System Analysis and Design - Planning

Project Initiation

  • Begins when someone identifies a need to improve an existing system or a new system is needed to improve business operations.

  • Most ideas come from outside the IT department.

  • Sub-steps:

    • System Request

    • Reasons for System Request (new or enhancement)

    • Sources of System Request

System Request

  • A formal way of asking for assistance from the information systems department.

  • Documents the business reasons for building the system and the value that the system is expected to provide.

  • Might propose:

    • Enhancements for an existing system

    • Correction of problems

    • The development of an entire new information system

Systems Request Forms

  • Streamlines the request process.

  • Ensures consistency.

  • Easy to understand.

  • Includes clear instructions.

  • Indicates what supporting documents are needed.

  • Most companies use online system request forms that users submitted electronically.

Systems Review Committee

  • Most large companies use a systems review committee to evaluate systems request.

  • Advantages:

    • Broader viewpoint.

    • Less bias.

  • Disadvantages:

    • Action on requests must wait until the committee meets.

    • Members might favor projects requested by their own departments.

    • Internal political differences could delay important decisions.

Reasons for System Change Request

  • Improve service

    • Can check balance

    • Can register online

  • Better performance

    • slow to respond to data inquiries

    • unable to support company growth

    • system becomes obsolete when new h/w is introduced

  • More information

    • May not be able to analyze market trends

  • Stronger controls

    • Passwords / encryption

  • Reduced costs

    • Expensive to operate & maintain old sys

    • New system more cost effective & better support for long term objectives

Preliminary Investigation Overview

  • A systems analyst conducts a preliminary investigation to study the systems request and recommend specific action.

  • The analyst gather facts about the problem or opportunity, project scope and constraints, project benefits and estimated development time and cost.

  • The end product of the preliminary investigation is a report to the management.

Problem Statement

  • Defines the problems and objectives of the system.

  • Contains a problem statement, summarized in a paragraph or two.

  • Followed by a series of issues, or major, independent pieces of the problem.

Project Objectives

  • Followed by a series of objectives, or goals that match the issues point by point.

  • Issues are the current situation; objectives are the desired situation.

Defining Project Objectives

  • The relative importance of the issues or objectives must be determined.

  • One technique is to ask the users to assign a weight for each issue or objective of the first draft of the problem definition.

  • Each objective is used to create user requirement.

Summary

  • The analyst first defines the problems and objectives of the system.

  • System Change Request is the starting point for modifying an information systems.

  • A systems analyst conducts a preliminary investigation to study the systems request and recommend specific action.

Defining Project Scope

  • Determining the project scope means defining the specific boundaries, or extent, of the project.

Defining Project Scope

  • Along with defining the scope of the project, you need to identify any constraints on the system - requirement or condition that the system must satisfy or an outcome that the system must achieve.

  • A constraint can involve hardware, software, time, policy, law, or cost.

Gantt Chart

  • A horizontal bar chart that graphically displays the time relationships between the different tasks in a project.

  • Horizontal axis : Time and duration

  • Vertical axis : Activities - arranged from top to bottom in the order of their start date.

Gantt Chart

  • black bars – summary tasks – project phases

  • red bars – tasks that are critical to the schedule

  • blue bars – tasks that are not critical to the schedule

  • red arrows – prerequisites between two critical tasks

  • blue arrows – prerequisites between two non-critical tasks

  • teal diamonds – milestones – signifies the end of some significant task / deliverable

Gantt Chart

  • WBS – Work breakdown structure

    • The process of dividing the project into manageable tasks and logically ordering them to ensure a smooth transition between tasks

    • hierarchical decomposition of project into phases, activities & tasks

Keys to project success

  • Successful systems must :

    • Satisfy business requirements

    • Meet users’ needs

    • Stay within budget

    • Be completed on time

Some reasons for project failure

  • Unclear requirements, targets, or scope

  • Shortcuts or sloppy work

  • Poor design choices

  • Insufficient testing or test procedures

  • Lack of software change control

  • Changes in culture, funding or objectives

  • Unrealistic cost estimates

  • Poor monitoring and control of progress

  • Inadequate reaction to early signs of problems

  • Failure to recognize activity independencies

  • Personality conflicts and employee turnover

Preliminary Investigation Overview

  • A systems analyst conducts a preliminary investigation to study the systems request and recommend specific action

  • The analyst gather facts about the problem or opportunity, project scope and constraints, project benefits and estimated development time and cost

  • The end product of the preliminary investigation is a report to the management

Preliminary Investigation Overview

  • Interaction with Managers and Users

    • Meet with key managers, users, and IT staff to describe the project, explain responsibilities, answer questions, and invite comments

    • Focus on improvements and enhancements, not problems

Preliminary Investigation Overview

  • One or more systems analyst investigate a systems request to determine the true nature and scope of the problem and recommend whether it is worthwhile to continue the project

    • purpose :

    • gather enough information to determine if the information or problems specified in the systems request warrant

    • conducting subsequent phases of the SDLC

Preliminary Investigation Activities

  • Present Results and Recommendations to Management

    • Typical Report Includes:

    • Introduction

    • Systems Request Summary

    • Findings

    • Case for Action

    • Project Roles

    • Time and Costs Estimates

    • Expected Benefits

    • Appendix