INTRODUCTION TO SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Systems are created to solve problems. One can think of the sys- tems approach as an
organized way of dealing with a problem. In this dynamic world, the subject System
Analysis and Design (SAD), mainly deals with the software development activities.

1.2 OBJECTIVES

After going through this lesson, you should be able to

• define a system
• explain the different phases of system development life cycle
• enumerate the components of system analysis
• explain the components of system designing

1.3 DEFINING A SYSTEM

A collection of components that work together to realize some objec- tives forms
a system. Basically there are three major components in every system, namely
input, processing and output.

Fig. 1.1: Basic System Components

In a system the different components are connected with each other and they are
interdependent. For example, human body represents a complete natural system. We are
also bound by many national systems such as political system, economic system,
educational sys- tem and so forth. The objective of the system demands that some output
is produced as a result of processing the suitable inputs. A well-designed system also
includes an additional element referred to as ‘control’ that provides a feedback to achieve
desired objectives of the system.

1.4 SYSTEM LIFE CYCLE

System life cycle is an organizational process of developing and main- taining systems. It
helps in establishing a system project plan, be- cause it gives overall list of processes and
sub-processes required for developing a system.

System development life cycle means combination of various activi- ties. In other words
we can say that various activities put together are referred as system development life
cycle. In the System Analy- sis and Design terminology, the system development life cycle
also means software development life cycle.

Following are the different phases of system development life cycle:

• Preliminary study
• Feasibility study
• Detailed system study
• System analysis
• System design
• Coding
• Testing
• Implementation
• Maintenance

The different phases of system development life cycle is shown in Fig. 1.2 below.

Software Development Life Cycle

Fig. 1.2: Phases of System Development Life Cycle

1.5 PHASES OF SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT LIFE CYCLE

The different phases and related activities of system development life cycle.

(a) Preliminary System Study

Preliminary system study is the first stage of system development life cycle. This is a brief
investigation of the system under consider- ation and gives a clear picture of what
actually the physical system is? In practice, the initial system study involves the
preparation of a ‘System Proposal’ which lists the Problem Definition, Objectives of the
Study, Terms of reference for Study, Constraints, Expected ben- efits of the new system,
etc. in the light of the user requirements. The system proposal is prepared by the System
Analyst (who stud- ies the system) and places it before the user management. The man-
agement may accept the proposal and the cycle proceeds to the next stage. The
management may also reject the proposal or re- quest some modifications in the
proposal. In summary, we would say that system study phase passes through the
following steps:

• problem identification and project initiation

• background analysis
• inference or findings (system proposal) (b) Feasibility Study

In case the system proposal is acceptable to the management, the

next phase is to examine the feasibility of the system. The feasibility study is basically the
test of the proposed system in the light of its workability, meeting user’s requirements,
effective use of resources and of course, the cost effectiveness. These are categorized as
tech- nical, operational, economic and schedule feasibility. The main goal of feasibility
study is not to solve the problem but to achieve the scope. In the process of feasibility
study, the cost and benefits are estimated with greater accuracy to find the Return on
Investment (ROI). This also defines the resources needed to complete the de- tailed
investigation. The result is a feasibility report submitted to the management. This may be
accepted or accepted with modifica- tions or rejected. The system cycle proceeds only if
the manage- ment accepts it.

(c) Detailed System Study

The detailed investigation of the system is carried out in accordance with the objectives
of the proposed system. This involves detailed study of various operations performed by
a system and their rela- tionships within and outside the system. During this process, data
are collected on the available files, decision points and transactions handled by the
present system. Interviews, on-site observation and questionnaire are the tools used for
detailed system study. Using the following steps it becomes easy to draw the exact
boundary of the new system under consideration:

• Keeping in view the problems and new requirements

• Workout the pros and cons including new areas of the system

All the data and the findings must be documented in the form of detailed data
flow diagrams (DFDs), data dictionary, logical data struc- tures and miniature
specification. The main points to be discussed in this stage are:

• Specification of what the new system is to accomplish based on the user

requirements.
• Functional hierarchy showing the functions to be performed by the new
system and their relationship with each other.
• Functional network, which are similar to function hierarchy but they highlight
the functions which are common to more than one procedure.
• List of attributes of the entities – these are the data items which need to be
held about each entity (record)

(d) SystemAnalysis

Systems analysis is a process of collecting factual data, understand the processes

involved, identifying problems and recommending fea- sible suggestions for improving
the system functioning. This involves studying the business processes, gathering
operational data, un- derstand the information flow, finding out bottlenecks and evolving
solutions for overcoming the weaknesses of the system so as to achieve the
organizational goals. System Analysis also includes sub- dividing of complex process
involving the entire system, identifica- tion of data store and manual processes.

The major objectives of systems analysis are to find answers for each business process:
What is being done, How is it being done, Who is doing it, When is he doing it, Why is it
being done and How can it be improved? It is more of a thinking process and involves the
creative skills of the System Analyst. It attempts to give birth to a new effi- cient system
that satisfies the current needs of the user and has scope for future growth within the
organizational constraints. The result of this process is a logical system design. Systems
analysis is an iterative process that continues until a preferred and acceptable solution
emerges.

(e) System Design

Based on the user requirements and the detailed analysis of the existing system, the new
system must be designed. This is the phase of system designing. It is the most crucial
phase in the develop- ments of a system. The logical system design arrived at as a result
of systems analysis is converted into physical system design. Normally, the design
proceeds in two stages:

• Preliminary or General Design

• Structured or Detailed Design

Preliminary or General Design: In the preliminary or general de- sign, the features
of the new system are specified. The costs of imple- menting these features and
the benefits to be derived are estimated. If the project is still considered to be
feasible, we move to the de- tailed design stage.

