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”
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