Flashcards Systems Analysis & Design Midterm Study Guide

Information Technology (IT)

The combination of hardware, software, and services used to manage, communicate, access, and share information.

Systems Analysis and Design

A step-by-step process for developing high-quality information systems.

System

A set of related components that produces specific results.

Information System

A combination of technology, people, data, and processes used to perform business functions and produce useful results.

Systems Analyst

A professional who investigates, analyzes, designs, develops, installs, evaluates, and maintains information systems that support business requirements.

Five Components of an Information System

Hardware, Software, Data, Processes, and People/Stakeholders.

Hardware

Physical equipment used by the information system, such as computers, servers, keyboards, printers, networks, and storage.

Software

Programs that control hardware and produce desired results, such as operating systems, applications, and database software.

Data

Raw facts that the system stores and transforms into useful information.

Processes

Tasks, rules, procedures, and business functions performed to achieve results.

People / Stakeholders

People who use, manage, develop, support, or are affected by the system.

Stakeholder

A person or group with an interest in an information system, including people who use, manage, develop, support, or are affected by it.

End Users

People who directly interact with the system.

Managers

People responsible for direction, resources, decisions, and performance.

IT Staff

Analysts, programmers, database administrators, network administrators, and other technical personnel.

E-commerce

Internet-based commerce.

B2C

Business-to-customer; a business sells products or services directly to consumers.

B2B

Business-to-business; a business provides products, services, or transactions to another business.

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)

Electronic exchange of standardized business information between organizations.

Supply Chain Management (SCM)

Management of the companies, materials, services, information, and activities involved in providing a product or service to customers.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Systems and practices used to integrate and manage customer-related events and transactions.

Business Profile

An overview of an organization's mission, functions, organization, products, services, customers, suppliers, competitors, constraints, and future direction.

Business Process

A specific set of transactions, events, and results that can be described and documented.

Business Process Model (BPM)

A graphical representation of one or more business processes.

Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN)

A standard graphical notation using shapes and symbols to represent events, processes, workflows, and related business activities.

Workflow

The sequence in which activities or tasks are performed to complete a process.

Enterprise Computing

Systems that support company-wide operations and data-management requirements.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

Systems that provide integrated support for users and managers across an organization.

Transaction Processing (TP) System

A system that processes data generated by day-to-day business operations, such as orders, accounts receivable, and warranty claims.

User Productivity System

Technology that improves employee productivity, such as email, word processing, video conferencing, and related tools.

Groupware

Technology that enables data sharing and coordination of team efforts.

Systems Integration

Combining capabilities such as transaction processing, business support, knowledge management, and user productivity into connected systems.

Knowledge Worker

An employee whose work involves specialized knowledge and information, often requiring analytical or professional skills.

Top Managers

Organizational level focused on long-range strategic planning and organizational direction.

Middle Managers / Knowledge Workers

Organizational level providing direction, resources, analysis, and performance feedback.

Supervisors / Team Leaders

Organizational level that oversees day-to-day operations.

Operational Employees

Organizational level that performs day-to-day operational work.

Modeling

Producing a graphical representation of a concept or process that developers can analyze, test, and modify.

Prototype

An early working version of an information system used to test concepts, inputs, outputs, and user interfaces.

CASE Tools

Computer-Aided Systems Engineering / Computer-Aided Software Engineering tools that support systems development, methodologies, documentation, and sometimes code generation.

Quality Assurance (QA)

Review and testing of applications and system changes to verify specifications and software quality standards.

Structured Analysis

A traditional, systematic approach using models and SDLC phases where processes and data are modeled in a structured way.

Object-Oriented Analysis (O-O)

An approach that models real-world people, things, transactions, and events as objects combining data and processes.

Agile

An incremental development approach with repeated feedback, continuous adjustment, and flexibility to changing requirements.

Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

A structured framework describing the major activities involved in planning, analyzing, designing, implementing, and supporting an information system.

Waterfall Model

A sequential development approach in which major phases are completed in order, with deliverables moving from one phase to the next.

Deliverable

A documented or tangible result produced during a development phase.

Spiral Model

A series of iterations or revisions based on user feedback.

Vertical System

A system focused deeply on a specific industry or niche rather than serving a broad range of industries, such as software designed specifically for hospitals.

Business Case

The reasons or justification for a proposed project or system, considering mission, objectives, costs, benefits, and risks.

Strategic Planning

The process of identifying long-term organizational goals, strategies, and resources.

Mission Statement

Defines what the organization does, its objectives, and how it intends to achieve those objectives.

Vision Statement

Describes where the organization aspires to go in the future.

Critical Success Factor (CSF)

A high-priority objective or factor that is especially important to achieving organizational success.

