Topic 1 SAD System Analysis Fundamentals
System Analysis Fundamentals
□ Information System
□ Types of systems
□ Role of the System Analyst
□ Understanding Organisational Style
□ Determining Feasibility
□ Activity Planning, Managing Activities and Control
□ Information System
An information system can be defined technically as a set of interrelated components that collect
(or retrieve), process, store and distribute information to support decision making and control
operation in an organisation. Information systems may also help managers and workers to
analyse problems, to visualise complex subjects and to create new products.
Information mean data that have been shaped into a form that is meaningful and useful to human
beings. Data, in contrast, are streams of raw facts representing events occurring in organisations
or the physical environment before they have been organised and arranged into a form that
people can understand and use.
There are three main activities in an information system:
- Input captures or collects raw data from within the organisation or from its external
environment.
- Processing converts this raw input into a more meaningful form.
- Output transfers the processed information to the people who will use it or to the
activities for which it will be used.
Information System Overview
Information systems are more than computers. Effective information system requires an
understanding of the organisation, management, and information technologies. All information
systems can be described as organisational and management solutions to challenges posed by the
environment that will help create values for the firm. Figure (1.1) shows an overview of
information system.
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Topic 1 SAD System Analysis Fundamentals
□ Types of Systems
Information systems are developed for different purposes, depending on the needs of the
business.
Transaction Processing System (TPS)
TPS are computerised information systems that were developed to process large amounts of data
for routine business transactions such as payroll and inventory. A TPS eliminates the tedium of
necessary operational transactions and reduces the time once required to perform them manually,
although people may still input data to computerised system.
Office Automation System (OAS)
OAS supports data workers, who do not usually create new knowledge but rather analyse
information so as to transform data or manipulate it in some way before sharing it with, or
formally disseminating it throughout, the organisation and, sometimes, beyond.
Management Information System (MIS)
MIS are computerised information systems that work because of the purposeful interaction
between people and computers. By requiring people, software, and hardware to function in
concert, MIS supports a broader spectrum of organisational tasks than TPS, including decision
analysis and decision making.
Expert System
Expert systems are a very special class of information system that uses artificial intelligence to
effectively captures and uses the knowledge of an expert for solving a particular problem
experienced in an organisation.
Other information systems include Group Decision Support System (GDSS), Executive Support
System (ESS), Enterprise Resource Planning System (ERPS) etc.
□ Roles of the System Analyst
The system analyst systematically assesses how businesses function by examining the input and
process of data and output of information with the intent of improving organisational processes.
The analyst plays many roles, sometimes balancing several at the same time. The THREE
primary roles of the system analyst are consultant, supporting expert, and agent of change.
System Analyst as Consultant
The system analyst frequently acts as a system consultant to a business and thus may be hired
specifically to address information systems issues within a business. Such hiring can be an
advantage because outside consultants can bring with them a fresh perspective that other
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Topic 1 SAD System Analysis Fundamentals
members of an organisation do not process. It also means that outside analysts are at a
disadvantage because the true organisational culture can never be known to an outsider.
System Analyst as Supporting Expert
Another role that may be required for system analyst to play is that of supporting expert within a
business where he/or she is regularly employed in some systems capacity. In this role the analyst
draws on professional expertise concerning computer hardware and software and their uses in the
business. This work is often not a full-blown systems project, but rather it entails a small
modification or decision affecting a single department.
System Analyst as Agent of Change
The most comprehensive and responsible role that the system analyst takes on is that of agent of
change, whether internal or external to the business. A system analyst is an agent of change
whenever he/or she perform any activities in the system development life cycle. An agent of
change can be defined as a person who serves as a catalyst for change, develops a plan for
change, and works with others in facilitating that change.
□ Understanding Organisational Style
An organisation is a stable, formal social structure that takes resources from the environment
and processes them to produce outputs. Capital and labour are primary production factors
provided by the environment. The organisation transforms these inputs into products and
services in a production function. The products and services are consumed by the environment.
Common Features of Organisations
All organisations develop standard operating procedures, politics, and cultures even though they
may have unique characteristics depend on the type of organisation.
Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)
Organisations that survive over time become very efficient, producing a limited number of
products and services by some standard routines. These standard routines become codified into
reasonably precise rules, procedures, and practices called standard operating procedures (SOP)
that are developed to cope with virtually all expected situation.
Organisational Politics
People in organisations occupy different positions with different specialties, concerns, and
perspectives. As a result, they naturally have divergent viewpoints about how resources, rewards,
and punishments should be distributed. These differences matter to both managers and
employees, and they result in political struggle, competition, and conflict within every
organisation.
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Topic 1 SAD System Analysis Fundamentals
Organisational Cultures
All organisations have bedrock, unassailable, unquestioned assumptions that define their goals
and products. Organisational culture is this set of fundamental assumptions about what products
the organisation should produce, how it should produce them, where, and for whom. Generally,
these cultural assumptions are taken totally for granted and are rarely publicly announced or
spoken about.
□ Determining Feasibility
System projects are initiated by many different sources for many reasons. Some of the projects
suggested will survive various stages of evaluation to be worked on by system development
team, others will not and should not get that far. Business professionals suggest systems projects
for TWO broad reasons:
1. to experience problems that lend themselves to system solutions,
2. to recognise opportunities for improvement through upgrading, altering, or installing
new system when they occur.
Identifying Problems
Problems surface in many different ways. One way of conceptualising what problems are and
how they arise is to think of them as situations where goals have never been met or are no longer
being met. A summary of symptoms of problems and approaches useful in problem detection is
outlined below.
