BTS330: Business Requirements Analysis using OO

Lecture 6: Systems

Agenda

What is a System Review of Business Areas Types of Systems The Role of the Systems Analyst

What is a system?

A combination of hardware and developed software that create the software solution that meets the needs of a business.

A collection of inter-related components that collect, process, store and provide as output the information needed to complete business tasks.

What is a system? Characteristics of a system*

– It exists in an environment– It is separated from its environment by some kind

of boundary– It has inputs and outputs which come from, or are

sent to the environment– It has interfaces (allows communication between

two systems)– It can have sub-systems (which are also systems)– It has a control mechanism

*Object-Oriented Systems Analysis & Design using UML, 1999 pages 5-6

What is a system?

What the system does

System Boundary

Inputs Outputs

Control

How the system is controlled

FeedbackFeed-forward

*Object-Oriented Systems Analysis & Design using UML, 1999 pages 5-6

Business Areas

The organizational areas needed to support a business.

These can to equate to departments. An organizational structure made up of

executives, middle management, supervisory management and staff.

Organizational Roles to Support the Business

Operational staff Management

Organizational Roles to Support the Business: Operational

– The individuals involved in the day to day processing of transactions I.e. Bank Tellers; Mutual Fund Sales People; Sales Associate

Organizational Roles to Support the Business: Management

– Executives (Top Management)• Those that make strategic and day to day decisions

– Middle Management• Those that make tactical and day to day decisions

– Lower Management• Supervisory personnel who make day to day

decisions

Stakeholders

The personnel in the organizational roles for each business area are the individuals who provide the information needed to understand what is required for development of automated computer systems.

Types of systems?

Office Systems– Productivity tools available to employees on a

desk top.– Electronic Mail, Word Processing, Database

Management, Spreadsheets, Desktop Publishing, Presentation Graphics and so on.

Types of systems?

Operational (Transaction Processing) Systems– Take care of the day-to-day processing of the

business– Information about the transactions that affect

the organization are captured and recorded

Types of systems?

Management Information Systems– Uses operational systems’ information to give

management the information needed to make management decisions

Types of systems?

Executive Information Systems– Provide information to executives on how their

company is doing relative to the industry

Types of systems?

Decision Support Systems– Systems that allow a user to explore the impact

of available options or decisions– ‘What if’ analysis

Types of systems?

Expert Systems– Simulate human reasoning and decision-

making. – Artificial Intelligence.

Systems that Solve Business Problems

Information systems– Collection of interrelated components that

collect, process, store, and provide as output the information needed to complete business functions

Information Systems

IS Planning

Level

Type of planning Typical IS applications Organizational Unit Responsible for

Developing

Strategic Strategies in support of organizational long-term objectives

Market and sales analysis, Product planning, Performance evaluation

Senior Management/ Executives

Tactical Policies in support of short-term goals and resource allocation

Budget analysis, Salary forecasting, Inventory scheduling, Customer service

Middle Management

Operational Day-to-day staff activities and production support

Payroll, Invoicing, Purchasing, Accounting

Lower Management; Operational

Flow of Information

– Horizontally - information flows across departments

– Vertically - information needs of clerical staff, middle management, and senior executives

Project Initiation: How are Projects Chosen?

Long-term information systems strategic plan (top-down)

Department managers or process managers (bottom-up)

Response to outside forces

– Legislative changes– Market forces– Competition

Strategic Planning

Strategic Planning involves determining long-term objectives by analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of an organization, studying opportunities and threats in the business environment, predicting future trends, and projecting the need for new products and services.

Strategic Planning

What are the strategic plans of Elfin Works?

Need for Software Development:

– Environments are rapidly changing– New technologies are frequently introduced– Companies merge and need to combine their

systems– Government legislation– Strategic Decisions

Systems Analyst

A business professional involved in the development of a computerized solution to a business problem

Requires extensive technical, business and people knowledge, communication, business and technical skills

Is fundamentally curious to explore how things are done with a desire to make them work better

Systems Analyst

Focuses on understanding the business problem

Focuses on the approach to be taken to solve the business problem

Problem Solving Approach1. Research and understand the problem

2. Verify that the benefits of solving the problem outweigh the costs

3. Develop a set of possible solutions (alternatives)

4. Decide which solution is best and make a recommendation

5. Define the details of the chosen solution

6. Implement the solution

7. Monitor to make sure that you obtain the desired results

Systems Analyst

“Must thoroughly understand the problem the system will solve”