SWOT Analysis

An analysis of Strengths and Weaknesses (internal factors) and Opportunities and Threats (external factors).

Systems Request

A formal way of asking for IT support that commonly starts the systems development process.

Six Main Reasons for Systems Requests

Stronger controls, reduced cost, more information, better performance, improved services, and more support for new products/services.

Systems Review Committee

A group, often used in larger organizations, that evaluates systems requests and helps establish project priorities.

Operational Feasibility

Asks whether people and the organization will actually use the system effectively after it is developed (USE).

Technical Feasibility

Asks whether the organization has or can obtain the hardware, software, network, skills, and technical resources (TECHNOLOGY).

Economic Feasibility

Asks whether projected benefits outweigh the total cost of ownership (MONEY / TCO).

Schedule Feasibility

Asks whether the project can be completed and implemented in an acceptable time frame (TIME).

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

The total cost of acquiring, operating, supporting, and maintaining a system over its relevant life, including indirect costs.

Tangible Cost

A cost that can be measured in dollars.

Intangible Cost

A cost that can significantly affect performance but is difficult to assign an exact dollar value.

Tangible Benefit

A benefit that can be measured financially, such as reduced expenses or increased revenue.

Intangible Benefit

A benefit that matters but is difficult to measure precisely in dollars, such as improved morale.

Discretionary Project

A project management has a choice about implementing.

Nondiscretionary Project

A project management does not have a choice about implementing, often because of legal or regulatory conditions.

Six Steps of a Preliminary Investigation

1. Understand problem/opportunity, 2. Define scope/constraints, 3. Perform fact-finding, 4. Analyze project data, 5. Evaluate feasibility, 6. Present results and recommendations.

Project Scope

The specific boundaries or extent of what the project will and will not include.

Constraint

A requirement or condition that the system or project must satisfy, or an outcome it must achieve.

Project Creep

The gradual expansion of a project's scope without specific authorization.

Fishbone Diagram

A graphical tool used to identify possible causes of a problem and dig toward underlying causes rather than only symptoms (also called Ishikawa or cause-and-effect diagram).

Pareto Chart

A chart that displays causes of a problem in priority order so an analyst can focus on the most important causes first.

XY / Scatter Chart

A chart used to examine correlation between variables; a lack of correlation suggests the variables may be independent.

Project Management

Planning, scheduling, monitoring and controlling, and reporting on information-system development.

Project Triangle

The relationship among cost, scope, and time where changing one side can affect the others.

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

A breakdown of a project into smaller, manageable tasks and activities that can be planned, assigned, estimated, and monitored.

Task / Activity

Any work with a beginning and an end that uses resources such as people, time, or money.

Milestone / Event

A recognizable reference point used to monitor project progress.

Predecessor

A task that must be completed before another task can begin.

Successor

A task that follows another task in the dependency sequence.

Gantt Chart

A horizontal bar chart showing tasks on the vertical axis and time on the horizontal axis to display planned and actual progress.

PERT/CPM Chart

A network representation showing task relationships, dependencies, timing, and critical path for complex projects.

Critical Path

The series of tasks that, if delayed, will affect the overall project completion date (the longest dependent path with zero slack).

Slack

The amount of time a task can be delayed without delaying overall project completion.

Project-Manager / PERT Formula

A = (B + 4P + W) / 6, where A is expected duration, B is best-case, P is probable-case, and W is worst-case.

Structured Walk-Through

A review of a project team member's work by other team members, occurring throughout the SDLC.

Risk Management

The process of identifying, analyzing, responding to, and continuously monitoring risks that could affect a project.

Qualitative Risk Analysis

Evaluates risk by estimating probability and degree of impact.

Quantitative Risk Analysis

Estimates actual impact in terms such as dollars, time, scope, or quality.

Requirements Modeling

Using fact-finding and analysis to describe the current system and identify requirements for the new system.

Joint Application Development (JAD)

A structured approach that brings users and stakeholders into the development process as active participants for team-based fact-finding.

Rapid Application Development (RAD)

A group-oriented development methodology that uses prototyping and user involvement to reduce development time and expense.

Scrum

An Agile framework emphasizing teamwork, accountability, time-boxed activities, and iterative progress toward a defined goal.

Product Owner

The Scrum role associated with representing product needs and priorities.

Scrum Master / Facilitator

The role that facilitates the Scrum process and helps the team work effectively.

Functional Decomposition Diagram (FDD)

A top-down representation that breaks a business function or process into lower-level functions and subprocesses.

Data Flow Diagram (DFD)

A graphical model showing how data enters, moves through, is stored by, and leaves a system.