.2). Each phase is itself composed of a series of
steps, which rely on techniques that produce deliverables (specific documents and files that explain
various elements of the system).

For now, there are two important points to understand about the SDLC. First, you should get a
general sense of the phases and steps that IS projects move through and some of the techniques that
produce certain deliverables. In this section, we provide an overview of the phases, steps, and some of the
techniques that are used to accomplish the steps. Second, it is important to understand that the SDLC is a
process of gradual refinement. The deliverables produced in the analysis phase provide a general idea
what the new system will do. These deliverables are used as input to the design phase, which then refines
them to produce a set of deliverables that describes in much more detailed terms exactly how the system
should be built.
These deliverables in turn are used in the implementation phase to guide the creation of the actual system.
Each phase refines and elaborates on the work done previously.

The planning phase is the fundamental process of understanding why an information system
should be built and determining how the project team will go about building it.
The planning phase has two steps:
During project initiation, the system’s business value to the organization is identified (how will it lower
costs or increase revenues?) Most ideas for new systems come from outside the IS area (from the
marketing department, accounting department, etc.) in the form of a system request.
During project management, the project manager creates a work plan, staffs the project, and puts
techniques in place to help the project team control and direct the project through the entire SDLC. The
deliverable for project management is a project plan that describes how the project team will go about
developing the system.
The analysis phase answers the questions of who will use the system, what the system will do,
and where and when it will be used. During this phase, the project team investigates any current
system(s), identifies improvement opportunities, and develops a concept for the new system. This phase
has three steps:
1. An analysis strategy is developed to guide the project team’s efforts. Such a strategy usually includes a
study of the current system (called the as-is system) and its problems, and envisioning ways to design a
new system (called the to-be system).
2. The next step is requirements gathering (e.g., through interviews, group workshops, or questionnaires).
The analysis of this information—in conjunction with input from the project sponsor and many other
people—leads to the development of a concept for a new system. The system concept is then used as a
basis to develop a set of business analysis models that describes how the business will operate if the new
system were developed. The set typically includes models that represent the data and processes necessary
to support the underlying business process.
3. The analyses, system concept, and models are combined into a document called the system proposal,
which is presented to the project sponsor and other key decision makers (e.g., members of the approval
committee) who will decide whether the project should continue to move forward.

The design phase decides how the system will operate in terms of the hardware, software, and
network infrastructure that will be in place; the user interface, forms, and reports that will be used; and
the specific programs, databases, and files that will be needed. Although most of the strategic decisions
about the system are made in the development of the system concept during the analysis phase, the steps
in the design phase determine exactly how the system will operate. The design phase has four steps:
1. The design strategy must be determined. This clarifies whether the system will be developed by the
company’s own programmers, whether its development will be outsourced to another firm (usually a
consulting firm), or whether the company will buy an existing software package.
2. This leads to the development of the basic architecture design for the system that describes the
hardware, software, and network infrastructure that will be used. In most cases, the system will add to
or change the infrastructure that already exists in the organization. The interface design specifies how
the users will move through the system (e.g., by navigation methods such as menus and on-screen
buttons) and the forms and reports that the system will use.
3. The database and file specifications are developed. These define exactly what data will be stored and
where they will be stored.
4. The analyst team develops the program design, which defines the programs that need to be written and
exactly what each program will do.

The final phase in the SDLC is the implementation phase, during which the system is actually built (or
purchased, in the case of a packaged software design and installed). This is the phase that usually gets the
most attention, because for most systems it is the longest and most expensive single part of the
development process. This phase has three steps:
1. System construction is the first step. The system is built and tested to ensure that it performs as
designed. Since the cost of fixing bugs can be immense, testing is one of the most critical steps in
implementation. Most organizations spend more time and attention on testing than on writing the
programs in the first place.
2. The system is installed. Installation is the process by which the old system is turned off and the new
one is turned on. There are several approaches that may be used to convert from the old to the new
system. One of the most important aspects of conversion is the training plan, used to teach users how
to use the new system and help manage the changes caused by the new system.
3. The analyst team establishes a support plan for the system. This plan usually includes a formal or
informal post-implementation review, as well as a systematic way for identifying major and minor
changes needed for the system.

SUMMARY
The systems analyst is a key person in the development of information systems. The systems
analyst helps to analyze the business situation, identify opportunities for improvements, and design an
information system that adds value to the organization.
The systems analyst serves as a change agent, and this complex responsibility requires a wide range of
skills, including technical, business, analytical, interpersonal, management, and ethical. In some
organizations, systems analysts may develop a specialization such as business analyst, requirements
analyst, infrastructure analyst, change management analyst, or project manager.

All system development projects follow essentially the same fundamental process called the
system development life cycle (SDLC). The SDLC starts with a planning phase in which the project team
identifies the business value of the system, conducts a feasibility analysis, and plans the project. The
second phase is the analysis phase, in which the team develops an analysis strategy, gathers information,
and builds a set of analysis models. In the next phase, the design phase, the team develops the design
strategy, the physical design, architecture design, interface design, database and file specifications, and
program design. In the final phase, implementation, the system is built, installed, and maintained.

Assessment:
Your Assessment will be uploaded Online in your Google Classroom.
Your assessment in Module 1 lesson 1 will be schedule on April 23, 2021. Be ready 9:30 AM and will
end/closed automatically at specified time.
Thank you… Stay Safe…

REFERENCE

 DENNIS, A., WIXOM, B. H., ROTH, R. M., SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN Fifth
Edition, Copyright © 2012, 2009 John Wiley & Sons.
 Inc.http://www.objectwatch.com/whitepapers/ITComplexityWhitePaper.pdf; accessed February,
2011.
 http://www.zdnet.com/blog/projectfailures/critique-62-trillion-global-IT-failure-stats/7695?
tag=mantle_skin;content; accessed February, 2011.