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Information System

A system made of hardware software data processes and people that transforms data into useful information

Five Components of an Information System

Hardware; software; data; processes; people

Systems Analyst

An IT professional who helps plan analyze develop and maintain information systems and connects business needs with technology

B2C (Business-to-Consumer)

A business sells products or services directly to consumers

B2B (Business-to-Business)

A business sells products or services to another business

Structured Analysis

A traditional predictive development approach that follows planned phases and focuses on processes

SDLC (Systems Development Life Cycle)

The overall process used to plan analyze design implement and support an information system

Five SDLC Phases

Systems planning; systems analysis; systems design; systems implementation; systems support and security

Object-Oriented Analysis (O-O)

A development approach that views a system as objects that combine data and processes

Agile Methods

Development methods that build a system incrementally through short iterations prototypes and frequent user feedback

Prototype

An early working version of a system used to test ideas requirements inputs outputs and interfaces

CASE (Computer-Aided Systems Engineering)

Software tools that help analysts model document develop and maintain information systems

Strategic Planning

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

SWOT Analysis

Analysis of Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats

SWOT Internal vs External

Strengths and Weaknesses are internal; Opportunities and Threats are external

Business Case

The justification for a proposed project and why it makes business sense

Systems Request

A formal request for a new system change or improvement

Six Reasons for Systems Requests

Stronger controls; reduced cost; more information; better performance; improved service; support for new products and services

Feasibility Study

An investigation used to determine whether a proposed project is practical and worthwhile

Operational Feasibility

Whether the proposed system will work effectively for users and the organization

Economic Feasibility

Whether expected benefits are worth the estimated costs

Technical Feasibility

Whether the organization has or can obtain the technology and technical skills needed

Schedule Feasibility

Whether the project can be completed within an acceptable time frame

TCO (Total Cost of Ownership)

The total cost of a system including acquisition support maintenance and indirect ongoing costs

Preliminary Investigation

An initial study of a systems request used to understand the problem and recommend what should happen next

Project Scope

The specific boundaries of what a project will and will not include

Project Creep

The gradual unauthorized expansion of project scope

Project Management

The process of planning scheduling monitoring controlling and reporting on an information systems project

Project Triangle

The relationship among cost scope and time; changing one usually affects the others

WBS (Work Breakdown Structure)

A project broken down into smaller manageable tasks

Gantt Chart

A horizontal bar chart that shows project tasks and their timing

PERT/CPM

A network diagram technique used to show task relationships dependencies timing and the critical path

Milestone

A major reference point used to monitor project progress

Three Task Pattern Types

Dependent tasks; multiple successor tasks; multiple predecessor tasks

Dependent Task

A task that cannot start until another task is completed

Predecessor vs Successor Task

A predecessor comes before; a successor depends on and follows the predecessor

Critical Path

The sequence of tasks with no slack time; delaying one delays the whole project

Slack Time

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

Structured Walk-Through

A peer review of a project team member work used to check quality

Risk Management

The process of identifying evaluating tracking and controlling risks to reduce their impact

Brooks' Law

Adding more people to a late software project can make the project even later

System Requirement

A characteristic or feature that must be included in a system to satisfy business needs and users

Functional Requirement

A statement describing a service or function the system must provide

Non-Functional Requirement

A statement describing an operational constraint or quality attribute such as speed capacity or availability

Requirements Engineering

The process of gathering requirements representing them and validating and verifying them

JAD (Joint Application Development)

A team-based fact-finding technique where users managers and IT staff work together to define system requirements

RAD (Rapid Application Development)

A fast team-based development method that uses heavy user involvement and prototyping across the full development process

JAD vs RAD

JAD focuses mainly on gathering and defining requirements; RAD goes further and produces the working information system

Scrum

A popular agile project management technique based on short intense team interactions and defined roles

Fact-Finding / Requirements Elicitation

The process of gathering information and requirements about the current and proposed system

Fact-Finding Questions

Who; what; where; when; how; and always ask why

Open vs Closed vs Range-of-Response Questions

Open-ended allows broad answers; closed-ended limits answers; range-of-response asks the person to choose from a scale or set of options

Hawthorne Effect

People may change their behavior or become more productive because they know they are being observed

FDD (Functional Decomposition Diagram)

A top-down diagram that breaks a business function into smaller functions and processes

UML (Unified Modeling Language)

A widely used modeling language for visualizing and documenting systems and requirements

Use Case Diagram

A UML diagram that shows interactions between users and the information system

Validation vs Verification

Validation asks whether the correct requirements are stated; verification asks whether the requirements are stated correctly

Traceability

The ability to follow a requirement back to its origin and forward through design code and testing