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systems analysis phase

To understand the proposed project, ensure that it will support business requirements,
and build a solid foundation for system development, by using models and other
documentation tools to visualize and describe the proposed system.

Systems Analysis and Design, 11th Edition

Scott Tilley and Harry Rosenblatt

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• Systems analysis is the second of five

phases in the systems development
life cycle (SDLC)
• Will use requirements modeling, data
and process modeling, and object
modeling techniques to represent the
new system
• Will consider various development
strategies for the new system, and
plan for the transition to systems
design tasks
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The Challenge
in understanding
system requirements

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Chapter Objectives
 Describe systems analysis phase activities and the end product of the
systems analysis phase
 Explain Joint Application Development (JAD), Rapid Application
Development (RAD), and Agile methods
 Understand how systems analysts use a Functional Decomposition Diagram
(FDD)
 Describe the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and explain use case
diagrams and sequence diagrams
 List and describe system requirements, including outputs, inputs,
processes, performance, and controls
 Explain the concept of scalability

Chapter Objectives
 Use fact-finding techniques, including interviews, documentation review,
observation, questionnaires, sampling, and research
 Define total cost of ownership (TCO)
 Conduct a successful interview
 Develop effective documentation methods to use during systems
development

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Introduction
• This chapter describes requirements modeling techniques and team-based
methods that systems analysts use to visualize and document new systems
• The chapter then discusses system requirements and fact-finding
techniques, which include interviewing, documentation review,
observation, surveys and questionnaires, sampling, and research

Systems Analysis Phase Overview

 Interaction among the three
modeling tasks:
 requirements modeling,
 data and process
modeling,
 and object modeling

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Systems Analysis Phase Overview

 Requirements modeling
 describes requirements modeling, which involves fact-finding to describe
the current system and identification of the requirements for the new
system, such as:
 Output refers to electronic or printed information produced by the
system.
 Input refers to necessary data that enters the system, either manually or
in an automated manner.
 Process refers to the logical rules that are applied to transform the data
into meaningful information.
 Performance refers to system characteristics, such as speed, volume,
capacity, availability, and reliability.
 Security refers to hardware, software, and procedural controls that
safeguard and protect the system and its data from internal or external
threats.
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Systems Analysis Phase Overview

 Data and process modeling
 modeling process by showing how to represent graphically system data
and processes using traditional structured analysis techniques.
 As described in Chapter 1, structured analysis identifies the data
flowing into a process, the business rules that transform the data, and
the resulting output data flow.
 Object Modeling
 structured analysis treats processes and data as separate components,
object-oriented (O-O) analysis combines data and the processes that
act on the data into things called objects.
 These objects represent actual people, things, transactions, and events
that affect the system.

During the system development process, analysts often use both modeling
methods to gain as much information as possible.
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Systems Analysis Phase Overview

 Development Strategies
 There various development options within the transition of the systems
design phase of the SDLC.
 As described in Chapter 1, structured analysis identifies the data
flowing into a process, the business rules that transform the data, and
the resulting output data flow.

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Systems Analysis Phase Overview

 Systems Analysis Skills
 Analytical skills
 Interpersonal skills
 Team-Oriented Methods and Techniques
 Joint application development (JAD)
 Rapid application development (RAD)
 Agile methods

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Joint Application Development

(JAD)
 User Involvement
 Users have a vital stake in an information system and they should
participate fully
 Successful systems must be user-oriented, and users need to be
involved
 One popular strategy for user involvement is a JAD team approach

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Joint Application Development

(JAD)
JAD Participants and Roles

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Joint Application Development

(JAD)
 JAD Advantages and Disadvantages
 More expensive and can be cumbersome if the group is too large
relative to the size of the project
 Allows key users to participate effectively
 When properly used, JAD can result in a more accurate statement of
system requirements, a better understanding of common goals, and a
stronger commitment to the success of the new system

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Rapid Application Development

(RAD)
 The RAD model
consists of four
phases.

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Rapid Application Development

(RAD)
 RAD Objectives
 To cut development time and expense by involving the users in every
phase of systems development
 Successful RAD team must have IT resources, skills, and management
support
 Helps a development team design a system that requires a highly
interactive or complex user interface

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Rapid Application Development

(RAD)
 RAD Advantages and Disadvantages
 Systems can be developed more quickly with significant cost savings
 RAD stresses the mechanics of the system itself and does not
emphasize the company’s strategic business needs
 Might allow less time to develop quality, consistency, and design
standards

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Agile Methods
 Attempt to develop a system incrementally
 Agilian modeling toolset includes support for many modeling tools
 Some agile developers prefer not to use CASE tools at all, and rely
instead on whiteboard displays and arrangements of movable sticky
notes.
 This approach, they believe, reinforces the agile strategy: simple, rapid,
flexible, and user-oriented.