To identify problems Look for these specific signs
Check output against ● too many errors
performance criteria ● work completed slowly
● work done incorrectly
● work done incompletely
● work not done at all
__________________________________________________
Observe behaviour of ● high absenteeism
employee ● high job dissatisfaction
● high job turnover
________________________________________________
Listen to external feedback ● complaints
from Vendors, Customers, ● suggestions for improvements
and Suppliers ● loss of sales
● lower sales
________________________________________________
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Topic 1 SAD System Analysis Fundamentals
Selection of Projects
There are FIVE specific criteria for project selection:
1. Backing from management
2. Appropriate timing of project commitment
3. Possibility of improving attainment of organisational goals
4. Practical in terms of resources for the system analyst and organisation
5. Worthwhile project compared with other ways the organisation could invest resources
Defining Objectives
Improvements to systems can be defined as changes that will result in incremental yet
worthwhile benefits. There are many possibilities for improvements, including:
- Speeding up a process
- Streamlining a process through the elimination of unnecessary or duplicated steps
- Combining processes
- Reducing errors in input through changes of forms and display screens
- Reducing redundant storage
- Reducing redundant output
- Improving integration of systems and subsystems
Of equal importance is how corporate objectives are affected by improvements to information
systems. These corporate objectives include:
- Improving corporate profits
- Supporting the competitive strategy of the organisation
- Improving cooperation with vendors and partners
- Improving internal operations support so that goods and services are produced
efficiently and effectively
- Improving internal decision support so that decisions are more effective
- Improving customer services
- Increasing employee morale
Determining Resources
Resource determination for the feasibility study concerns THREE major areas. These areas need
to be feasible to carry on further with a system project.
Technical Feasibility
A large part of determining resources has to do with assessing technical feasibility. The analyst
must find out whether current technical resources can be upgraded or added to in a manner that
fulfils the request under consideration. Sometimes, however, “add-ons” to existing systems are
costly and not worthwhile, simply because they meet needs inefficiently. If existing systems
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cannot be added onto, the next question becomes whether there is a technology in existence that
meets the specifications.
Economic Feasibility
Economic feasibility is the second part of resource determination. The basic resources to
consider are, the time of analysis team, the cost of full system study, the cost of business
employee time, the estimated cost of hardware, and the estimated cost of software or software
development.
Operational Feasibility
Operational feasibility is dependent on the human resources available for the project and
involves projecting whether the system will operate and be used once it is installed. Determining
operational feasibility requires creative imagination on the part of the system analyst as well as
the powers of persuasion to let user know which interfaces are possible and which will satisfy
their needs.
□Activity Planning, Managing Activities and Control
System analysis and design involves many different types of activities that together make up a
project. The system analyst must manage the project carefully if the project is to be successful.
Planning includes all the activities required to select a system analysis team, assign members of
the team to appropriate projects, estimate the time required to complete each task, and schedule
the project so that tasks are completed in timely fashion. Control means using feedback to
monitor the project, including comparing the plan for the project with its actual evaluation. In
addition, control means taking appropriate action to expedite or rescheduled activities to finish
on time while motivating team members to complete the job properly.
Estimating Time Required
The most difficult part of project planning is the crucial step of estimating the time it takes to
complete each task or activity. The system analyst first break the whole project into phases and
then break these phases into more activities. It is important that based on activities the required
time is planned. A Gantt Chart is an easy way to schedule tasks. It is a chart on which bars
represent each task or activity. The length of each bar represents the relative length of the task.
Another way of planning schedule is Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)
diagram. A program is represented by a network of nodes and arrows that are then evaluated to
determine the critical activities, improve the schedule if necessary, and review the progress once
the project is undertaken.
Communication Strategies
Teams have their own personalities, a result of combining each individual team member with
every other in a way that creates a totally new network of interactions. A way to recognise own
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Topic 1 SAD System Analysis Fundamentals
thought about teams is to visualise them as always seeking a balance between accomplishing the
work at hand and maintaining the relationships among team members. Regular necessary
meetings can help improving team relationship to complete a project successfully.
Project Productivity Goals
System analysts are accustomed to thinking about productivity goals for employees who show
tangible outputs such as the number of blue jeans sewn per hour, the number of entries keyed in
per minute, or the number of items scanned per second. As manufacturing productivity rises,
however, it is becoming clear that managerial productivity must keep pace. It is with this aim in
mind that productivity goals for the systems analysis team are set.
Motivating Team Members
Team members can be motivated, at least partially, through participation in goal setting. The
very act of setting a challenging but achievable goal and then periodically measuring
performance against the goal seems to work in motivating people. Goals act almost as magnets in
attracting people to achievement.
□ Sample Questions
1. (a) What is ‘Information System’?
(b) Briefly discuss different types of systems.
2. (a) What is an ‘Organisation’?
(b) Discuss the common features of an organisation.
3. (a) Define the term ‘System analyst’.
(b) Briefly discuss the roles of a system analyst.
4. (a) List the THREE approaches for problem detection.
(b) Discuss the FIVE criteria for project selection.
5. There are TWO main reasons for a system development. Discuss these two reasons in details.
6. (a) List the THREE areas of feasibility while determining the resource for a project.
(b) Briefly discuss these areas.
7. Discuss THREE major concerns while managing system analysis and design activities.
* Students are advised to study the above topics from the text book and solve
conceptual and analytical questions for the exams *
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