Structured or Detailed Design: In the detailed design stage, com- puter oriented
work begins in earnest. At this stage, the design of the system becomes more
structured. Structure design is a blue print of a computer system solution to a
given problem having the same components and inter-relationships among the
same compo- nents as the original problem. Input, output, databases, forms, codi-
fication schemes and processing specifications are drawn up in de- tail. In the
design stage, the programming language and the hard- ware and software
platform in which the new system will run are also decided.

There are several tools and techniques used for describing the system design of the
system. These tools and techniques are:

• Flowchart
• Data flow diagram (DFD)
• Data dictionary
• Structured English
• Decision table
• Decision tree

Each of the above tools for designing will be discussed in detailed in the next lesson.

The system design involves:

i. Defining precisely the required system output

ii. Determining the data requirement for producing the output
iii. Determining the medium and format of files and databases
iv. Devising processing methods and use of software to produce output
v. Determine the methods of data capture and data input
vi. Designing Input forms
vii. Designing Codification Schemes
viii. Detailed manual procedures
ix. Documenting the Design

(f) Coding

The system design needs to be implemented to make it a workable system. This

demands the coding of design into computer under- standable language, i.e.,
programming language. This is also called the programming phase in which the
programmer converts the pro-

gram specifications into computer instructions, which we refer to as programs. It is an

important stage where the defined procedures are transformed into control
specifications by the help of a computer language. The programs coordinate the data
movements and con- trol the entire process in a system.

It is generally felt that the programs must be modular in nature. This helps in fast
development, maintenance and future changes, if required.

(g) Testing

Before actually implementing the new system into operation, a test run of the system is
done for removing the bugs, if any. It is an important phase of a successful system. After
codifying the whole programs of the system, a test plan should be developed and run on
a given set of test data. The output of the test run should match the expected results.
Sometimes, system testing is considered a part of implementation process.

Using the test data following test run are carried out:

• Program test
• System test

Program test: When the programs have been coded, compiled and brought to
working conditions, they must be individually tested with the prepared test data.
Any undesirable happening must be noted and debugged (error corrections)

System Test: After carrying out the program test for each of the programs of the
system and errors removed, then system test is done. At this stage the test is done
on actual data. The complete system is executed on the actual data. At each stage
of the execu- tion, the results or output of the system is analysed. During the result
analysis, it may be found that the outputs are not matching the expected output of
the system. In such case, the errors in the particular programs are identified and
are fixed and further tested for the expected output.

When it is ensured that the system is running error-free, the users are called with
their own actual data so that the system could be shown running as per their
requirements.
 (h) Implementation

After having the user acceptance of the new system developed, the
implementation phase begins. Implementation is the stage of a project during
which theory is turned into practice. The major steps in- volved in this phase are:

• Acquisition and Installation of Hardware and Software

• Conversion
• User Training
• Documentation

The hardware and the relevant software required for running the system must be
made fully operational before implementation. The conversion is also one of the
most critical and expensive activities in the system development life cycle. The
data from the old system needs to be converted to operate in the new format of
the new system. The database needs to be setup with security and recovery
procedures fully defined.

During this phase, all the programs of the system are loaded onto the user’s
computer. After loading the system, training of the user starts. Main topics of
such type of training are:

• How to execute the package

• How to enter the data
• How to process the data (processing details)
• How to take out the reports

After the users are trained about the computerized system, working has to shift from
manual to computerized working. The process is called ‘Changeover’. The following
strategies are followed for changeover of the system.

(i) Direct Changeover: This is the complete replacement of the old system by the new
system. It is a risky approach and requires comprehensive system testing and training.

(ii) Parallelrun:Inparallelrunboththesystems,i.e.,computerized and manual, are executed

simultaneously for certain defined period. The same data is processed by both the
systems. This strategy is less risky but more expensive because of the following:

Manual results can be compared with the results of the com- puterized system.

• The operational work is doubled.

• Failure of the computerized system at the early stage does not affect the
working of the organization, because the manual system continues to work, as it
used to do.

(iii) Pilot run: In this type of run, the new system is run with the data from one or more
of the previous periods for the whole or part of the system. The results are compared with
the old system results. It is less expensive and risky than parallel run approach. This
strategy builds the confidence and the errors are traced easily without affecting the
operations.

The documentation of the system is also one of the most im- portant activity in the system
development life cycle. This ensures the continuity of the system. There are generally two
types of documentation prepared for any system. These are:

• User or Operator Documentation

• System Documentation

The user documentation is a complete description of the system from the users
point of view detailing how to use or operate the system. It also includes the major
error messages likely to be en- countered by the users. The system documentation
contains the details of system design, programs, their coding, system flow, data
dictionary, process description, etc. This helps to understand the system and
permit changes to be made in the existing system to satisfy new user needs.

(i) Maintenance

Maintenance is necessary to eliminate errors in the system during its working life
and to tune the system to any variations in its work- ing environments. It has been
seen that there are always some er- rors found in the systems that must be noted
and corrected. It also means the review of the system from time to time. The
review of the system is done for:

• knowing the full capabilities of the system

• knowing the required changes or the additional requirements
• studying the performance.

If a major change to a system is needed, a new project may have to be set up to

carry out the change. The new project will then proceed through all the above life