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Agile Methods
 Scrum is another agile approach. The name comes from the rugby term
scrum, where team members lunge at each other to achieve their
objectives, as shown in Figure 4-7.

 The systems development version of Scrum involves the same intense

interaction, though it is more mental than physical. In a Scrum session,
agile team members play specific roles.
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Agile Methods
 Agile Method Advantages and Disadvantages
 Are very flexible and efficient in dealing with change
 Frequent deliverables constantly validate the project and reduce risk
 Team members need a high level of technical and interpersonal skills
 May be subject to significant change in scope

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Modeling Tools and Techniques

Functional Decomposition Diagrams (FDD)
 A functional decomposition diagram (FDD) is a top-down representation of
a function or process.
 Using an FDD, an analyst can show business functions and break them
down into lower-level functions and processes.
 Creating an FDD is similar to drawing an organization chart: Start at the top
and work downwards.
 FDDs can be used at several stages of systems development. During
requirements modeling, analysts use FDDs to model business functions
and show how they are organized into lower-level processes.
 Those processes translate into program modules during application
development.

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Modeling Tools and Techniques

Functional Decomposition Diagrams (FDD)

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Modeling Tools and Techniques

Functional Decomposition Diagram (FDD)

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Esukan boking system

Esukan

ADMIN USER

MANAGE MANAGE MANAGE OWN MANAGE

MANAGE ACC REPORT EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT BOOKING ACC BOOKING

ADD ACC ADD ADD ADD VIEW ADD

VIEW ACC VIEW VIEW VIEW REQUEST VIEW

EDIT /
EDIT ACC EDIT CHANGE EDIT EDIT
STATUS

DELETE ACC DELETE DELETE DELETE DELETE

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Modeling Tools and Techniques

Data Flow Diagrams (DFD)
 Working from a functional decomposition diagram, analysts can create
data flow diagrams (DFDs) to show how the system stores, processes, and
transforms data.

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Modeling Tools and Techniques

Unified Modeling Language (UML)
 widely used method of
visualizing and documenting
software systems design. UML
uses object-oriented design
concepts, but it is independent
of any specific programming
language and can be used to
describe business processes and
requirements generally.
 UML provides various graphical
tools, such as use case diagrams
and sequence diagrams.

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System Requirements Checklist

 During requirements modeling, systems developers must identify and
describe all system requirements.
 A system requirement is a characteristic or feature that must be included in
an information system to satisfy business requirements and be acceptable
to users.
 System requirements serve as benchmarks to measure the overall
acceptability of the finished system.
 System requirements fall into five general categories: outputs, inputs,
processes, performance, and controls.

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System Requirements Checklist

 Outputs Examples
 The Web site must report online volume statistics every four hours, and
hourly during peak periods
 The inventory system must produce a daily report showing the part
number, description, quantity on hand, quantity allocated, quantity
available, and unit cost of all sorted by part number
 Inputs Examples
 Manufacturing employees must swipe their ID cards into online data
collection terminals that record labor costs and calculate production
efficiency
 The department head must enter overtime hours on a separate screen

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System Requirements Checklist

 Processes Examples
 The student records system must calculate the GPA at the end of each
semester
 As the final step in year-end processing, the payroll system must update
employee salaries, bonuses, and benefits and produce tax data required by
the IRS
 Performance Examples
 The system must support 25 users online simultaneously
 Response time must not exceed four seconds
 Controls Examples
 The system must provide logon security at the operating system level and
at the application level
 An employee record must be added, changed, or deleted only by a member
of the human resources department

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Future Growth, Costs, and Benefits

 In addition to the system requirements, systems analysts must consider
scalability, which determines how a system will handle future growth and
demands, and the total cost of ownership, which includes all future
operational and support costs.

 Scalability
 A scalable system offers a better return on the initial investment
 To evaluate scalability, you need information about projected future
volume for all outputs, inputs, and processes

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Future Growth, Costs, and Benefits

• Total Cost of Ownership
– Total cost of ownership
(TCO) is especially important
if the development team is
evaluating several
alternatives
– One problem is that cost
estimates tend to
understate indirect costs
– Rapid Economic Justification
(REJ)

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Future Growth, Costs, and Benefits

• Total Cost of Ownership
– Because cost control is so
important, vendors often claim
that their products or services will
reduce TCO significantly.
– For example, one of the most
common reasons to migrate a
legacy system to the cloud is
reduced TCO. As shown in Figure
4-15, cloud computing offers the
opportunity for lower operational
costs due to the outsourcing of
expenses such as capital
investment in exchange for a pay-
as-you-go pricing model.

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Fact-Finding
 Fact-Finding Overview
 First, you must identify the information you need
 Develop a fact-finding plan
 Who, What, Where, When, How, and Why?
 Difference between asking what is being done and what could or
should be done

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Fact-Finding
 The Zachman Framework
 Zachman Framework for
Enterprise Architecture
 Helps managers and
users understand the
model and assures that
overall business goals
translate into successful
IT projects

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Interviews
 Step 1: Determine the People to Interview
 Informal structures
 Step 2: Establish Objectives for the
Interview
 Determine the general areas to be
discussed
 List the facts you want to gather

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Interviews
 Step 3: Develop Interview Questions
 Creating a standard list of interview questions helps to keep you on
track and avoid unnecessary tangents
 Avoid leading questions
 Open-ended questions
 Closed-ended questions
 Range-of-response questions

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Interviews
 Step 4: Prepare for the Interview
 Careful preparation is essential because an interview is an important
meeting and not just a casual chat
 Limit the interview to no more than one hour
 Send a list of topics
 Ask the interviewee to have samples available

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Interviews
 Step 5: Conduct the Interview
 Develop a specific plan for the meeting
 Begin by introducing yourself, describing the project, and explaining
your interview objectives
 Engaged listening
 Allow the person enough time to think about the question
 After an interview, you should summarize the session and seek a
confirmation

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Interviews
• Step 6: Document the Interview
– Note taking should be kept to a minimum
– After conducting the interview, you must record the information
quickly
– After the interview, send memo to the interviewee expressing your
appreciation
– Note date, time, location, purpose of the interview, and the main
points you discussed so the interviewee has a written summary and can
offer additions or corrections

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Interviews
 Step 7: Evaluate the Interview
 In addition to recording the facts obtained in an interview, try to
identify any possible biases
 Unsuccessful Interviews
 No matter how well you prepare for interviews, some are not
successful

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Other Fact-Finding Techniques

• Document Review
• Observation
– Seeing the system in action gives
you additional perspective and a
better understanding of the
system procedures
– Plan your observations in advance
– Hawthorne Effect

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Other Fact-Finding Techniques

 Questionnaires and Surveys
 When designing a
questionnaire, the most
important rule of all is to
make sure that your
questions collect the right
data in a form that you
can use to further your
fact-finding
 Fill-in form

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Other Fact-Finding Techniques

 Sampling
 Systematic sample
 Stratified sample
 Random sample
 Main objective of a sample is to ensure that it represents the overall
population accurately

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Other Fact-Finding Techniques

 Research
 Can include the Internet,
IT magazines, and books
to obtain background
information, technical
material, and news about
industry trends and
developments
 Site visit

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Other Fact-Finding Techniques

 Interviews versus Questionnaires
 Interview is more familiar and personal
 Questionnaire gives many people the opportunity to provide input and
suggestions
 Brainstorming
 Structured brainstorming
 Unstructured brainstorming

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Documentation
 The Need for Recording the Facts
 Record information as soon as you obtain it
 Use the simplest recording method
 Record your findings in such a way that they can be understood by
someone else
 Organize your documentation so related material is located easily

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Documentation
 Software Tools
 CASE Tools
 Productivity Software
 Graphics modeling software
 Personal information
managers
 Wireless communication
devices

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Preview of Logical Modeling

 At the conclusion of requirements modeling, systems developers should
have a clear understanding of business processes and system
requirements
 The next step is to construct a logical model of the system
 IT professionals have differing views about systems development
methodologies, and no universally accepted approach exists

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Chapter Summary
 The systems analysis phase includes three activities: requirements
modeling, data and process modeling, and consideration of development
strategies
 The main objective is to understand the proposed project, ensure that it
will support business requirements, and build a solid foundation for the
systems design phase

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Chapter Summary
• The fact-finding process includes interviewing, document review,
observation, questionnaires, sampling, and research
• Systems analysts should carefully record and document factual information
as it is collected, and various software tools can help an analyst visualize
and describe an information system

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Chapter 3: Requirements Modeling

Next Chapter…

Chapter 4: Data & Process Modeling

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